Calculate Body Fat Percentage

mablesyrup

I went to this website and did the measurements to calculate my percentage of body fat....

but I feel like it should be higher? lol.. I thought I would get at least 50% body fat.. haha

(i'm 5"7" and weigh 295lbs as of this morning)

This is what it gave me...

Your Results

You have 35.5% body fat.

You have 104.7 Pounds of fat and 190.3 Pounds of lean (muscle, bone, body water).


Does that sound like it's right? I'm still learning/educating myself on all of this

packerena

Body fat is a tricky thing to estimate just by looking at someone. I think it would be pretty hard to calculate body fat with an online calculator. I wouldn't trust that information.

I think you want to get your body fat measured with a caliper or electronic body fat measuring device. I'm sure your doctor could do a measurement at your next visit or many gyms and/or community centers offer free body fat measurement to members.

Hopeful4757

Which web site was that that you went on?

mablesyrup

thanks I have a scale that measure body fat percentage- maybe i should dig out the instructions and figure it out. lol.

This website had me take tons of measurements all over my body... it claims it's like 90+% accurate..... I just wanted something to go by- so when I reach my goal weight- i can compare my body fat percentages- just to see

mablesyrup

this is the website I used...

http://www.healthcentral.com/cholesterol/home-body-fat-test-2774-143.html

Hopeful4757

Thanks. I went and it seems great, but I need to go find my tape measure!

Iceprincessk25

I can't imagine that an online site would be accurate at all when it comes to body fat %. Not sure that I would trust it.

Chiny

Any recommendations on what I could buy to calculate it? Isn't there a gadget for this?

kgrutch

I went to this website and did the measurements to calculate my percentage of body fat....

but I feel like it should be higher? lol.. I thought I would get at least 50% body fat.. haha

(i'm 5"7" and weigh 295lbs as of this morning)

This is what it gave me...

Your Results

You have 35.5% body fat.

You have 104.7 Pounds of fat and 190.3 Pounds of lean (muscle, bone, body water).


Does that sound like it's right? I'm still learning/educating myself on all of this

a few months ago i did the bodpod (a very expensive machine that is supposed to be as accurate as the underwater technique), i weighed in the 160's and i was going to the gym regularly for many years (i was not flabby). my body fat measured 33%. ( i was horrified). i lost 25 pounds of fat and gained muscle mass and rechecked and i was down to 21%. just so you have something to compare your numbers.

Chiny

Does anyone have a scale or any kind of device/gadget that they use to calculate body fat? I know most things out there may not be very accurate however I can not afford to do the bodpod and was wondering if anything else is recommended.

packerena

I know my body fat percentage is 18%.

I went online and did a search for body fat calculator and entered my measurements into a few of the sites (including the one above). The results were all over the board - as high as 33% on one site - and none of them were even close to 18%.

Be careful when using online calculators, many of them are not reliable. A good way to measure progress is to simply compare your own measurements taken at different checkpoints.

Good luck everybody!

Chiny

I know my body fat percentage is 18%.

I went online and did a search for body fat calculator and entered my measurements into a few of the sites (including the one above). The results were all over the board - as high as 33% on one site - and none of them were even close to 18%.

Be careful when using online calculators, many of them are not reliable. A good way to measure progress is to simply compare your own measurements taken at different checkpoints.

Good luck everybody!

So my question would be if the online site are not reliable and range from 18-33, how do you confirm that it's 18%?

SHBoss1673

hydrostatic, DEXA, or a bod pod are all good methods that have about a .5% to 1.5% margin for error. Websites can have an unusually large margin for error, you might as well be using BMI, it's about the same accuracy.

similarly, those Bio electrical Impedance machines (those scales that claim to measure your body fat) can also be wildly inaccurate. If done by an experienced professionals, calipers can be relatively accurate, but still not as good as the machines.

SHBoss1673

Does anyone have a scale or any kind of device/gadget that they use to calculate body fat? I know most things out there may not be very accurate however I can not afford to do the bodpod and was wondering if anything else is recommended.

Bod pod (at least around me) is only 40 bucks. Is it expensive where you are?

Chiny

Does anyone have a scale or any kind of device/gadget that they use to calculate body fat? I know most things out there may not be very accurate however I can not afford to do the bodpod and was wondering if anything else is recommended.

Bod pod (at least around me) is only 40 bucks. Is it expensive where you are?

It's $40 bucks everytime you do it correct? Forgive my ignorance, I've never had one done before. I'm looking for something more like a scale that can be calculated once a week or once a month etc..

SHBoss1673

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It's $40 bucks everytime you do it correct? Forgive my ignorance, I've never had one done before. I'm looking for something more like a scale that can be calculated once a week or once a month etc..

yes, but body fat % is a pretty slow change, you probably don't need to do it more than 2 or 3 times a year. It's not something you would check every week.

Chiny

Ok maybe I'm thinking about BMI :huh:

packerena

I know my body fat percentage is 18%.

I went online and did a search for body fat calculator and entered my measurements into a few of the sites (including the one above). The results were all over the board - as high as 33% on one site - and none of them were even close to 18%.

Be careful when using online calculators, many of them are not reliable. A good way to measure progress is to simply compare your own measurements taken at different checkpoints.

Good luck everybody!

So my question would be if the online site are not reliable and range from 18-33, how do you confirm that it's 18%?

I feel fairly confident my body fat is around 18% because I've had it measured by professionals with calipers - not an online calculator. Calipers are still not the best method. My point was simply to show you the huge margin of error of online body fat "calculators."

Chiny

Oh ok I didn't know you were able to confirm this number with a professional. I may have to look into getting a caliper.