I am 6 foot 1 and weigh 240 pounds but i only have 24 percent body fat can i get into the military?

I am wanting to join either the air force or navy with preference in the air force. I checked their charts and the max is 202 lbs. Will the take into consideration my body fat percentage or not. i am very muscular so its hard to lose the weight. i dont want to lose the muscle in order to lose the weight.

Public Comments

1. you probably won't fly jets, but sure - why not?
2. that is something you may wanna chat to a recruiter about. But dont pay too more attention to the charts. Like body mass index you have a small maount of body fat, and they tend to view that more. Navy looks like the better option as depending on what you want to do in the AF they prefer lighter shorter people, esp in the area of pilots and stuff.
3. sry wont be able to
4. You would have to lose at least 32 pounds (max is 208) to get accepted into the AF...that is if you scored well enough on your ASVAB and met all other requirements. You can still talk to a Recruiter and they may work you but you won't be able to process MEPs until your weight is down or they confirm your body fat. Just to let you know....the AF doesn't have a "fat camp". GOOD LUCK!!
5. If you otherwise qualify they will send you to fat camp and get you down to a workable weight. The Air Force is pretty picky about who they take in. It's the one service branch that has mainly officers among it's rank and file.
6. Talk to the recruiter. If you are overweight, they might advise you to slim down a few before they'll let you sign the papers. Regardless, they will advise you to "get in shape" before basic training. Even IF you sign the papers and are overweight, or can't do the basic fitness requirements, I know the army has a "fat camp" (I don't know the formal name for it) before basic training. It is a one-two week program specifically for those people who need to get their bodies in shape, but it is very grueling, from what I heard. Seriously, though, I mean, I sat on my butt all my life, and all I did before basic was jog around the block a few times and faked a few pushups on my knees. I didn't have to go through Fat Camp. You don't want to go through fat camp.
7. yes you weigh too much
8. they will pound you with cardio until your BMI is what it says it should be on the chart. they will make you lose at least thirty pounds.at least. just become a cop.you get payed more,get similar training and will be much safer/closer to home. do yourself a favor and rethink enlisting.
9. Dont listen to everyone saying you weight too much. Yes, according to the charts at 6'1, the max weight is 208 so you should aim for around 200 but if it's impossible to get your weight down there is an option you have when they take your body fat percentage and use that in deciding if you qualify. And actually 240 lbs of pure muscle is better that going in as a twig. I'd still work on losing a few lbs and you probably need to before they would even consider using your body fat as a a factor. I forget what the max body fat percentage is but i do know its an option. Talk to a recruiter and good luck my man
10. im 5'8 and 210 was 225 before i went to enlist i had to lose the weight but i know how you feel but you got to do whatever you have to do to get in its more bout body percentage but even at 210 they said i was 20 percent bf and 205 was the weight i was supposed to be. but yeah at 20 percent you can enlist but at meps they try to make everything twice as hard as usual so they can disqualify you so when they do your bf % they are going to round up pretty high cause i know i aint no 20% maybe 10 at most i used to bodybuild.
11. I am in the Navy. By Navy PRT regulations (OPNAV 6110.1H), you would need to have a circumference value of 22.0 or less. The circumference value is your neck measurement in inches, subtracted from waist (parallel to deck, directly above the belly button). For example, if your neck measured 18 inches, and waist is 40 inches, your circumference value would be 22.0. According the chart, a circumference value of 22.0 for a 73 inch male is 22% body fat which is the maximum allowed in the Navy. Since you say you are mostly muscular, you should very easily be below this 22%...unless you have a skinny neck and huge muscular belly. There have been cases where someone is genuinely almost all muscle and fail this body fat method. There is waivers available for this.
12. In the Army, there is no requirements for waist circumferences or anything of that nature. Your body fat will determine if you will be placed in an overweight program. When I was in Basic Training 5 years ago, they had a different standard for recruits and regular soldiers. The standards for recruits were much lower because the expectations of a recruit are not as high. I would check with a recruiter and find out about the requirements, although they will ensure you are healthy enough at MEPS before they let you enlist.
13. talk to a recruiter, they will know for sure. When I joined the USAF in 1993 the rules were that if you were 10 pounds under the listed max weight you didn't have to get body taped but if you were less than 10 pounds under or even in your circumstances over the listed max weight then they would measure your neck and waist and figure out if you qualify.
14. Your body fat percentage isn't even good so why would they take that into account. Get it below 10% then you'll be good to go.
15. The max is 205 for younger entrants. It is 208 to 213 for older entrants. You are fine on body fat since the max allowed is 26%. The source below is the medical standard.
16. By Marine Corps standards you are overweight, but they will let you join. And you will lose that weight in boot camp. At 73" your max weight in the Marines is 208, you can weigh more than that, but your body fat needs to be 18% or lower. 24% body fat is not mostly muscle, sorry but it's the truth. The way the Marines measure bodyfat is they take the measurment of the waist, and the neck. Subtract the neck size from the waist size and that's how they come up with your BMI. It's not real accurate, but that's how it's done. I know you said you were interested in joining the Army or the Navy, well the Marines are a dept. of the Navy...the MEN'S dept. (my Navy Bros know I'm kidding)
17. Try the Navy, you may be able to get into a pilot program I read about where they are taking people with a much higher body fat %. They track your progress through boot camp and the navy tends to take care of people who try. Body builders do weigh more, but when they are taped, it just shows the weight is in muscle and that puts you in the clear, this I know to be true.