Highlander1

I just came back from Fred Meyer with my test results. I am 65 years old. They have a machine to test there.
Blood Pressure 132/93 Hg Pulse 81
Weight 224.2 lbs
BMI 32.2
Body Fat 21.7%
Hydration Index -2.06

So my BMI is horrible but actual body fat at 21.7% doesn't make it easy to get under 200 lbs. I would be around 10 to 12% Fat. That is really hard to do at my age. If I had 25 lbs less to carry I could bike like a rocket though. I will have to become anorexic to get there. Longest day ride this year only 100 miles. Last year at 212 lbs longest day ride was 200 miles.

rteesdale

Have you discussed diet options with your doctor or some other (knowledgeable) person? By "diet" I mean specifically trying to zero in on "hidden" (sugar) contributors to body fat %. It may shave off a bit.

TrojanHorse

As a corollary, find one of those online food trackers (there are plenty of good ones that are free) and ID just how much you're eating & what it is you're eating.

10 Wheels

How tall are you.

6ft here , 223 lbs,started riding when 65 y/o....11,200 mi first year, 15,923 2nd yr.

Dropped to 188 lbs.

now 71 y/o and 215 lbs

drorgo

How did you come up with the 21.7% body fat number? What is your waist (around belly button) and height measurements?

Highlander1

The electronic measurements take all factors into consideration, do you think Arnold Schwarzeneggar and John Goodman would have the same body fat at the same weight and height and age? Was Sylvester Stalone obese when he made Rocky? That is why BMI is a joke.

drorgo

The percent body fat number from those machines is also a joke. Arnold has a much smaller waist than John Goodman, that is why asked you what your waist (around belly button, not necessarily pants size) and height were.

kris7047th

I am a woman just a few years younger than you and have been on a diet and exercising the past three months. Losing weight at our age isn't enough as the body parts & *muscles* go south/gets soft as we get older. I have changed my diet and took up biking and I feel great .. lost 20 lbs @ 126 lbs currently with just 5-6 more to go. I am 5'5".

I don't pay attention to what machines and calculators tell me what I should be at. What matters to me is the weight that I KNOW I feel the best at and that becomes my target weight to work to.

JackoDandy

Let me get this straight, your 225lbs and you are complaining that your longest ride this year was 'only' 100 miles?

I guess the grass always seems greener in the other guys yard but I'd say a 100 mile ride is pretty darn good. Probably much further than 70% of the clydes reading here

Mr Sinister

A 100 mile ride... I personally have never done one. My longest ride is 91 miles. Now I want to get a 100 mile ride done before the years end. I also weigh about 10 pounds less and am about 19 years younger.

speedy25

I am finding out more and more about whats REALLY in our food and how it affects our bodies. I am NOT a "foodie" but much of my adult life has been in chemical research. I try NOT to ingest anyhting I work with, but have been finding out that I voluntarily ingest things I really shouldnt.

Many will tell you not to eat wheat products. I thought it was just a carbohydrate thing. I overlooked the fact that most of our wheat is genetically modified so it wont be killed by roundup herbicide. Blah blah blah, GMO...! Wait a minute! Its modified to be roundup resistant?! Soooo that means its being doused with roundup anyway, and since the plant LIVES we are eating roundup??!! When the plant dies it degrades and doesnt persist in the soil, but if the plant lives, it ends up in our bodies. Eeeek! There is more than that if you go looking. Look for better QUALITY food, and you will lose that weight. I think anyone that eats moderately and is active will stay a healthy weight easily.

Thats my theory. Now its time for ME to put it in practice. (This really is all new information to me!)

-SP

mr_pedro

225, 5'11" and 22% body fat? That a lot of muscles!

bbbean 

+1 on this. I dropped 150 lbs by simply setting reasonable goals and logging my foods and workouts. FWIW, Map My Ride has built in food logging, so it's a pretty easy way to track both calories burned and calories consumed.

ChargerDawg

If I had my one wish, I would create a better BMI calculator that would be a better measure of a persons level of fitness.

I can do it, it would just take about 10K volunteers.

Rowan

BMI is not meant to have anything to do with fitness.

Doohickie

I just started with MyFitnessPal (just started a thread on it), and so far it seems to be working well for me.

Doohickie

Yes it does. There is a pretty decent correlation between fitness and BMI. It's not a 100% indicator and can be corrupted by build (musculature, etc.), but for someone with a non-athletic build, it's not bad.

Doohickie

I noticed that. How good is the food data?

KBentley57

Not as good as MFP's. I particularly like the bar code scanner functionality of MFP. It takes the work out of logging food when you can just point your phone at the bar code and scan. Saved meals are a bonus time saver too. I used to use it 3 times a day, every day for a year or two. I've also just noticed, my MFP ticker in my sig doesn't look like yours.

Doohickie

They're customizable.

TrojanHorse

You have to pay for the yellow jersey to get the images in your signature block.

Mr. Markets

Sorry, wrong, in the US we do not grow GMO wheat unless it is illegal. We do grow GMO corn, sorghum, potatos, sugar beets and who knows what else, but no wheat.

IBOHUNT

with respect to Roundup...
and your corn along with corn based products (tortilla's, taco shells, etc.) along with soybeans and it's products. Spray the heck out of them.

IBOHUNT

Then we get into the debate of a 'non-athletic build'
According to BMI calculators I am overweight at 18% body fat

bbbean 

I'm not sure. I had a year and a half's records already in carbs conteol when I started using MMR, so I'm still using two apps. But I have to assume that it's close enough to be useable. When I spot checked it, it was certainly in the neighborhood.

Truth be told, there's always guesswork involved, and apps like MFP that rely in part on user data have their own variability to take into account. But faulty data is better than no data in this case. You just have to develop an eye for numbers that seem out of whack with reality.

BB