Best way of guessing BF%?

holliwood97

It's good that I can help out once in a while...

I have been researching a lot about this subject and I have found couple of good resources that gave me 90% accurate body fat calculations.

The website:
http://www.linear-software.com/online.html

(Method 3 for Males seems to be 90% accurate. I have also tried Female version of the calculator and it also seems right but I can't be sure. Test it yourself ladies.) - ( I have only tried it on myself, I am a male)

I use a body fat caliper to take measurements and enter the amounts in the appropriate boxes and the result was way more accurate than anything else I had tried.

In addition, if you have a body fat percentage in mind, which you aimed to achieve, you can also calculate and find out what your weight have to be in order to achieve that. It certainly makes it easier to make a decision on how far you want to take the weight loss plan. Anyway, here's an example;

If the results show that your current lean weight (in pounds) is 150, your body fat is 20 and you aim to lose enough fat to achieve 10% body fat, you use this method;

Lean Weight / (1 - Targeted body fat percentage) = Result | 150 / (1 - 0.10) = 166.66

Assuming that you won't lose muscle instead of fat, this should somewhat be accurate. But always check up on it. Don't count on me. This was a little something I was also curious about and this is as accurate as it goes.

I hope I helped without angering anybody.

saving this for later. i know nothing about this. thanks for the info!

AnvilHead

It's good that I can help out once in a while...

I have been researching a lot about this subject and I have found couple of good resources that gave me 90% accurate body fat calculations.

The website:
http://www.linear-software.com/online.html

(Method 3 for Males seems to be 90% accurate. I have also tried Female version of the calculator and it also seems right but I can't be sure. Test it yourself ladies.) - ( I have only tried it on myself, I am a male)

I use a body fat caliper to take measurements and enter the amounts in the appropriate boxes and the result was way more accurate than anything else I had tried...

I use that site also - the JP/3 (3-site) method with skinfold calipers. In an effort to make it as accurate as possible, I measure each site 10 times (rotating through the sites), then average them. The results seem to be very consistent with visual estimation, based upon measured reference photos. Even if it may not be perfectly accurate, it's consistent and makes for a valid ongoing comparison.

Sarauk2sf

Mirror, hydrostatic test or a DEXA scan.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/830595-body-fat-estimation-methods

gemmaleigh1989

I use body fat percentage scales. While I know this is not the most accurate way, I am not comparing to anyone else but myself. Therefore it is pretty accurate just to track progress. As long as I see that percentage go down, I am happy!

RepsnSets

I use body fat percentage scales. While I know this is not the most accurate way, I am not comparing to anyone else but myself. Therefore it is pretty accurate just to track progress. As long as I see that percentage go down, I am happy!

I have scales too. Cant think of anything worse squeezing my fat in between calipers.....at the moment. Once I get lean then I'll purchase some calipers

Lt_Starbuck

I plug my measurements into an online calculator and take the average of that and what my bf scale tells me. As long as I have any number to lower, I'm happy.