Body Fat % Calculator Correct?

andrewj87

Can anyone who knows their Body Fat% verify if this calculator seems anywhere near accurate? Wondering if it's a good gauge to go by.

http://www.freedieting.com/tools/body_fat_calculator.htm

Escape_Artist

Online calculators, calipers and Impedence tests are all inacurate. The only ways to get an accurate BF% reading is with a BodPod or Dexa scan

tomcornhole

The navel measurement got me within 2% or so. The skinfold one nailed my current BF%. I use a BodPod measurement for reference which has its own issues. I think it depends on your fat distribution. For a male, if you carry fat on your gut it may overestimate. If you carry fat in your legs and arms, it may underestimate.

FrenchMob

Online calculators, calipers and Impedence tests are all inacurate. The only ways to get an accurate BF% reading is with a BodPod or Dexa scan

....and hydrostatic weighing

tomcornhole

Online calculators, calipers and Impedence tests are all inacurate. The only ways to get an accurate BF% reading is with a BodPod or Dexa scan

The BodPod is good but it is not accurate. I went a couple months ago and asked the operator to do an experiment with me. She ran the first set of tests and got 15.6%. She ran the second set and got 11.6%. I sucked in my gut and blew out all my air before the second test. An accurate reading was somewhere between those 2.

Best way to track BF% is to measure several different ways and track it. While I may not know the exact number, I can always spot a trend. And I've been at this long enough that I can predict my BodPod results to within 1-2%.

andrewj87

Ah unfortunately I don't have access to a BodPod or even a cheap pair of callipers so was hoping somewhere around there's a calculator that can give a best guess for starters, wishful thinking I suppose. I get an 11% result with waist measurement anyway.

bcattoes

Yes, it is correct for me.

I had a DEXA late last year, a recent caliper measurement, and I have a scale that shows BF%. All match this online calculator within 1.6%

This is the most accurate online calculation I've seen for me.

ETA: I only entered waist measurement for the online calculator because I don't have all the indivicual caliper measurements with me.

andrewj87

Yes, it is correct for me.

I had a DEXA late last year, a recent caliper measurement, and I have a scale that shows BF%. All match this online calculator within 1.6%

This is the most accurate online calculation I've seen for me.

ETA: I only entered waist measurement for the online calculator because I don't have all the indivicual caliper measurements with me.

Within 1.6%...that actually sounds promising, I'll still take the result with a grain of salt though just to be safe.

tomcornhole

Ah unfortunately I don't have access to a BodPod or even a cheap pair of callipers so was hoping somewhere around there's a calculator that can give a best guess for starters, wishful thinking I suppose. I get an 11% result with waist measurement anyway.

Amazon sells them for $9.

http://www.amazon.com/AccuMeasure-MyoTape-AM-3000-Fitness-Personal/dp/B002VAPHXW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1380291944&sr=8-2&keywords=accu+measure+calipers



Accu-Measure calipers and tape measure. Very useful tools.

Escape_Artist

Online calculators, calipers and Impedence tests are all inacurate. The only ways to get an accurate BF% reading is with a BodPod or Dexa scan

....and hydrostatic weighing

True, though hydrostatic body composition analysis is not as common as Dexa or BodPod normally

@tomcornhole, ha, that's interesting! I did Dexa and Bodpod a couple of times at the university I graduated from and they always come about 0.02% close one reading from another
In any case it's a good indicator to go by.

For me Calipers and Online calculators have always been so much off it's not even funny