Body Fat Measurement

bejuled74

Does anyone know a good Body Fat Measuring tool that's not too expensive. I've seen them range from $5.00 to 100.00 +. I just don't know which one is the most accurate and are the more expensive ones more accurate?

grimendale

Tape measure. The electrical imepedence tools are notoriously inaccurate (fluctuations due to body water content, humidity, skin moisture, etc.). There are plenty of calculators that only require a tape measure (Eat, Train, Progress group has a good thread on estimating your body fat), which is extremely cheap.

MrsJS5

Tanita and Omron are the two common brands for electrical impedance measurement. I have a Tanita scale (around $70 I think) and as long as you measure a few hours after eating and not right after a shower or body lotion (water and other things on skin change results) it is pretty accurate if you track over a period of time. I never measure body fat first thing in the morning because if you are dehydrated your body fat is a greater % of overall mass. Most studies (scientific and anecdotal) show the Tanita scale is more accurate than the Omron hand-held device especially for women. Google "Texas A&M Omron study" and LA TImes Omron vs. Tanita to see two articles comparing the devices. Best thing to do is track it over time at the same time of day. Try to keep as many variables the same. Omron supposedly reads too high as a rule. I used both yesterday about an hour apart. My Tanita measurement was 18.5% and the Omron (done at the gym with a trainer) was 20.5%.

I think the most important thing to do is track over time and compare those results.

waldo56

x2 on the tape measure.

There are formulas/calculators that you can use to estimate your body fat from the measurements (the Navy and YMCA have well known formulas).

While the accuracy of these formulas isn't great in an absolute sense (unless one of them describes your body perfectly numerically, which is possible), the accuracy is extremely good in a relative sense. If they tell you that you are 25% BF, that number is suspect, but if you lost 2% in the last month, that number is probably pretty reliable.

The tape measure method is sound though. There is a theoretical formula that can perfectly convert tape measurement and weight values into BF% for everybody, though for most people that formula doesn't exist in a real sense (yet).

Simply watching the tape measure get smaller though is good enough for many.most. If the measurements are shrinking, you are losing body fat.

Eventually you'll reach a point you are happy with, measurements at that point will establish a baseline that you can always compare against in the future.

cwolfman13

- tape measure

- calipers

those are you two best bets for inexpensive and probably the most accurate outside of hydrostatic testing.