How fat do you look? Or: the gap between bf% and look and speed

Good luck. I just couldn’t do it, that last % or two was too much for me since I don’t carry a lot of muscle mass. I simply looked like a bean pole and my wife was on my case about being too skinny. At my age I will just have to come to grips that I will never have anything more than a dad-bod.

At what age?! I will NEVER have a dad bod :joy:

Well, despite attempts, I’ve never not had one (and for reference I have a 22 year old son to give an indication of my relative age). I guess, though, I am still way ahead of the average curve and have no intention of slipping back.

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I’m hoping my previous life as a surfer mean I’ll look ok. I was always a good shape ‘up top’ but with spindly legs. Now that cycling has taken care of that I’m hoping the rest of me hasn’t collapsed in the intervening period. If I get to 10% I’ll post a pic :wink:

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That puts you anywhere between 37 and about 70 :joy:

I think I look about what my scale spits out, or at least when it spits out a BF% that is too low, I use that to gauge that the extra weight I had today compared to last week (with BF about 1% lower) is just water. Although today it did say 10% which I think is lower than what I would consider. I think I’ve gamed my tanita to read a lower BF on athlete mode, so that the reading is closer to real life. Since I usually work out int he mornings, if I use it in the PM, it’ll say something silly like 8 or 9%.

I’m trying to get down to 150 lbs or an even 68 kg at 5’8" which should be me at a legit ~10-11%. Currently at 152-153 and only trying to drop at most 0.5 lg /week.

In morning lighting I actually think I have no gap, then the sun comes up and my pale skin shows almost no definition, and then the constant working out/fueling get me to hold on to a bit more water than first thing in the morning.

I really think the key to getting down this low is to slowly do it… unless your body has a naturally low setpoint. I was this weight about 6 years ago and I thought my face looked too skinny, and I wasn’t as lean as I am now. I don’t lift much, but do focus on a few things and I think my swimming takes care of a lot of my upper body physique/strength. I like to get a bit more muscle on my upper body for crash protection.

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Thanks for your reply. You are in a bf range, where you really have to pay attention to geht even more shredded. But your are in a good range for your height. Thats whats most importent I think.

@Bioteknik I think the Average Mode is closer to a Dexa Scan. The Athlete Mode is closer to a calliper. So it would add 2-4% on your bf% and would be a reason for no clear definition of your abs. :thinking:

I should have said higher bf… i trust my raw weight when the bf reading on the scale is closer to 11 or 12(currently). This is pretty close to what the mirror says. I only really care about the mirror, as the dexa scan thread puts true bf in a wide range and depends on how much visceral fat someone has. I was mostly making a joke about how hard it is for pale people to look defined. Any bodybuilder will use bronzer or tanning booth before a competition since it makes them look more defined. Pale people typically only look the look when the lighting is just right. I never said I have no clear definition of my abs, I just don’t have all 6 clear. Having defined abs can be anywhere from sub 10% up to 13% depending on how much actual muscle you have. My tanita on non-athlete says I’m 17% My scale is over 10 years old and I’m wondering if they’ve changed the way they do the calculations since most people are reporting 3-4% difference while mine is 5+.

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About right, depending on how I feel that day but just a little less than the middle of that range.

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Ok. I got it. But for sure, I will not ever use bronze powder. :wink:
And mybe Tanita changed their calculations. I would think this is very likely as an evolving company. But for sure its highly individual how you look at a certain %. No offense.

I’m 81kg about 178lbs…at %13 bf… Do macros counting every meal. Trying to get down to 10%bf. Should be around 79kg/174lbs. Got to were I’m am by using my fitness pal doing split work outs example, kettlebells in the morning first thing then off to work do my trainerroad work out in the evening.

It’s winter here in the UK and I can’t do winter at all… The dark cold grey days. It’s having an impact on my mood and my body is craving carbs just wanna eat and sleep…

2 weeks out from Christmas and it’s getting difficult as there’s nights out to go to and social occasions…

Thinking of going to the gym in the new year to do just deadlift and squats. Wanna keep my cycling muscles growing and neglect the rest. Squats and deadlifts will keep working your abs and back anyway which we need on a bike…

Don’t want to go lower than 10% as your amune system is more fragile.

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Oh yeah. I know these carb cravings.

I’m 35 years old, 5’9" and 165lbs. According to my Tanita scale, I’m at 17.3% BF. I have two different scales and they pretty much tell me the same data. I feel like my body carries great definition, sans my mid section which is “all flab”. There is still quite a bit of belly, back, and hip fat. I used to be 205lbs 12 years ago and up until I started cycling in 2015, I hovered around 180lbs. I’ve been able to stay at the 165 mark since August 2018. I plan to start incorporating strength work in the coming weeks to help improve my lean mass. I would start now, but I’m still recovering from a bike accident on 11/17/18 and still experience some discomfort in my upper back.

Wow. Great effort. Keep up the good work.