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How are you gauging body fat?

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3lilkids
3lilkids Posts: 90 Member
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Reading a lot of these posts, people are talking about their body fat. How are you gauging this? Just by an online calculator? My body fat doesn't matter THAT much to me, but I am curious. I eat paleo, pretty strict, run @ 4 days a week, and do some core and body weight exercises. I can see a difference, but again, would like to know where I am in my body fat.

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  • twaltemade
    twaltemade Posts: 68 Member
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    The gym that I go to uses a Omron HBF-306C Fat Loss Monitor. It is a small handheld deice or about 29 dollars..just ordered one or myself from Amazon. My trainer is much more concerned with body fat percent than weight.
  • shamr0ck
    shamr0ck Posts: 296 Member
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    I get a DEXA scan every 4 months or so. Surprisingly, it's fairly consistent with my withings scale. However, when my trainer uses calipers, he gets a much lower reading. I use the DEXA numbers, because i believe they are most accurate, even if they don't reflect what i want to hear. :D
  • Cerebrus189
    Cerebrus189 Posts: 315 Member
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    I gauge mine by using my scale at home, and putting those results against the Omron Body Fat Calculator device that the nutritionists at work use. As I start to see the cellulite on my legs disappear, I am a believer.
  • SerenityNow76
    SerenityNow76 Posts: 38 Member
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    I don't go to a gym or have access to a fat loss monitor or scales that include this function. I did come across this link - http://www.scientificpsychic.com/fitness/diet.html from someone over at MDA. I'm not sure how accurate it is but I think it's handy for monitoring a body fat loss trend.
  • MikeFlyMike
    MikeFlyMike Posts: 639 Member
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    A couple times a year I do a full immersion hydrostatic test for $35. Bodyfattest.com
  • impyimpyaj
    impyimpyaj Posts: 1,073 Member
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    A couple times a year I do a full immersion hydrostatic test for $35. Bodyfattest.com

    Funny, depending on how you separate those words that URL could read "body fattest" instead of "body fat test." They might want to rethink that.
  • KristysGonnaGetFit
    KristysGonnaGetFit Posts: 40 Member
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    HA! I read "Body FATTEST" also :-) and thought, wow - that is a weird name for a body fat testing place!!
  • CMcD1445
    CMcD1445 Posts: 48 Member
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    I've been living out of a hotel for a while and since going primal wanted to benchmark, so I took a tape measure (the fabric type) and measured the key areas... I was thinking this would not show fat% as well as the pinch test or the scale type, but at least a start.... Thoughts?
  • bacamacho
    bacamacho Posts: 306 Member
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    I've been living out of a hotel for a while and since going primal wanted to benchmark, so I took a tape measure (the fabric type) and measured the key areas... I was thinking this would not show fat% as well as the pinch test or the scale type, but at least a start.... Thoughts?

    I only have access to a measuring tape so I took my measurements and plugged them into this:

    http://www.scientificpsychic.com/fitness/diet.html
  • greenlj77
    greenlj77 Posts: 23
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    There are several I have found online. You can enter caliper or tape measurements depending on formula used. Best of all they are FREE. I have the algebraic formula somewhere but I am too lazy to crunch numbers.

    http://www.fitwatch.com/qkcalc/body-fat-percentage-calculator.php

    http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/library/blbodyfatcalculator.htm

    http://www.healthyforms.com/helpful-tools/body-fat-percentage.php

    http://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/body-fat-percentage-calculator

    http://www.linear-software.com/online.html - [this one has six different formulas to choose from]
  • Dragonwolf
    Dragonwolf Posts: 5,600 Member
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    I generally use a tape measure to get measurements for the two BF% calculators here: http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/ . For me, they end up about 10% apart, so I take the average of the two (which is the trend I've seen for the calculations when they're that far apart) and use that number. It worked out to be about the same as the BIA test my nutritionist did a few weeks ago, so I consider it reasonably accurate for tracking purposes.
  • beckie32536
    beckie32536 Posts: 47 Member
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    I had a BODPOD analysis done in June and it showed a whopping 40%. The guy swore to me that it was right. Last night my trainer did the caliper pinch test and it said 25%. My Tanita scale regulary reads 30%. Not sure what to believe anymore!
  • pattyproulx
    pattyproulx Posts: 603 Member
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    I use my scale (it has a BF reading). I know that it's significantly off on the actual number, but I think it's fairly accurate in being able to tell me if my bf is dropping, maintaining, or rising.

    I would love to get get an actual test done (I had a trainer do it for me but I don't believe his numbers - he said 12%, my scale says 22%, and I figure I'm somewhat in the middle ~15-16%).

    Edit: just plugged my measurements at http://www.scientificpsychic.com/fitness/diet.html and got 16.5%.

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