@ruky Yeah she gave me the advice I'd said in my post I was aware of. But whatever! I think I might start another instagram account just for fitness stuff so that I don't have to spam my friends with all the bullshit I want to post.
@dawn16 yeah its whatevers. i feel bad spamming my friends but idk, i dont feel like making another account and it's my life and ill live it the way i want to. lol
@amydoodles I really want to get one of these done. I am also jealous, because at 27%, you look fan-freaking-tastic. My body just doesn't look like that, even at a much lower body fat (I'm 5 ft tall, 112ish, lbs, with a caliper measurement around 19%). If I get to 27%, I have a large belly, and very chunky arms.
It's always interesting to me how different people hold body fat so differently/ thrive at different levels.
@numenorian I came to say the exact same thing. I'm one inch shorter, 20 lbs heavier, and lower body fat percentage (well, I was in October anyway), but my physique and fat/muscle distribution is so different from hers.
@amydoodles Hey! Thought I'd respond back, as I was looking through things, and came across this again... I did my DEXA, and I am at 21% body fat, with almost no visceral fat. Mirroring your edited comments, different fat levels definitely look very different on different people, and it is really interesting to see.
@numenorian Thats definitely interesting! Thanks for updating. If my dexa changes next year Ill update with pics. Id be curious about how I would look with lower fat
@amydoodles Oh, sure! It wasn't DEXA — it was a hydrostatic test. I'm not sure how it compares to DEXA in terms of accuracy, but it's been a good benchmark for me to measure progress every few months. (I'm less concerned about the actual number; more concerned about seeing lean mass increase and fat decrease.)
Here's a test result from last fall and here's a series of progress pics to give you an idea.
@ruky That really depends on who is using them, and if they know what they are doing. The stupid machines at the gym are wildly inaccurate, and the online calculators are horrid. Anyway, inaccurate or not, I also know what I look like at 27%+ body fat, because that's where I was when I got a hydrostatic test done. I looked awful. All of my excess body fat always goes to my stomach and arms.
@numenorian It sounds like the DEXA would be enlightening for you. My boyfriend also got a DEXA and scored 27% and does not look fat, so I just feel in general that DEXA yields higher scores than what people expect both visually and based on other body fat measurement methods.
@amydoodles PS- I hope that didn't come off as nasty... It wasn't meant to, and I am curious what my DEXA results would be... I just know my body, and what it looked like at around 27% body fat. I have friends who have a flat tummy, and look generally slim, at body fat levels over 30%. I basically don't have a flat stomach unless I get really, really lean. I'm just not built for it. Everything goes to my face, stomach and arms. I do not hold fat well.
@numenorian No worries. It's true we all hold fat differently! Many of my friends think I'm strong/fit. However I can say that when I was heavier (and I'm assuming, fatter) it does show...so it's not like I always look lean either
@amydoodles I can tell you right now, that it will not be that much higher, unless it is wildly inaccurate. I've had hydrostatic when I was around 27-29% body fat. Since that point, I've taken up lifting, and completely changed my diet. Even with my now vastly increased muscle mass, I am a good 15 lbs lighter than I was before. Almost all of that lost weight is fat. Even if we take visceral fat into account, I don't think it will come up that much higher. My lean mass accounts for most of my weight (to look at me you would think I weigh 100ish). Unfortunately, I probably won't find out anytime soon, since I can't find a place in philly that offers this for this purpose.
@amydoodles Thank you so much for sharing your scan, I'm also a 5'2 Asian-American. Now I can better gauge myself. You don't look 27%, or maybe the GNC machine I used isn't accurate because it told me that I'm 27% too haha (I'm 113 pounds, though.)