Estimating body fat

[counterofbeans]

Is there any way of estimating my body fat % given the following:-

Male
Age 54
Height 179cm
Weight 69kg
Waist 32"

Thanks for any help...

[R8Steve]

counterofbeans said:

Is there any way of estimating my body fat % given the following:-

Male
Age 54
Height 179cm
Weight 69kg
Waist 32"

Thanks for any help...

Not really with those figures, your best bet would be to get a body composition test or get someone that knows what they are doing to use bodyfat calipers on you.

At your height and weight though i would imagine it to be pretty low, probably around 12-16% at a guess.

[Hoofy]

Impossible to say. You could be anything from 8% to 25%. I am your weight at 5'8 so 2 inches shorter than you but I'm about 12% BF with visible abs.

[RobM77]

There are measures one can use that take your waistline and estimate from there (Google will bring them up), but as people have said above, the margin for error on that is quite large because it depends on the distribution of fat and a number of other factors (e.g. how big your abdominal muscles are under that fat). It's the same for the callipers test favoured by GPs. For example, Hoofy says he has visible abs at 69kg and 5'8", whereas I'm the same weight and 5'10" (so a lower BMI and probably lower body fat) with no visible abs, and I usually drop to about 66kg later in the summer and yes, I do a lot of sport and core exercises. Even the commonly used conductivity tests in gyms etc are very approximate and the only real way to measure body fat is to go for an expensive test.

To be honest though, it's best to judge yourself on what you look like, what exercise you do and how healthy your diet is.

[R8VXF]

This is a fairly basic picture to help you define your bf%, but the best way would be to get a calliper reading.

[J4CKO]

I got these,

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ozeri-Bathroom-Hydration-R...

I dont know how accurate they are but they seem it based on the photos, or certainly not out by a huge margin, plus they are consistent, I have gone from 31.5 to 27.7 percent, might be accurate enough to satisfy curiosity, they also estimate bone, muscle and water so you can tell if your weight has changed and for what reason.

[R8Steve]

I got a body composition test done for about £30 I'm sure it was. Here's a scan of it to show you what it provides -

[R8VXF]

R8Steve said:

I got a body composition test done for about £30 I'm sure it was. Here's a scan of it to show you what it provides -

ftfy

[RobM77]

R8VXF said:

This is a fairly basic picture to help you define your bf%, but the best way would be to get a calliper reading.

Callipers are a long way from the best way to measure body fat - that test is merely a convenient finger in the air for GPs etc and sits alongside the popular conduction method. A specialist machine is required for accurate body fat measurement.

[R8Steve]

RobM77 said:

R8VXF said:

This is a fairly basic picture to help you define your bf%, but the best way would be to get a calliper reading.

Callipers are a long way from the best way to measure body fat - that test is merely a convenient finger in the air for GPs etc and sits alongside the popular conduction method. A specialist machine is required for accurate body fat measurement.

Here's the machine that was used for the calculation in the scan above http://www.bodystat.com/products/1500MDD

Not sure how accurate it is but calipers gave a similar figure of bodyfat at 8.6% the same week. Tanita bodyfat scales had me at 14.7% the same day

[J4CKO]

R8Steve said:

I got a body composition test done for about £30 I'm sure it was. Here's a scan of it to show you what it provides -

How did they get a Est calorie figure of 3700 odd ?

Seems a lot for your weight, you a Marathon runner or something ?

[R8Steve]

J4CKO said:

How did they get a Est calorie figure of 3700 odd ?

Seems a lot for your weight, you a Marathon runner or something ?

Bulking and training twice a day, 5 days a week at the time. Marathons? Na, i can hardly run the length of myself

[Hoofy]

R8Steve said:

Bulking and training twice a day, 5 days a week at the time. Marathons? Na, i can hardly run the length of myself

You must be in good shape at that BF% vs weight.

[R8Steve]

Hoofy said:

R8Steve said:

Bulking and training twice a day, 5 days a week at the time. Marathons? Na, i can hardly run the length of myself

You must be in good shape at that BF% vs weight.

I'm probably sitting about 9% bodyfat at the moment but I'm another 7kg heavier at 85kg. I'm not that fit cardio wise but I like to keep the 6 pack visible

[Hoofy]

R8Steve said:

Hoofy said:

R8Steve said:

Bulking and training twice a day, 5 days a week at the time. Marathons? Na, i can hardly run the length of myself

You must be in good shape at that BF% vs weight.

I'm probably sitting about 9% bodyfat at the moment but I'm another 7kg heavier at 85kg. I'm not that fit cardio wise but I like to keep the 6 pack visible

Yeah, by shape, I meant shape not cardiovascular fitness (or I'd have said it).

You must obviously look like you train IYSWIM.

[J4CKO]

I notice the BF charts allow a bit more fat for age, is it still possible for blokes to get down into the lower figures when past 40 ?

I want to be about 15 to 18 or therabouts.

[R8VXF]

J4CKO said:

I notice the BF charts allow a bit more fat for age, is it still possible for blokes to get down into the lower figures when past 40 ?

I want to be about 15 to 18 or therabouts.

Easily done. My wife is around that age and about 20% and dropping

[oceanview]

J4CKO said:

I notice the BF charts allow a bit more fat for age, is it still possible for blokes to get down into the lower figures when past 40 ?

I want to be about 15 to 18 or therabouts.

Yes, no problem. It might be a bit harder to do than when you were in your twenties. Myself, i am coming up to 44 and i' am around 11/12% with visable abs. I weigh 82kg and 5'10", with 31/32 waist. I,ve always been into gym/fitness but problems in my life meant i let it slip a little and had a bit of gut ( probably about 17-19%) but a bit heavy for my light frame.

I've spent the last few months on a good clean diet and stepped up the gym work ( i like doing high intensity tri-sets) and increased the cycling to improve fitness more than anything but with intermittent bursts of full on pedalling seems to help torch the fat although that's mainly down to diet ( you cant out-train a bad diet).

Good luck with your training!

[Hoofy]

43 here and abs for the first time in my life. (Prior to that I was just skinny through too much cardio/sport and not enough strength work, then cut down the sports and continued to eat, standard story.)

I wonder... fing is, if you ask on another forum (mumsnet?) everyone might say no - should this mean you don't even try?

[R8VXF]

Hoofy said:

43 here and abs for the first time in my life. (Prior to that I was just skinny through too much cardio/sport and not enough strength work, then cut down the sports and continued to eat, standard story.)

I wonder... fing is, if you ask on another forum (mumsnet?) everyone might say no - should this mean you don't even try?

Any of the training forums I either am a member of or help run, you would be told to get on with it as it is eminently possible