To think the machine in Boots is wrong I can't be 38% fat?!?

[Poolnoodlepoodle]

So I paid a pound today and stood on one of those machines in Boots that weighs you and gives your body fat percentage. I was shocked by the results the weight was about what I expected (10 stone 9 lbs) which makes me overweight but not massively so (bmi 26). But the in body fat percentage was 38% !?!

How does it calculate when you hold the handles? I assume it runs electricity through you (just judging by the warnings about pacemakers etc)? Is there any chance this is wrong?? The thought I'm nearly 40% fat is shocking!

Yes I'm a short arse 5 foot 4 inches so don't worry!

I've got an 'underweight' BMI and 33% fat... Dr said completely normal...and reminded me brain and breasts are mainly fat 🙃

I stood on one a few weeks ago and was also surprised at my body fat ratio - 29.3% with a body fat mass of 16.5kg.

My BMI is 20.60 and I lift heavy weights three times a week, so was expecting a lower body fat ratio/body fat mass. That said, 29.0% is good, so really shouldn't complain.

Women do have fat though. Unless you’re an athlete and training for hours every day it would be unusual to be under 23% I think your periods stop if you go under 15% so while 38% sounds high, and dropping a few % would be healthy, it’s not too bad really. Definitely not something to panic over at least.

You can either lose weight or tone so you turn fat into muscle. The latter is easier to some and also improves your general health.

Women have a lot more body fat than men! It probably isn’t far off but the machines are more accurate when they’re on a totally flat surface and no socks on. Just so you know!
I’m on the more muscley side for someone my height and weight, and even then I’m over 20% fat (4 visceral which I think is the figure to actually focus on rather than the overall number). It’s the fat between organs that’s more worrying. I think they say anything up to level 9 is alright for visceral fat.

If it helps, the human brain is nearly 60% fat

Thanks god someone sensible replied. You do know OP that health women have a considerable percentage of body fat, no matter how slim they are?

Do you know if you eat fat because getting on the scale that gets counted in too.

I am 8.5 stone and 5 foot, size 8 and we have an expensive set of digital scales that transfer your details to an app. My body fat is very nearly on the very high scale. Although It’s subcutaneous and not visceral thankfully. I think we all definitely carry more fat than what it looks like on the outside

My BMI is 23, body fat 32%

i started at bmi 29, body fat 41%.

when I look at the progress graph it does seem to go down at the same rate, so I’m suspicious it’s more algorithm than impedance measurement.

Sorry OP, it’s accurate!

The vast majority of us are unhealthily fat.

Also as people have said, those machines aren't really reliable at all. They work like you said by passing a current through your body and using the resistance to estimate fat %, but loads of things can affect your resistance. If it's one of the ones that checks through both feet it won't know about your boobs, and if it's hand-to-hand it won't be passing any current through your bum. One study they did into the accuracy of these was that the best ones were off by 20%ish and the worst by more than a third, so even if it was a very accurate machine that would give you a range of 30%-45% body fat, which ranges from normal and healthy to into the really high categories! Not very useful to know you're in such a wide range really.

Good example of this is that they're seriously affected by how hydrated you are. If you got on one really dry and then had a couple of glasses of water and got straight back on you would have a really different % so I couldn't worry too much! Bit like BMI, useful over a population but not individually. Much better to worry about do you feel good in your body, can you do the things you want to be able to do imho.

Try the threesixtyme app

That’s probably about right. I once paid to have a dexascan done and I was horrified by the result! Remember that women generally carry more fat than men and as we age it doesn’t get any easier to lose, but it does get easier to gain!

It’s really not as horrific as you think, you’re only a few % over the recommended bf %. No need to go on any crazy diets or workout like a mad woman. If you’re interested in reducing it, you could probably see some quite significant results with some small changes.

I have been using the Boots machines every few weeks for the last year. I've got it down from 39.8% to 33.8%. I reckon it's fairly accurate as I've used different machines and it's either been consistent or the reduction was plausible given I have put on quite a bit of muscle and lost a bit of weight.

Sorry OP, but with a BMI of 26, that body fat percentage sounds accurate.

I have a BMI of 22 and my body fat percentage is 24%

Sorry, but that is total nonsense. Fat and muscle are completely different things, you cannot turn one into the other!

However, if you build muscle mass it helps to burn fat.

These might be helpful for reference?

According to those scales I'm around 33% which I don't think I am. I don't think they're necessarily THAT but what do.I know!

please don't worry this hasn't sent me into a mad dieting tailspin. I'll keep on trying to walk more and eat well.

Thanks for the replies it's been interesting. I'd just been to a deli and had a sandwich with a decent amount mozzarella in before I did it so maybe that upped my percentage 😂.

Its perfectly normal. Women have a different body composition than men (just another reason why bmi is bullshit). A woman dropping to 10% bodyfat is dangerously low, and would likely cause her periods to stop whereas a pro male bodybuilder can drop to 3% (although this too is dangerous long term). Btw a bmi of 26 is not overweight. The diet industry changed the number because it sounded better. A ‘healthy’ bmi used to go up to 27.

My periods stopped when I was training for a half marathon, I don't think my body fat was anywhere near as low as 15%.

OP the numbers mean nothing if you don't know the context i.e. What's normal for bodyfat percentage. Up to 33% body fat is normal and healthy for women as we naturally carry more than men. So at 38% you are only slightly out of the healthy range 😊