Body Fat

LoveLiveLift

Hey! Do any of you regularly test your body fat? If so, how? Calipers at home, gym, bio-electrical impedance?

I have had my body fat tested through the impedance at my gym, but it came up with a really low number, ~17% and I know my bf isn't that low. I recently bought myself a pair of calipers and tried them out. This came up with about 20%, but it still seems pretty low. I'm not an expert, so I'm aware that there may be some user error involved in the home caliper testing equation. lol

What do you guys think? What is the most accurate way?

AlsDonkBoxSquat

I used to have my trainer friend do it once a month, but he's no longer at my gym, so I haven't had it done in quite some time. He did calipers (which are only suggested if the person do the measurements really knows what they're doing).

LoveLiveLift

Thanks for the reply. I guess I'll just use it as a rough guesstimate.

amyrobynne

I've done both calipers and impedance. I joined the Y after Thanksgiving and when you sign up, they include 3 sessions and measure body fat using both methods. One said I had 28% and the other said 29%. At the same time, I joined a weight loss challenge led by a different trainer who weighed us on an impedance scale every week. Hers said I started at 35%. I go back to get weighed with hers most weeks and I'm now down to 23% according to that one. In February, I had the YMCA trainer check me again out of curiosity and the calipers and scale were pretty close again, saying 21% and 22% (at the time, the other trainer's scale was still saying 28%). In another couple weeks, once 2 months have gone back, I'm planning to get checked at the Y again. I trust the Y to be decent with calipers since they use it constantly, but I don't know why the two places give such different numbers. So long as my body fat keeps dropping, I'm okay with it, though!

DarkAngellEyes

I just recently bought a caliper and started tracking my bf% that way. I know its not 100% accurate since I'm definitely not an "expert" but what I've found works is I will take 3 measurements - if they are all around the same result, I will typically trust it. If they are all way off base, I will re-meausure until I get 3 results that are similar.

Not sure exactly what the most accurate way to measure body fat % (without spending hundreds of dollars) but the way I see it - all that matters is that you are consistent in the methods you're using.