Guest Post

Understanding Body Fat

I often report my updates on my decreasing body fat, since that's my intent for my figure competition (in less than a month!!)

I get the impression that some people don't know what's a normal percentage, what the ranges are, and why it's even important to know.

There are a couple obvious ways to evaluate fitness- Maybe by the scale, trying to maintain a healthy body weight, by the way your clothes fit, or even calculating your BMI.

Here's a rough guide for women to to see where WebMD thinks they should be, according to their height and weight.

While this chart is generally a sufficient guide for most people, it does not depict fitness. Don't we all know people who are "skinny fat"- have an acceptable weight, but they do not work out, they don't eat healthy, and who are lucky that the scale is their friend? =)

As far as my training goes, I'm more concerned with getting lean and fit.. and not worrying much about what the scale says. It's about looking good! Here's a chart of Ideal Body Fat Percentages for men and women:

From 14-24% (which is a big range), women have a lot of leeway, which puts them in the fit/athlete categories. For my show, I'm aiming for 12%... this seems low to some people, and it is too low to MAINTAIN. It's not healthy for women to have such low fat levels, as they can have a loss of periods, making pregnancy harder later. But just so we're all clear, being at a low body fat % for 2 weeks is not dangerous.. I will certainly jump back up after my show =)

FYI if you're interested in knowing what your BF% is, ask a trainer to test you at your gym. They do skin fold calipers that is accurate enough, (not 100%) but it's convenient and cheap. Just make sure the same person does it every time.

I hesitate putting these pictures up, because I still don't believe they're totally accurate.. but at least you get an idea. For example that 11% lady?? Crazy!!! I do not think that's how I will look. Every body is different in how they carry their muscle.

Even the 20% looks pretty good right?!

Here's the guys...

I just wanted to give a visual of what these percentages are, keeping in mind that you might look awesome and fit at a % that isn't totally depicted right from these pictures =)

Anyhow, here's my monthly update on my progress: 14% body fat this week. I've been looking forward to getting as lean as Jillian Michaels, cuz well, she's awesome and she's ripped. So it was a good week for me =)

Well, I apologize for the hot mess that I look like after the gym.. and also for the tackiness of doing a self-shot in our junk room! I've been working on my posing more, but it just ends up retarded when you have to hold a stupid phone.