Originally Posted by
closetbiker
Going back to the original question:
Body Fat Charts
A quick google yields a range that forgives with age:
From what you've posted, I still think that the quality of measurement is suspect. It doesn't sound like you're overfat, it sounds like the scale you used isn't accurate.
I suggest these charts are not relevant to fit people who exercise strenuously. They were derived from a population where the vast majority are sedentary. If you study exercise and nutrition physiology, it's readily apparent that exercise dominates and moves the so-called healthy zones to the far right and left of this chart. The fitter one is the less risk of death from all causes.
Just one example: the Cooper institute in Dallas amassed a data base of 43,000 males which were tracked for a number of years. Each was periodically tested on a standard treadmill test and divided in quintiles of fitness. The top quintile had a death rate from all causes less than 1/10 that of the most sedentary quintile. That was irrespective of fat percentage or diet, though one has to assume that if they were part of the Cooper program, they ate reasonably well and were certainly not obese.
Kenneth Cooper who started the jogging craze in the '70s is still at it and testifies before Congress periodically.
Al