% of Body Fat

kgillikin

Does anyone know how to get an acurate % of your Body Fat? Also how often should you check it to see if it has gone down. Oh one more thing, how much is healthy and not healthy?

RoniDoll

bump

gcineas

check out my thread there is some useful stuff here

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/222849-how-to-decrease-body-fat

beccala18

This site was on one of the forum posts and was said to be accurate by people who measured also by calipers. The website calculator also tells you where you are - i.e. "fit" "acceptable" "obese", etc.

http://fitness.bizcalcs.com/Calculator.asp?Calc=Body-Fat-Navy

liftingbro

The best way to do it is get a bodpod test done. Some universities and health clubs have them.

Look here for a location
http://www.bodpod.com/clients/locator

Some places it's $40 other places it could be $100. Some gyms have it as a special perk and the cheapest places are normally universities because their health and fitness students run them.

Otherwise you can do a caliper test (you may need someone to help) where you use a caliper to measure skin folds and then calulate %.

Bodpod is very good becaue it will tell you BF%, lean mass, and how many calories your specific makeup requires for maintenance and for weight loss.

As for normal BF%:

Healthy for women is mid to upper 20's or so. Fit is low 20's. Fitness models are normally around 15-18%.

Men average is around 20%, fit men around 15% and elite athletes anywhere from 4%-10%.

corpus_validum

Agree. Bodpod.

But to see your body fat % trend (not necessarily accurate) over a period of time, a good body composition monitor like a Tanita would prove useful.

liftingbro

Agree. Bodpod.

But to see your body fat % trend (not necessarily accurate) over a period of time, a good body composition monitor like a Tanita would prove useful.

I'm not sure I'd bother with spending that sort of money on something that is probably off by 10% either direction. Most scales are not very accurate at all. If you want a ball park figure, buy a $30 scale. It might not be real accurate but at least the change will be consistant with your weight loss.

pchann

Ginormous difference in body composition scales. After buying and returning numerous ones I found the "Omron HBF-516" and LOVE IT! I take my weight daily but my body stats once a week. In my opinion this is the best scale under $300. I got mine for $80 delivered to my front door. For athletes the ironman composition scales start at $300.