I've heard over and over that body fat is much more a measure of fitness than the # pounds you weigh. So, a year ago when I got back into swimming and fitness goals I bought a good quality body and weight measuring scale. Both stats. have gone down over the year but my body fat still seems high compared to what I would expect the progress to be. I'm now 185 lbs. (34 yo, 5'11" tall) and 21% body fat. A year ago I was 205 and 28%. 21% seems high. I think many athletically minded people get to 10% or below??? Is there a web site or place to see what body fat goals or averages are for various fitness levels??? My goal is to eventuall knock off about 15 more pounds but have no clue what I should target as a body fat % goal. Any advice/information is appreciated! I would like to think the scale is broken but I don't think that is the case.
Most sources will say that for males, under 20% is adviseable, and over 20% is "too much". But let's be honest... if you went from 28% to 21%, that's a fantastic improvement. Rome wasn't built in a day. At some point you need to congratulate yourself for _that_ progress, and not get over-eager. You also may need to give your body some time to maintain steady state at 21% before you can really move on.
Also note that hydration can affect your body fat percentage, especially if you're using one of those scales that measures it electronically. I routinely bounce between 17% and 20% depending on how hydrated I am. (Which is why it's generally adviseable to weigh, etc., yourself at the same time of day each time.)
-Rick
Most sources will say that for males, under 20% is adviseable, and over 20% is "too much". But let's be honest... if you went from 28% to 21%, that's a fantastic improvement. Rome wasn't built in a day. At some point you need to congratulate yourself for _that_ progress, and not get over-eager. You also may need to give your body some time to maintain steady state at 21% before you can really move on.
Also note that hydration can affect your body fat percentage, especially if you're using one of those scales that measures it electronically. I routinely bounce between 17% and 20% depending on how hydrated I am. (Which is why it's generally adviseable to weigh, etc., yourself at the same time of day each time.)
-Rick
