Body Fat Percentage Question?
I'm 12 years old, and I went on a body fat calculator website and measured all they asked, and it says: your body fat percentage is estimated to be 14.39 % using the U.S. Navy body fat formula, or 25.80 % using the formula developed by the YMCA. Is this healthy? I know I am only 12, but I'm not looking to lose weight. I just want to know if it's okay. Is it? Yes, I know, but it says they are both developed by two different measuring... people? i guess, so I have a feeling the 2nd one measures on a different 'number' basis, so that's healthy according to them. so yeah. i think the 1st is more accurate.
Public Comments
- 14.39% is perfectly healthy. 25.80% is pretty unhealthy. That's a huge margin that you got. Are you sure you did both of them correctly? If you still get results that are this far apart, next time you go to the doctor ask for a body fat percentage test.
- It depends on which one is right, the first one sounds good, the second one is pretty high.
- That's because body fat calculators cannot estimate your body fat percentage accurately. You have to either use callipers or go to a facility that offers hydrostatic weighing or DEXA scanning. You didn't mention if you are male or female, because men and women have very different body fat percentage thresholds. For example a male with 25% would be considered obese, but for a female that would be considered average. I'm a female with 24% body fat which is just at the upper end of the optimal range (for females) and this was confirmed by a calliper test and DEXA scanning. As for the body fat calculators I can get a reading of anywhere from 14%-34% depending on which one I use!
