How do you measure your body fat %

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brookesready
brookesready Posts: 52 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I am looking to purchase some sort of body fat measurement tool. Probably either a scale or calipers. Just wondering what you guys use and what brands etc. can you recommend?
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Replies

  • skinnyjeanzbound
    skinnyjeanzbound Posts: 3,932 Member
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    bump
  • Elizabeth_C34
    Elizabeth_C34 Posts: 6,376 Member
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    Calipers are inexpensive and accurate. Sometimes the body fat scales are way off.
  • ProTFitness
    ProTFitness Posts: 1,379 Member
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    Real calipers that work that most all professionals use are about $200. The scales and hand held machines are not accurate and usless and a waste of money. Find a Personal Trainer that will do it for you
  • ProTFitness
    ProTFitness Posts: 1,379 Member
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    You want the Metal ones not the plastic ones .
  • bluemist248
    bluemist248 Posts: 207 Member
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    I'm using digital scales that measure both BMI and body fat. To be honest, it varies each time I step on (even within a few seconds). If you buy scales to do this I'd recommend measuring each day at first and then just take a rough average and consider that your %. For example mine varies from 40% - 42.9% so I say I have 41% and It's not until it says something in the 30s that I consider it to have gone down.
  • ifeelsqueaky
    ifeelsqueaky Posts: 193
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    I use Tanita scales but I take each measurement with a pinch of salt - it gives you a rough indication but as people have said it's not terribly accurate.
  • randilorne
    randilorne Posts: 3
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    I did mine at the gym and also found this site http://www.healthcentral.com/cholesterol/home-body-fat-test-2774-143.html
    The readings were about .5 lb off
  • Elizabeth_C34
    Elizabeth_C34 Posts: 6,376 Member
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    You want the Metal ones not the plastic ones .

    Can I ask why the plastic ones are not as accurate? I'm curious about this.
  • BeetleChe13
    BeetleChe13 Posts: 498 Member
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    I agree with bluemist. It's not the most accurate way to measure body fat, but it does give a good idea what sort of place you're at. My scale varies within a 1-1.5% range, but I know I'm at roughly 25.5%.
  • ImperfektAngel
    ImperfektAngel Posts: 811 Member
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    I bought one of those little machines, waste of money, I get the same reading with an online body fat calculator :-/
  • hroush
    hroush Posts: 2,073 Member
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    I bought a plastic one off of amazon for about $5 and it broke on my third attempt to use it :ohwell: To be fair, I was attempting to use it on myself, probably wouldn't have broke if someone else was using it on me. On that note, it is really difficult to do caliper measurements on yourself and even more prone to errors.
  • newbeautifulme
    newbeautifulme Posts: 112
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    My doctor has a scale that measures body fat that I use. The scale is as accurate as underwater body fat tests.
  • BeetleChe13
    BeetleChe13 Posts: 498 Member
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    I did mine at the gym and also found this site http://www.healthcentral.com/cholesterol/home-body-fat-test-2774-143.html
    The readings were about .5 lb off

    Wow! That site says my body fat is only 23.3%. Hmmmm... bookmarking that!
  • brookesready
    brookesready Posts: 52 Member
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    Wow.. Thanks for all of the responses. I guess the general consensus is they are all a waste of money. lol Glad I asked you guys before I impulsively went and bought one. I think I will still with the online calculators for now.
  • mark03264
    mark03264 Posts: 334 Member
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    Not all scales and handheld devices are a waste of money if properly used.

    I recently purchased this unit:

    http://www.amazon.com/Omron-HBF-306C-Loss-Monitor-Black/dp/B000FYZMYK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1309215857&sr=8-1

    I use it once a week after I have weighed myself on a regular scale. Give me consistent and believable results. I get repeatable consecutive results that are within .3% of each other.
    Works great! I would recommend it.
  • jane130
    jane130 Posts: 28 Member
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    I wish I could say I had found a reliable way to measure body fat %. I was obsessed with finding out my body fat for a while, convinced this was the best measure of progress.

    I ordered the calipers (plastic ones) off amazon for about $5. Granted I had to do it to myself since I live alone, I just did the 3 spot test and it came out to be about 25%. I thought that seemed about right since at the time I was 150 lbs (at 5'9")
    The obsession continued so I had it done with the official calipers at the gym by some guy who said it was his first time (lol). He told me I was 15%, I thought that was ridiculously low.
    Then I got on one of those scales that can do it and it told me I was 32%. Even now at 135lb it still says 30%.
    Of the three, I think my own self measuring was the most accurate, which is kind of sad.
    I gave up on measuring my body fat %, I then became focused on the scale and seeing if my clothing size changed.
  • Crystalchaos72
    Crystalchaos72 Posts: 531
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    http://www.bmi-calculator.net/waist-to-hip-ratio-calculator/waist-to-hip-ratio-chart.php
  • Samerah12
    Samerah12 Posts: 610 Member
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    I did mine at the gym and also found this site http://www.healthcentral.com/cholesterol/home-body-fat-test-2774-143.html
    The readings were about .5 lb off

    Wow! That site says my body fat is only 23.3%. Hmmmm... bookmarking that!

    Yeah I'd take that one with a lb or so of salt... It says I have 23% as well and there is no way thats accurate. The last time I was measured by a personal trainer (about a month and a half ago) I was 29%. I'd definitely improved since then but I'd be suprised if it was that drastic of an improvement.
  • mark03264
    mark03264 Posts: 334 Member
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    Not all scales and handheld devices are a waste of money if properly used.

    I recently purchased this unit:

    http://www.amazon.com/Omron-HBF-306C-Loss-Monitor-Black/dp/B000FYZMYK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1309215857&sr=8-1

    I use it once a week after I have weighed myself on a regular scale. Give me consistent and believable results. I get repeatable consecutive results that are within .3% of each other.
    Works great! I would recommend it.

    UPDATE:
    The unit I mentioned above tells me I have 11.9%BF
    This web site that was recommended by another use in this thread tells me I am at 12.1%BF
    Close enough for me!
  • ProTFitness
    ProTFitness Posts: 1,379 Member
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    You want the Metal ones not the plastic ones .

    Can I ask why the plastic ones are not as accurate? I'm curious about this.

    Becasue they are Cheap and made of Plastic. They will give you a round about Body Fat But again not very accurate. Plus you really can no measure it yourself and be accurate. There are 7 point 4 point or 3 point pinch tests that we do. If you see a professional using plastic ones I would question that. We generally get the metal ones from a medical supply company.

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