Body Fat Percentage Help!

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I am so confused about body fat percentages, which I've seen in some BMR and ideal caloric intake formulas. I'm short (5' 0") and don't have that much weight to lose...and I'm having a bit of a problem figuring out my TDEE and BMR.

I went to the fat2fitradio site that a lot of posts recommend...
but the military calculator has me at 35.6% and the cover-baileys at 24.3%. I have cheap calipers that gave me 27%, but I worry about the accuracy because I've never been trained and I can make it vary a lot based on where i place them/how big of a skin fold I use.

Does anyone have recommendations for figuring out the accurate figure without paying for a water test? Just average them? I don't need to be 100% accurate, but a 10% body fat difference seems like a lot.

What does everyone else use, and have others found a big discrepancy?

Replies

  • RainbootsToBikinis
    RainbootsToBikinis Posts: 465 Member
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    I suggest using the fat2fit original calculator, it seems to be the most accurate. You can also go into a gym and ask for a trainer to test your body fat for you. Here are my results with different methods

    Calipers - 30.2
    Scale that measures BF - 29.8
    Fat 2 Fit original calculator - 27.8

    As long as you continue to use the same method to track progress it'll be fine.
  • lar4290
    lar4290 Posts: 55 Member
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    Thanks, that one was around 26%! It was pretty close to the calipers, which seems like a good sign. Not sure why the military one is so high compared to the others.