Body Fat Percentage/ Omron Fat Loss Monitor?

abbylg1983

My first and only experience getting my body fat measured professionally was 10 years ago, for a college gym class. I was around a 26% then (5'3 and 120 pounds, absolutely no muscle). In 2007, I joined a gym and a trainer eyeballed me and said she thought around 26% (mostly the same stats as before).

Now that I have been changing my diet and exercise, and lost 7 pounds since then and have built some muscle, I really want to know what my body fat is now. I do belong to a gym, but it's very small and limited and even if they have calipers I doubt anyone there really knows what they are doing.

I tried using the tape measure method, but, depending on where I went, results were way skewed. Some put me at a 17%. Some put me at a 25%. I feel those are both way off and my BF% is most likely around 21. I did buy a caliper off Amazon and got a 21%, but I am wondering if maybe expecting to get a 21 somehow assured me I'd get a 21.

I finally bought an Omron Fat Loss monitor (the kind you hold in your hands and it's supposed to measure body fat via electrical current) and again got mixed results- anywhere from a 17 to 19%. They did warn that it would be extremely touchy as far as fluctuations, but sometimes I hadn't even moved and the percent went up or down.

How accurate has everyone else's experiences been? I am actually hoping it is low (which I think it is) because I do have a lot of fat to lose and if I am at 18 (the average) then I am not supposed to lose that much more. I read some reviews and while the majority were positive, there were a small number of people who said their results were way off.

I made my husband try it and I think his results were fairly accurate- 8.5%. He is almost 6 feet tall and very trim, except he has a small gut.

HealthyBodySickMind

The cheaper methods (the handheld things, tape measure calculations or calipers) are going to be within 2%. I think the only way to get more accuracy than that is to drop money on one of the more advanced methods. Most people will tell you there are two good, cheap ways to use BF%. Either 1, take pictures to compare using the "eyeballing" or 2, pick your favorite cheaper method, calipers or a tape measure calculation that you think is close and just compare changes in BF% using those methods.

Some good online calculators that I've used:
http://www.scientificpsychic.com/fitness/diet.html
www.f2f.com has a few calculators.

Also be sure if you go with calipers to do them the same way each time, with the same number of measurements. I use a seven point caliper test: chest, maxidilla, tricep, subscapular, suprailliac, thigh, and abdominal.

Spartan_Maker

I own the Omron hand-held monitor. In my experience, the Omron hand-held can be fairly accurate (or at least consistently inaccurate) if three conditions are met:

(1) hydration levels are kept relatively consistent from day-to-day;
(2) carbohydrate intake is kept relatively consistent from day-to-day; and
(3) weight and body fat readings are taken in the morning, as soon as a person wakes up.

The reason for the first two conditions, of course, is that the device uses bioelectrical impedance.

DanaDark

Being accurate is not exactly needed.

What is more valuable is consistency. If you can get the electrical BF% calculator to spit out the same number, or close to it, repeatedly, then you're good to go. Same for any other method as well.

From there, just keep track of that one going down. That shows you are losing fat, which is good.

Personally, I am keeping track of my BF% using an electrical device as well as tape measure. So long as the number keeps going down, I am happy no matter how accurate it is on checking my true body fat.

Oh, and do read the instructions for the electrical device. All the way through. Make sure you're using it 100% correctly.

HealthyBodySickMind

I will correct myself to say that not all the tape measure calculations are within 2%. I've taken several and have had more than 13% spread between them. I meant to say that the best you will get is 2% accuracy with those methods.

jenningsroger64

I have been using the Omron Body Fat Monitor Bf306. SO far it has shown great results. I didn't have any problem with it and it has shown accurate results every time. Just check out how it looks... http://bit.ly/Mwjt83

jsnyd86

I'm with you. I've been at the gym for about a year now but only focused on weight lifting for 6 months. Monitoring my progress I've used calipers because they're cheap, but there's so much room for error. I was measuring 14% which I thought was pretty close but maybe a little high. Using the Omron I measure around 8% a dozen times and messing around with the height/weight. I finally got it to 9.3 and thought that was a good as it's gonna get. Weigh yourself before your measurement just to insure it's as accurate as possible and set it to "athletic". That's how I got my more accurate readings. FYI dont use it in the morning. The directions specifically warn that a morning reading will be inaccurate because you are heaviest in the morning and carry the most water weight.

baileym4

Omron's website has an FAQ where they suggest checking your bf% in the morning. At the time of this post, it was the first question/answer in the FAQ:

http://www.omron-healthcare.com/eu/en/faq/body-composition-monitors/18