Body Fat

alehundrah

Just curious... How do I determine the percentage of body fat I have? I know what my BMI is but I don't know what the percentage of fat is

tomcornhole

Lots of ways to guesstimate your BF%.

1. Mirror - compare what you see to pictures on the interweb. I can guess my BF% within 5%. Must be honest with yourself.
2. Calipers - single or multiple site. I use single site and it is within 5%
3. Measurements - measure your neck and abdomen and find the online Navy calculator. This always seems high for me but within 5%.
3.5 Wev site - this site is remarkably accurate http://www.foodcomputer.com/ComputeBodyFat.aspx It's within 1% of my 4 BodPods I have had done. Hard to imagine how as it only uses weight and abdomen measurements.
4. Impedance - scales and handheld. I use an Omron handheld. It can vary 4% at one sitting. If I measure the same way every time, it is good for trends. It has been within 4% of my actual
5. BodPod - had one done today. They are supposed to be as accurate as hydrostatic weighing. I think the advertised accuracy is 2%. Usually cost $25-$45
6. Hydrostatic weighing - gold standard but a PITA to do and find a place to do it
7. DEXA scan - most accurate but expensive

I had a BodPod done today. Here are my results:

15.6% BodPod
15% - Mirror
15.7% - Omron impedance thingy
14.7% - Website noted above
16% - single site caliper
17.1% - US Navy neck and abdomen measurements

Now that's pretty close for all of them, but it isn't always that way. I track them all most of the time to watch for trends. Here's a years worth of data:

ythannah

Interesting. That food computer site calculates my body fat at 22%, but refuses to switch my gender to female (don't know if that makes any difference).

The weird part is that it tells me to eat 1065 cals/day, not including exercise cals, to improve to the next level "athletic". And here I thought eating <1200 cals/day was akin to a hunger strike. :laugh:

tomcornhole

I just tried it and checked female but it says male on the results. But the BF% is for a female, so the results are gender correct.

I have no idea where they get their calorie recommendations from. I would ignore that part. The best calorie calculator is this one:

http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/