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I'm a 19 year old female, 5'8", and ex-competitive swimmer (retired due to a permanent leg injury), and an extremely healthy vegan. I am obsessed with lean muscle mass and I perform weight training 3 times a week, and cardio (sometimes HIIT, sometimes mild, continuous running) 5 days a week (sometimes 4, if I'm really out of it).

I went to this local gym, which is really new, small, not well-known whatsoever, not much resources, equipment, space or staff. I only dropped by because they had this offer where you could get a personal trainer for a limited time for a cheap price. So my first class was yesterday, and my body fat % was measured using this weighing scale I stepped on, and it turned out to be 34%, which is well into the obese category!!!! I'm around 135 pounds at the most (I don't weigh myself because I'm full of muscle, and I know muscle weighs 4 times heavier than fat) and I'm thin and slender! How on earth can I be clinically obese at the same time? Are those measuring scales even close to accurate?

[spengler]

You don't measure body fat percentage with just a scale of any kind. You cannot determine BFP just by weight. I would be very weary of this gym you signed up with. There are 4 ways to determine BFP and the least accurate of the 4 requires the pinch test on various parts of your body (abs, chest, arms, thighs, etc.); they measure how much folds in your skin. This info along with your weight, height, and age are inputted into a software or calculated by hand to give ant estimate of your BFP.

There is even an electronic body fat percentage analyzer which measures BFP by measuring the resistants to a mild electric current flowing between two prods in contact with your body. This is not any better than the one I mentioned in the above.

The other 3 involves analysis of your blood serum as will as measuring your body density by the amount of water displaced in a tank when you are placed in it. I have NEVER heard of a scale that measure BFP just by your body weight.

[eilis]

No they are not accurate whatsoever. If you are 5ft8, 135lb and athletic/muscular it's highly improbable that you are anywhere near 34% body fat...maybe if you was a complete couch potatoes who never exercised a day in their life, had muscle wasting and very low bone density, otherwise I wouldn't even think twice about it!

[varik]

no the scale kinds arent accurate because they're sort of like BMI's. Instead use a body fat percentage calculator (google it) and you just use your measurements. Its more accurate

[christie42]

No. The most accurate body fat percentage test is the water displacement test.

[gedalyahu]

Nope because sometimes it counts your muscle mass. And muscle weights more than fat.