Where to measure?

apachebat

I'm trying to figure our my body fat % by taking various measurements: weight, height, neck, waist, hips. I'm not sure where to take the waist measurement. If I go by my natural waist, I get 29", but around my belly button is 33." These give me drastically differenet results, so which is the "most accurate"?

randomtai

A good BF% calculator will take both of those measurements into account.

apachebat

I see, do you happen to have a link? I was using the one on the fat2fitradio website.

tabcatme

waist measurements are normally taken around the belly button, that way you know you are taking the measurements from the same place every time.

randomtai

I use this:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/961054-spreadsheet-for-bodyfat-bmr-tdee-progress-tracker

ETA- This is the acutal link to the spreadsheet:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Amt7QBR9-c6MdGVTbGswLUUzUHNVVUlNSW9wZWloeUE

Pearsquared

The most important thing is to be consistent with where you measure, but generally I've heard you take the waist measurement at the narrowest part of your waist, which may or may not be around your belly button. For me, it's just above.

apachebat

I use this:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/961054-spreadsheet-for-bodyfat-bmr-tdee-progress-tracker

ETA- This is the acutal link to the spreadsheet:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Amt7QBR9-c6MdGVTbGswLUUzUHNVVUlNSW9wZWloeUE

Well, that's pretty awesome. Thanks so much!