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.
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Former Member
I'm 5'9" and currently 165 with 8.5% body fat. I've been down to 3.5% and found it very uncomfortable, both for everyday activities and working out. When your body fat is very low, you start to strip away the fat around organs and lose water that your body needs. Your body does not want to be extremely low in body fat. I'd hesitate to go lower than 7-8% if you want to stay healthy.
At any rate, the focus of your changes should be your exercise and nutritional habits rather than body weight or fat measurements. If you eat properly (quality and quanitity) and exercise a reasonable amount (these take some experimentation as each person is different), your body will adjust itself. Don't try to force your body into something it does not want to be.
A more reasonable measure of fitness might be your swimming times, performance in practices, overall feeling while working out, or heart rate.
I'm 5'9" and currently 165 with 8.5% body fat. I've been down to 3.5% and found it very uncomfortable, both for everyday activities and working out. When your body fat is very low, you start to strip away the fat around organs and lose water that your body needs. Your body does not want to be extremely low in body fat. I'd hesitate to go lower than 7-8% if you want to stay healthy.
At any rate, the focus of your changes should be your exercise and nutritional habits rather than body weight or fat measurements. If you eat properly (quality and quanitity) and exercise a reasonable amount (these take some experimentation as each person is different), your body will adjust itself. Don't try to force your body into something it does not want to be.
A more reasonable measure of fitness might be your swimming times, performance in practices, overall feeling while working out, or heart rate.
