I'm thrilled! but...I don't believe it!

M

Mariela

Cathlete
According to my Fat Track Gold, I am 9.4% bodyfat. I know the numbers are not exact, but an estimate. But I think it is lower than I really am. I don't think I look as defined as a 9.4% would. Also, my skin looks flabby, not tight. Maybe it's that. Maybe with a tan I would look more defined. Or maybe I just find it too good to be true! What do you think?

This is messing my head, just as much as scales do to some.
 
Wow, that's low for a woman!
I remember that back in her heyday, Rachel McLish was 18% bodyfat off-season, and around 12% body fat on-season.
 
That is extremely low. In my 20s, I had my body fat measured at 2 different places. One place said 13% and the other said 15%. I was not skinny, but pretty muscular. The trainer who did my measurement told me NOT to go any lower than 13% unless I was training for a competition as I would start looking skinny and unhealthy.
 
I actually have to take a practical exam on caliper use tomorrow :eek: IMO, if your bf is really 9.4% you would know it, no period, mood swings, etc. Women should not go below 13%, anything below is messing with hormone secretion - not good. Certainly if you are training for a competition or something short term, then I suppose its ok temporarily.

Are you taking your own measurements? Are you doing 3 site or 9 site? Are you using a tape measure to find your exact sites? (really important for proper reading). Always use your right side, be sure to really grab a lot of tissue (flex to be sure you don't have muscle, then relax again), place calipers in middle of fold 1 cm above fingers(not too close to body, not to close to crest of fold), do not remove fingers during reading, place calipers on fold, reading should take no more than 2 seconds, rotate through sites 2 times, if any 2 sites are more than 10% off from each other, do a 3rd time, take the average of 2 or 3 readings. Unfortunately, caliper readings take quite a while to master

Sorry if all this is redundant for you... I'm not familiar w/ Fat Track Gold and it's instructions. The above are ACSM's guidelines.

Either way it sounds like you are very lean, great job!

~Shannon
 
It sounds impressive, but I don't really look that impressive. Maybe I haven't mastered the Fat Track Gold caliper technique. I have used it only a couple of times. I am going to keep measuring my bf% for the rest of the week to make sure I master the technique.

If it keeps coming that low, I'll switch my goal from fat loss to improving my skin, because it is loose.
 
Shannon, thank you so much for the tips. I am going to copy, paste, and print it for my next measure.

Here is what I did:
The fat track gold is for measuring oneself in three sites: arm, waist, and thigh. For arms, I flexed and grabbed the skin with with the caliper because, obviously I can't use the other hand to grab it. So I let the legs of the caliper "slide" while holding them tight until the skinfold was grabbed by the legs of the caliper.

One thing I noticed with the Fat Track Gold is that you have to close the measuring legs tightly, otherwise it will overestimate the bf%. The looser you hold them, the greater the %.

For the waist I used the illiac crest, above the hip bone, in the front. That was pretty obvious that it was correct, because it kept coming the same: 1 mm. (But the front part of the waist is another story; it looks thicker, and probably would have gave me a higher measurement.)

For the thigh I used my left thigh because in the right was difficult. I used the inside of the thigh, because that is were my skin can be grabbed. I put my leg straight and flexed the foot.
For all three points, I didn't use a measuring tape to find them, but I calculated using key points in my body. Not to brag, and I know this is hard to believe, but I have very good visual memory and can remember exact or almost exact points in space, distances, etc.


I forgot to say that my menstrual period hasn't gone, but it has had a considerable reduction: From six to seven days that it used to be, to about three to four days.
 
Do the calipers have a way to measure the amount of pressure to use? I don't know how to word that to make sense... Plastic calipers have a line that guides you, squeeze to that line and then take the reading... hope that makes some sense.

When doing triceps, grab the tissue first, then flex. Your arm should be straight down at your side, and you should be grabbing behind your arm - really difficult for someone to do on themselves. You should be grabbing at the midpoint between your acromion process (knobby bone on top of your shoulder) and your olecranon process (elbow joint), use a tape measure to find this point, it's probably higher up on your arm than you would think. Most women have their highest measurement here, even muscular women.

The updated 3 site for women is Triceps, Suprailiac, and Abdominals. The thigh is really difficult to get a grab on - this goes for lean and heavy people. The thigh reading should be done standing. The inner thigh is not one of the sites, so it won't figure into the equation properly. Use the abdomen and go 2 cm to the right of your belly button. You may have to grab pretty hard, give the tissue a shake and pull up and out (this should be done on all sites).

Hope that helps a little :) Your giving me some good practice for my exam, thanks :)
 
Shannon...

And I thank you for helping me with this. ;-) The Fat Track Gold has a blue button on one of the measuring legs that is supposed to indicate correct pressure and measurement, ensuring accuracy, with an audible beep. I don't understand how it does it, though.

I'll let you know how I did with my measurements after using your guidelines. Let me know how you did in your exam. And good luck!!!
 
Hi Mariela! Your bf percentage is definitely in the range of the fitness competitors. The fitness competitors only stay this low for a short period of time & then they jack up their bf %. It isn't healthy to be in this range for the reasons stated by the other posters. Where did you purchase this Fat Track Gold anyway? I gotta get me this device! LOL Take care, Kathy:D
 
Where did you get this Fat Track Gold, I'm thinking of trying to go between my scale and calipers. My scale is an okay compass but I don't know how accurate the bodyfat percentage is on that. So I'm going to try both methods.
 
Sincerely I am not sure I recommend the Fat Track Gold. The Accumeasure, the cheaper one, that you only pinch in the illiac crest seems to be easier to get an accurate reading. I got my Fat Track Gold for $25, no shipping and handling with coupon, on supplementsexpress.com. But for some reason when you go to the website something else appears. Do a search on "Fat Track Gold" and the link to supplementsexpress.com that directs you to the Fat Track Gold offer should appear. It should be one of the first to appear. That was the best deal I could find.
 
Not to be negative but why do you want such a low goal.

I guess having been around some pretty serious illness I value health most. The idea of losing periods to be low body weight scares the cr&P out of me.

Perhaps (hopefully) I'm miss reading this thread. Very possible!
 
Yes, you are missreading. You must be sleepy. LOL! ;-) I never said that was my goal. I didn't know -and still don't know- what my body fat %. I suspect it is much higher than 9.4. I'm too are scared about losing my period and/or being unhealthy. When I get an accurate reading I will know if I should stop losing fat or not. But, you are right, maybe the reduction in period days is an indicator that I should stop. Actually, I have stopped already for that very same reason. I have been maintaining for about two months.
 
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