Body Fat Percentage and the DEXA Scan
- Thread starter kazcat
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- female fitness
@kazcat I had one about a month ago and am at 27% as well, which is surprising because I'd say you look significantly leaner than I.
Since we're on the topic: I've made a bet with a male friend to see who can drop the most percentage within a few months and now I'm wondering if I'm at a disadvantage. Anyone know about boob measurements and whatnot?
Since we're on the topic: I've made a bet with a male friend to see who can drop the most percentage within a few months and now I'm wondering if I'm at a disadvantage. Anyone know about boob measurements and whatnot?
@wangaaron Wow, 27 seems to be the magic number, haha it sounds like everyone got that! While I don't know how much of the percentage can be attributed to the boobs (I'm pretty small-chested so I don't think it'd be much of a factor at all for me), I would think that since we just have more fat that settles in our chest and butt, you'd be at a disadvantage to him.
nrnowlinma
New member
@kazcat I love this. I too had a DEXA scan about seven months ago and measured at 27% body fat. The traditional caliper estimates (which of course don't touch the butt/thigh region and are entirely upper body) would have put me at about 20%. I have to dig out my old DEXA results now... I'm definitely pear shaped, so I carry most of my extra fat on my hips/butt/thighs. I had 7.75 lbs of gynoid fat and 11.3 lbs of lean gynoid mass. A full 25% of my body fat was in my gynoid region. Haha! Let me say this again: one quarter of all the fat in my entire body was in my hips and butt. My gynoid/android ratio was 0.68.
Anyway, I started lifting soon after and now my caliper measurement is down to 17-18%, so I guess my DEXA would be a bit lower too, but I haven't re-done the DEXA. I'm totally OK with this though, because I think gynoid/android fat ratio is a more useful measure of healthy fat levels than raw percentages. As long as my upper body stays in a healthy fat percentage, I'm not going to worry at how high my lower body skews everything.
Anyway, I started lifting soon after and now my caliper measurement is down to 17-18%, so I guess my DEXA would be a bit lower too, but I haven't re-done the DEXA. I'm totally OK with this though, because I think gynoid/android fat ratio is a more useful measure of healthy fat levels than raw percentages. As long as my upper body stays in a healthy fat percentage, I'm not going to worry at how high my lower body skews everything.
@nrnowlinma A full 25% of my body fat was in my gynoid region. Haha! Let me say this again: one quarter of all the fat in my entire body was in my hips and butt.
I just KNOW mine would be the same, or more. You can count my ribs when I inhale, but I have a fat butt, kinda cellulite-y and all. So strange.
Also, I can very much tell this is the case when it is cold outside. my upper half is always so, so cold. My bottom feels alright. So that's a plus.
I just KNOW mine would be the same, or more. You can count my ribs when I inhale, but I have a fat butt, kinda cellulite-y and all. So strange.
Also, I can very much tell this is the case when it is cold outside. my upper half is always so, so cold. My bottom feels alright. So that's a plus.
@nrnowlinma So glad to hear about someone else who had an experience like mine! I agree, like weight, it's still a black box number that doesn't reveal a lot about your body or your fitness level. I think physical performance and visual assessment are enough indicators of improvement for me, though I do think of the 6 month challenge as a fun game- I'm interested to see how each of those numbers will have dropped over time!
nrnowlinma
New member
@kazcat I agree, this challenge sounds cool. I wish I could do another DEXA now to see how things have changed in the last seven months since I started lifting heavy, but I don't think my insurance would cover it without a real medical reason. I'm especially interested to see whether my bone density has gone up, since resistance exercises are so good for stimulating bone growth. My bone density was 0.5 standard deviations above the age-matched mean last time, I want to see if it is in "amazeballs" category now!
@kazcat
This isn't exactly true.
http://weightology.net/weightologyweekly/?page_id=260
A DEXA scan still uses an algorithm to calculate a BF% from the data it receives, which can vary significantly. Check out the section in this reference I posted on errors:
...
