Diet soda tied to heart attack, stroke risks: study

[Mister D]

BMI is a baseline -- it is based of couch potatoes. My BMI is 27.8 = overweight. The problem is that I am not a couch potato; I have a 44 inch chest and 34 inch waist. 14% body fat.

How does one test for body fat %?

These criticism of BMI have been out for a long time. I'm not sure why anyone takes it seriously anymore.

[Peter1469]

How does one test for body fat %?

These criticism of BMI have been out for a long time. I'm not sure why anyone takes it seriously anymore.

There are many ways. I use a scale that has an electric pulse that goes through you to tell the difference between fat and muscle. It may not be 100% accurate, but consistency is more important for gauging your situation.

Like I said, BMI is a fine metric for couch potatoes.

[Peter1469]

http://www.tanita.com/en/

[Mister D]

http://www.tanita.com/en/

Wow. That's a higher tech scale than I'm used to.

[Mister D]

Not too pricey either.

[Conley]

Awesome, thanks Peter. I will look into getting one of those. Since I've had some funky palpitations I've been doing weightlifting and I think my body fat is dropping (my waistline is trimming down) but my weight is not largely different.

[Peter1469]

Awesome, thanks Peter. I will look into getting one of those. Since I've had some funky palpitations I've been doing weightlifting and I think my body fat is dropping (my waistline is trimming down) but my weight is not largely different.

Muscle is denser than fat by about 3X. So you can lose waist size and still weight the same. Don't focus on weight; focus on body fat %.

Yes, these scales are not expensive. Realize that if you are dehydrated the % of body fat will be artificially high. Even if they are not 100% accurate, they do create a baseline for you to work with.

[Conley]

Muscle is denser than fat by about 3X. So you can lose waist size and still weight the same. Don't focus on weight; focus on body fat %.

Yes, these scales are not expensive. Realize that if you are dehydrated the % of body fat will be artificially high. Even if they are not 100% accurate, they do create a baseline for you to work with.

Right, the accuracy is not as important as the precision.

[Mister D]

Weighing after a run is probably a bad idea then. I'm probably a quart or more down on water by then. I guess the morning might be best.

[Peter1469]

I weigh myself in the morning and at night. I get about a 3 pound difference, higher at night, but a 2% body fat difference, lower at night.

Probably because I am dehydrated in the morning when I get up.