Body Fat Percentage - Most Accurate??

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Replies

  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    I double checked my measurements, and again used the calculators and still got that crazy range. Oh well! C'est la vie :)

    I will try getting it done at a gym, the only problem is there are no gyms close to me (none within a 1.5hr drive! besides one little one that only has the equipment - no trained fitness staff) When I travel again, I'll make an appointment with a gym and have it done.

    Thanks everyone :)

    Our county community center will actually do it for about $10-15. Check in to that too. Several city community centers have gyms too, wouldn't be surprised if they did too.
  • susannamarie
    susannamarie Posts: 2,148 Member
    All three of mine were crazy different too. I have an hourglass shape. One was 27%, one was 41.2% and the other 28% so I thought I should be somewhere in the middle of them say around 35. I asked heybales (smart guy here on mfp:) and he told me that usually your body fat % is close to your waist measurement. My waist is 35 inches so right on what I was thinking.

    Hrm, I wonder if this varies by height.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    All three of mine were crazy different too. I have an hourglass shape. One was 27%, one was 41.2% and the other 28% so I thought I should be somewhere in the middle of them say around 35. I asked heybales (smart guy here on mfp:) and he told me that usually your body fat % is close to your waist measurement. My waist is 35 inches so right on what I was thinking.

    Hrm, I wonder if this varies by height.

    Here's the really weird thing as to what the calc's use as measurements to do estimate on.
    http://www.gymgoal.com/dtool_fat.html

    Military/Navy - gender, height, neck, waist (women minimum), hips (women only)

    Navy women - gender, weight, height, neck, forearm, waist, hips, wrist

    Covert - gender, wrist (men & women), forearm (men), abdomen (men), hip (men & women), waist (women), thigh (women), calf (women)

    Regarding the Covert method,

    "How Accurate Is This Body Fat Test?

    This tape-measure test is used to estimate your percent body fat. It is usually quite accurate-- so if a man got 17 percent from this test, he could expect his true percent body fat to be anywhere between 15 and 19 percent.

    For some people, however, the results of the tape measure test may not come so close to their true percent body fat. People who are very, very fit can get numbers 3 to 5 percent higher than their true percent body fat. Because they don't have a lot of fat inside their muscles, very fit people may be lower in body fat than this tape measure test indicates.

    Conversely, if a person is skinny but not fit, this body fat test may yield a number 3 to 5 percent lower than his or her true percent body fat. Though they look thin, unfit skinny people really have more than the usual amount of fat inside their muscles, which you can't see from the outside.

    So, what's the bottom line? For many people, this tape measure test is quite accurate, it puts you in control, it can be done frequently and it costs nothing."
  • clairyfairy247
    clairyfairy247 Posts: 425 Member
    I got similar results when I did it!

    25.2
    25.7
    18.4
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    BodPod or Water displacement are the way to go, I think.

    I'm doing the bodpod on Friday. Can't wait!

    How did your BodPod compare?

    Mine was 0.6% higher than the measurement method avg between Covert and Navy methods.

    Considering PodBod says their's is 2% accurate either direction, or 4% total, that encompassed both Covert and Navy method separately, and made that avg almost nail it.

    So probably won't waste $35 on that again. But probably would have been nice at beginning of journey to know how far off the measuring method was, and then just kept doing that.

    It changed my BMR calc by Katch comp method by whole 25 calories.
  • QuietBloom
    QuietBloom Posts: 5,413 Member
    I like the Covert Bailey one, because (if I'm not mistaken) it takes the greatest number of circumference measurements into consideration. Also, between the three of them, the Covert Bailey puts me at ~21% which looks about right to me when I compare myself to photos of women with different percentages of body fat.

    I have ordered calipers, which I have used successfully in the past. Looking forward to how they compare.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    I like the Covert Bailey one, because (if I'm not mistaken) it takes the greatest number of circumference measurements into consideration. Also, between the three of them, the Covert Bailey puts me at ~21% which looks about right to me when I compare myself to photos of women with different percentages of body fat.

    I have ordered calipers, which I have used successfully in the past. Looking forward to how they compare.

    Covert for Women uses:
    age, hips, thigh, calf, wrist

    Military/Navy for Women uses:
    waist, hips, neck, height

    So they use mainly different ones but still 4 measurements each, except for hips is the same. Hence the reason an average between them is probably more accurate.

    Calipers being another 5% possible accurate method in the hands of a skilled person using the 7-site method (which you can't hit some by yourself), it should be averaged with those other measurement methods.

    Bunch of 5% methods better than 1.
  • QuietBloom
    QuietBloom Posts: 5,413 Member
    Covert for Women uses:
    age, hips, thigh, calf, wrist

    Covert Bailey uses 7 measurements for women:

    age
    wrist
    waist
    hip
    thigh
    calf
    forearm
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    Covert for Women uses:
    age, hips, thigh, calf, wrist

    Covert Bailey uses 7 measurements for women:

    age
    wrist
    waist
    hip
    thigh
    calf
    forearm

    No, sites that do it, along with my spreadsheet, ask for all those, but they are not all used in the calculation.

    http://hubpages.com/hub/Five-Methods-to-Calculate-your-Body-Fat-Percentage-by-Using-a-Tape-Measure
  • QuietBloom
    QuietBloom Posts: 5,413 Member
    Covert for Women uses:
    age, hips, thigh, calf, wrist

    Covert Bailey uses 7 measurements for women:

    age
    wrist
    waist
    hip
    thigh
    calf
    forearm

    No, sites that do it, along with my spreadsheet, ask for all those, but they are not all used in the calculation.

    http://hubpages.com/hub/Five-Methods-to-Calculate-your-Body-Fat-Percentage-by-Using-a-Tape-Measure

    Really? I'm using this site. And you are saying that they are asking for, but not using all those measurements?

    http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/cbbf/
  • CMorning99
    CMorning99 Posts: 921 Member
    Maybe investing in a good BF scale. They aren't as accurate as we would like, but if you do it at the same time under the same conditions (first thing in the morning) and also note your hydration levels so you can get idea of how hydration affects the number (High hydration lower bf, dehydrate...high bf).
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    Really? I'm using this site. And you are saying that they are asking for, but not using all those measurements?

    http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/cbbf/

    Exactly, go look at the book at a library too, if you don't believe me.

    This site too, leave out the stats I said don't matter, if female you'll still get a result, that doesn't change when you change those other stats not used in the calc.
    http://www.gymgoal.com/dtool_fat.html

    Regarding that fat2fit site, have you ever changed the bodyfat % in the BMR tool that gives you your TDEE levels?

    Try it - notice what happens to the TDEE levels.

    That's why I have no qualms in saying the spreadsheet is better.

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