body fat percentage

Hi everyone! I am close to my goal weight (4 lbs.!) but my body fat percentage is still really high (30%). MY bathroom scale measures body fat, as does my surgeons (and they read about the same). I'm kicking up my exercise (I've had a bum knee and haven't been doing too much in recent weeks) to see if I can get this moving downward. Anyway, my current % indicates I have 50 lbs. of fat still on my body, which freaks me out! I'm curious what percentage some of you are at....especially those that are 20 lbs. or less to goal. Anyone care to share? I'm not really sure what a normal percentage is supposed to be....I think 20 - 25% for a woman is common. Anyone else concerned about their percentage? I think exercise is the only remedy...anyone know? Have a great day!! Kathy 294/159/155 5' 8 1/2"

well i am also at 30% i am 5'7 and 167 wanting to get down to initial goal 165 and my goal of 135 hope this helps i also am trying to kick up the fat burn michelle 330.5/167/135

Thanks Michelle! I did just find a website. 25 - 31% is "acceptable"...over that is obese, 21 - 24% is the "fitness" range, 14 - 20% is the "athlete" range....anything below that is too low!! I guess we should be working at getting ourselves into the 21 - 24% range. I at least feel better to at least be in an acceptable range...I thought 30% seemed too high! Keep up the good work! Kathy

thanks for the information i will be sending you fat burning vibes and keep thinking about what your percentage USED to be lol michelle

Kathy, Very good question! I have been working with a trainer at 24 Hour Fitness since July of this year and body fat is our focus. I'm 33 years old, so healthy body fat for me is 18 to 25%. When I first started training my body fat was at 36%, so our goal is to lower it to 25%. So far I have lost about 5% body fat since July, which puts me at about 31%. I'm approximately 22 pounds from my goal weight. In case you want numbers, I'm 5'6 and I currently weigh 177 pounds. My goal is to weigh 155. Just to give you a few facts about those of us that have had surgery; the problem is we are losing weight, but it's muscle, which in return leaves us with lots of body fat. Because we aren't eating much our bodies are holding on to the fat. However, my trainer and I are working very hard to change this. (she's never trained anyone that had the surgery- so I'm educating her about the whole WLS ordeal) Currently we are working at getting my calorie intake to at least 1200 calories a day (this is a major chore!). Some days I'm getting to the 1200 by eating very small meals every two hours. As for working out- I'm working out like crazy! I weight train with my trainer three days a week and I do 45 minutes of cardio 7 days a week. 2-3 days a week, I do cardio twice a day. This is helping me bust through those many plateuas and burn the fat. For meal info please go to my web page and look at the month of July. I have some of my meals out there. One more thing- I'm taking a supplements by APEX called FatBurn 1 & 2, they can be purchased at 24 Hour Fitness or on the web at www.apexfitness.com. These pills help your body excrete the fat from your liver and also helps your body burn fat. I let my doctor look at the ingredients and she told me to go for it. I really believe that working out, eating healthing and taking these pills are taking me to the next level. Not to mention- I FEEL GREAT! I hope this information helps! If you have any other questions, please let me know. Take care and way to go on your SUCCESS!!!!!!!! KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!

Hi Kathy! Like the previous poster I also get personal training at 24 hour fitness. I am currently at 30% body fat, I'm 5'9 and weigh 206 pounds. Since I've been doing weight training the scale hasn't been moving much, but i've been losing the inches and really packing on the muscle. I only had 1 check-in but in 3 weeks my body fat % went from 33% to 30%. I am going to shoot for 180 lbs as my current goal. I may re-evaluate at that point. My real goal is to fit into size 12 in everything and i'm in 12/14 right now, so close!!! Also average for my age is 27% body fat. Amy

I have no idea... how do I find out? Pam

Pam, I have a scale that calculates body fat...not sure how, but you have to stand on it with bare feet. My surgeon also uses one like that, and checks it when I go in for my quarterly check ups. I'm not sure how you could find out otherwise! Sorry! Kathy