I was at my local gym today and ran 5k which I was delighted with. I decided on the way out to grab one of the gym attendants to give me a check on my weight, and body fat percentage!!! to my horror it is 34!!! which is apparently on the high side...can anyone please advise what I can do to get this down. My diet is a healthy one with plenty of fruit and veg, wholemeal bread, low fat milk, yogurts etc etc etc...all the usual stuff. Can anyone give me any idea on what I can do...

PS I am 42 years old and my weights is 9stone 4lbs

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NELLIE

body fat percentage of 34 is only outside what is perceived 'acceptable', if you have a healthy diet, I would assume if you continue to train a couple of times a week it will soon come down.

Oh I hope so...i have been training 4/5 times a week since April and am now running since August 3-5 miles about 4 times a week with about 3 sessions in the gym as well!!!!. I am in despair as I don't know what else I can do... I was 9stone 10lbs when I started so I have lost a bit of weight!

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NELLIE

Nellie, if you are training, eating well, and generally feeling fine about yourself - don't beat yourself up about it. I'm sure my percentage would make yours look tiny, but I've never been tested, and just continue to train and enjoy it.

I'm sure the Runners Forum GP will be on here to confirm, but I don't think body fat percentage is a good indicator of health, particularly in athletes. Personally Nellie, if you know your diet is good and you feel OK, I wouldn't worry about it.

As Granty and Admin said, please don't worry for those numbers. You enjoyed your 5K and you feel great. That is more important than a percentage.

Nellie,
I don't trust body fat measurements. At the gym recently mine was 28.7% whereas on my body fat scales at home I'm normally 16%.
Something wrong somewhere!

Also, if you measure yourself early morning before breakfast, and again later in the day, you can find that your body fat percentage varies by as much as 5 to 10 points. At least in my own experience of my own home monitor, day in day out. Probably the same effect that Steve is seeing.

Not the same variance with me at home...I can range from 14.5% to 16.5% at home

That's odd. I wonder if it's a girl thing then? I'm not thin, but count as normal in all standard body measurements.

Never trust them.

My monitor at home never reads less than 25.

That can`t possibly be right.




I wish..

It may well be Karen. We need some more input on the matter to ascertain whether ladies' bfm varies more than mens' during the day.

I do know that there is a difference is BFP in men and women, ladies are much higher... ....how do you lower your BFP???

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NELLIE

Cut something off?!

I'm confused about how you can measure body fat from a scales
Can anyone enlighten me?!