Measuring Body Fat

HorrorChix89

Best way to measure an accurate amount of body fat %?

Right now I'm using my WiThings Body Scale (paid some good money for it on eBay). It measures weight and body fat and even displays your BMI and all that good stuff. You can read up on it if you want, I'm not trying to sale anything

Anyway, it gave a completely different BF% than the Omron HBF-306C that the trainers at my gym use for their clients.

I heard that the little plastic things that pinch you are suppose to be the best, but god they look painful.

Is there any accurate way of measuring BF%?

BrianSharpe

Calipers are the most accurate way to calculate % of body fat if you're considering sub-cutaneous fat (fat under the skin) but they're not terribly useful when dealing with visceral fat.

From a purely heart attack risk perspective one of the most important measures is your waist to hip ratio.

dinosnopro

I use a caliper, they are not painful in the least. The problem with the scales and hand held machines is they measure the resistance to a tiny electrical charge sent through your body, if you are retaining more or less water it will vary the results.

secretlobster

Body scales... All of them.. are so inaccurate, they are not worth purchasing. They fluctuate based on how much water is in your body. Calipers are fairly accurate if you can find someone who is skilled in using them. Otherwise, you could find a place that might do a full body immersion, which is the most accurate by far but it's kind of costly.

HorrorChix89

Guess I need to get one of those pinching plastic things then. I'm still keeping my WiThings Scale. God himself can't make me get rid of it.

HorrorChix89

Bump

Anyone else has some ideas?

huntindawg1962

The Withings scales are really good for watching the trends and not so much looking at fat% or BMI as a "gospel" number. I find them incredibly more accurate and repeatable for weight measurement than some of the other brands I have used.

In my experience the calipers are not all that accurate either as it is a much the person measuring with them and their experience that makes it work as opposed to them being a good tool. I have seen swings as wide as an electronic scale with people claiming to know what they are doing. That and some people at the gyms just have an idea what you are when they see you and want to use the tools to justify their own. If you were measuring yourself my guess would be that you would put in your own operator error and desire factor.

The only real way is the submersion test - and again - that has its own variables and innacuracies such as air in your system at the time of the test, etc. Many universities offer these services for a fee if you really need to know a more accurate test.

Not sure "knowing" this number is all that important.

HorrorChix89

"knowing" this number IS important to ME. Numbers keep me motivated. Numbers keep me focused. Btw the immersion test will just tap into my fear of drowning lol

The plastic things can't be THAT off, can they? I could possibly order one and compare it to my WiThings and see the difference in percentage.

huntindawg1962

If you can use it as a motivator and not let it be a de-motivation when it is not saying what you are expecting - then go for it. Just realize that there are inherent inaccuracies with it just like any other tool. Use it the same way, the same time of day, etc, to minimize variability (then your Withings scale will also be relatively accurate too).

Too, go into it with the mindset that it is a snapshot in time datapoint and not a hard and firm fact just like your cholesterol number, blood pressure, heart weight, scale weight, etc. They all vary around throughout the day.