Loose skin, does this affect body fat calipers accuracy???

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  • BinaryPulsar
    BinaryPulsar Posts: 8,927 Member
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    While the thickness of the skin is figured into the calculation of body fat measurement for calipers, what is being pinched to measure is the thickness of mass between a pinched area. If you pinched and were only holding just loose skin between and did the measurement, it would be inaccurate.
    You can pinch skin on the back of your hand and if that was used as a measurement (like pinching loose skin around your arms for example) then the measurement would be wrong.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
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    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    Thanks!

    Do the calipers come with calculations that factor out the thickness of the skin on the various parts of the body? I'm going to look into it more and maybe try the calipers. They did not seem like a very accurate method to me, although they are better than the scales (which are a scam).
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,688 Member
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    While the thickness of the skin is figured into the calculation of body fat measurement for calipers, what is being pinched to measure is the thickness of mass between a pinched area. If you pinched and were only holding just loose skin between and did the measurement, it would be inaccurate.
    You can pinch skin on the back of your hand and if that was used as a measurement (like pinching loose skin around your arms for example) then the measurement would be wrong.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    Thanks!

    Do the calipers come with calculations that factor out the thickness of the skin on the various parts of the body? I'm going to look into it more and maybe try the calipers. They did not seem like a very accurate method to me, although they are better than the scales (which are a scam).
    Normally the measurement is in millimeters then you use that measurement against a chart and use some mathematics (sum of measurements). Here are a couple:

    http://www.langeservicecenter.com/Lange Manual.pdf

    http://www.muscleandstrength.com/tools/how-to-measure-bodyfat-using-calipers.html

    Always measure each area twice to ensure correct reading.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness industry for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • spfldpam
    spfldpam Posts: 738 Member
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    What about if a DXA scan was done? I had a DXA scan done 4/26/13 and was wondering if my loose skin is shown as body fat or tissue? My DXA scan said I was 24% body fat which the college professor who did the test said was very good for my age. I looked at some online charts for % of body fat and 24% is condsidered in the "fitness Level" for women.
    I didn't think to ask the professor what the loose skin would count as? Any ideas?
  • lana1748
    lana1748 Posts: 1 Member
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    This is an interesting page mostly cause it seems to agree with my theory :p Both my Boy friend and I have lost a great amount of weight (He 150 and I a total of 82 lbs). We are very different when it comes to where our skin sags and how much it sags but I do know no matter what test we do, I am not 17% fat nor is he 9% At this point of weight lost with me at 23% fat and he at 15% fat I assumed that to get the tightness some what back, we would have to tone down to get under all the tucked away fatty skin parts and this artical says it all. I do think we may have a bit of skin left on a couple of areas but it most likely will be thinner, paper like and not that fatty consistency that you can really pinch on to. http://www.muscleforlife.com/how-to-get-rid-of-loose-skin-after-weight-loss/
  • p20xn
    p20xn Posts: 1 Member
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    This is an old post but here are my thoughts. Fat is under the skin, so if for the abdomen pinch there is 1 pound of fat under 50 square inches of skin for a normal person, for a person with loose skin the same pound of fat is distributed under 100 square inches of skin (in a extreme example where one would have double the surface of skin) and the fold will be thinner. So in a person with loose sin, by this train of thought, the caliper method will underestimate bodyfat %.
  • katemcd495
    katemcd495 Posts: 36 Member
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    Well, having this thread pop up is super helpful. I ordered a caliper and it will be arriving today!
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,688 Member
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    p20xn wrote: »
    This is an old post but here are my thoughts. Fat is under the skin, so if for the abdomen pinch there is 1 pound of fat under 50 square inches of skin for a normal person, for a person with loose skin the same pound of fat is distributed under 100 square inches of skin (in a extreme example where one would have double the surface of skin) and the fold will be thinner. So in a person with loose sin, by this train of thought, the caliper method will underestimate bodyfat %.
    But it's usually not dispersed that way. Fat cells lie under the skin and systematically fill by where one's body hold most/least. Everyone hold fat differently with the possible exception of identical twins. Skin that hangs from previous weight loss usually doesn't have a lot of fat under it unless a major weight regain happened.


    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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