And it goes on from there. That said, I give a lot more credence to this method than calipers or scales, so it's a great data point to have. Also, you look great
This isn't exactly true.
http://weightology.net/weightologyweekly/?page_id=260
A DEXA scan still uses an algorithm to calculate a BF% from the data it receives, which can vary significantly. Check out the section in this reference I posted on errors:
...
And it goes on from there. That said, I give a lot more credence to this method than calipers or scales, so it's a great data point to have. Also, you look great
@denice65 Thank you for clearing this up! I'm definitely going to ask for more information about how the software calculates this number the next time I go in. I did read that different levels of hydration will cause the number to vary, in that the more hydrated you are, the more likely the machine will overestimate your fat percentage. I'm going to try to minimize as much error as possible by replicating the same testing conditions and using the same machine (that won't be hard, they only had one as they just opened that location two months ago!) In the end, I'm hoping to see this number go down by 4-5% for personal satisfaction
fulfillingmycalling
New member
@kazcat Well 1) You look great.
2) You are lucky; it seems you have most of your fat in your booty which girls with flat butts will KILL for.
3) I had a bod pod scan, and had the opposite happen to me. I'm wondering how accurate that is in comparison to a DEXA scan, Anyway, I had the opposite happen to me. It put me at 15% and I thought I was more like 20%. Maybe I'll post pictures with my results as comparison when I can dig them up, if anyone is interested in seeing.
4) You look great.
Edit: My pictures taken the morning before the scan. The overall readout was 14.7%. Will have to look again for the details.
2) You are lucky; it seems you have most of your fat in your booty which girls with flat butts will KILL for.
3) I had a bod pod scan, and had the opposite happen to me. I'm wondering how accurate that is in comparison to a DEXA scan, Anyway, I had the opposite happen to me. It put me at 15% and I thought I was more like 20%. Maybe I'll post pictures with my results as comparison when I can dig them up, if anyone is interested in seeing.
4) You look great.
Edit: My pictures taken the morning before the scan. The overall readout was 14.7%. Will have to look again for the details.
@fulfillingmycalling I just had a DEXA scan yesterday too and I brought up the bodpod with my technician. She said that one of the issues with the bodpod is that it has trouble distinguishing your bones from lean mass, so it generally counts your bones as lean mass. So, in my case, I have 8.2 pounds of bones, so with a bod pod test my numbers would have been about 4% lower. Crazy!
@fulfillingmycalling Same thing happened to me with Bodpod. My results said that I was at 4.9% (as a male) and, after the initial shock, I realized that there was sadly no way that I was that low. On the plus side, I think Bodpod should at least be consistent, so if you are at one level and then drop or gain body fat, I would think the change should be worth noting.
@fulfillingmycalling That's interesting about the bod pod scan! I had actually looked into doing this at first, but I ended up doing the DEXA and got my friend some referral cash I would definitely be interested in seeing the results! Though I typically don't hear cases of people saying that bod pod tests results were under their estimates, so I'm sure you were overestimating as much as I was underestimating!
I would definitely be interested in seeing the results! Though I typically don't hear cases of people saying that bod pod tests results were under their estimates, so I'm sure you were overestimating as much as I was underestimating!@dawn16 It's real for everyone who takes from it what they are looking for. I have always had trouble finding an appropriate estimate for myself because I don't find a lot of pictures and height/weight descriptions of females that match my body type. It has probably helped many people estimate a fairly accurate percentage, but considering my number was a good 7% higher than what I felt I was at looking at pictures of women whose bodies looked like min, I had a nice reality check and learned a lot about myself from this experience. And I learned that women can look wildly different at the same body fat percentage because of different factors such as your Android/Gynoid ratio and other tendencies that your body just gravitates toward.
Never bashed Body Fat Friday, just my prior perceptions of body fat for females.
Never bashed Body Fat Friday, just my prior perceptions of body fat for females.
@scanman43 Lol woops, I'm always horrible at picking up on sarcasm