Body fat, how do you figure it?

breezymom81

How do you figure your body fat percentage? depending on where I go for this info I get anywhere from 27% to 50%. I have a home scale that figures it, I don't really trust it but now I don't know what to trust! AT 198lbs I doubt that I have 27% body fat, as great as that would be!

hroush

The scales have a horrific standard deviation. A body fat caliper isn't bad, really cheap online, but you need someone to help you with it. The most accurate is a place that will weigh you in a pool or a similar device. You'd have to check around your area at fitness clubs or something like that to see who measures body fat and how.

rachel0923

I used to have mine done hydrostatically (in water) at a local university's fitness lab. I had used my scale's body fat measurement the morning of and they were way different! I think the scale had me much higher than I really was.

luppic8

The best way to get an accurate account is to see your doctor and have them do a BMI test on you. Scales can only estimate according to your weight, but the scale does not take height into account...does that make sense? I had my doctor perfom a BMI test and they made me get into this little chamber filled with water. They made me lay in the water to see how bouyant I was while submerged in the water. It was interesting, but the resrults were spot on!

sweetmanjd

yep - hydrostatic testing is best. Google "hyrdrostatic" and your location to find the closest place. For me, it was a good reality check. It shows you that your "ideal" weight changes based on how much lean muscle mass you have.
So my "ideal" was 10 lbs more than I thought because I have a lot of muscle mass.

Good luck!