Body fat percent confusion

The last time I measured my BF, my BMI was 24.44 and my BF was 30.6%. I used a handheld device that sends things round your body to measure. I've been measuring my BF since my BMI was at 27.96 and the higher my BMI, the higher my BF.

Do you have a particularly large frame? People with larger than average frames are going to have a higher BMI but that doesn't necessarily mean a higher BF percentage.

Calipers are the most accurate way of measuring BF. You can get them from as little £4.99 on UK Amazon and $4.20 on US Amazon.

Sorry I've not been much help, but I don't know a great deal on BF.

I don't know if this helps, but I used the website to calculate and I came out at 25.92%. On my scale at home (which calculates body fat) I am 20.9%. So for me the website is quite a bit higher than my scale. My BMI is currently 22.4 and I'm 5'6" and weigh 139 pounds. I've also heard that calipers are the best method for accuracy other than hydrostatic weighing, which is inconvenient and expensive.

If your BMI is around 47 it doesn't seem logical that you would have such a low percentage of body fat, but everyone is different so who knows. Good luck!

Unless your getting a 5-9 point caliper test its probably not accurate. And even those aren't accurate. Most people underestimate their bodyfat.

That doesn't sound right unless you're a bodybuilder, whose BMIs will be way out of proportion to their BF. I'm 5'7", 135, BMI of 21%-ish and body fat by caliper was roughly 22% at last measure.

I keep hearing suprailiac caliper method is most accurate but I'm not totally sure my 22% is "right" either. As long as I see it go lower than last measure i"m happy lol

I just had a BodPod body composition test done because I had the same question about my body fat percentage.

My handheld Omron gadget measures me in the 34-percent BF range.

As I expected would be the case, the more accurate BodPod test showed that I'm actually in the 43-percent BF range.

Big difference. By the way, my BMI is 40.

It sounds about right to me. If you weigh close to 360, and your goal weigh is around 190, 360 divided by 47% would be 169. So 169 pounds is the amount of fat, so yeah, that's right.

Yes, thats my bmi, but it says my body fat is 22%..... that whats confusing me.

Yeah, I just saw that....your math is off somewhere.

I don't know..... I used just a regular tape measure and these were the measurements I came out with

Weight: 351
Height: 6"0+
waist 49
wrist 8
hips 54
forearm 15

Am I completely wrong or something? O.o

Well, I think your are over-analyzing this. You really can't get an exact number without a more scientific method. 47% of 360 is 169. That's pretty much it. Obviously you have more than 22% body fat at your weight.

Don't get too hung up on these numbers. It's pretty much a safe assumption that you have a very high body fat percentage. Getting obsessed about the exact number won't help you at this point. Just start losing weight, keep taking measurements, see the results. If at some point in the future you want to know more accurately, ask your doctor to refer you to a Bod Pod, or go to one on your own.

I'm a nutrition science student, and I don't even feel like I can measure body fat accurately after all the practice in the lab! I'd recommend going to someone who knows what they are doing

It's best to get a body scan done if you can afford to do it. I did when I started, and it was really nice to see all the changes as I moved along in my weight loss goals.

The online calculators were WAY off for me also.

Good luck to you!

I was tested with various devices that showed I was way over BF%. The only accurate test for me was hydrostatic and it was only about $25 dollars and well worth it to me. Mainly because the other devices said I was at 17% (and I'd never been this low ever in my entire life) but the hydrostatic showed me at 10.5%. I needed to know this because I needed to be eating more at this point.

This year I got a DXA scan. It's more expensive and it's a medical procedure but it's really cool because I shows you where your fat is in all your body parts and what the % is in various parts. I was super happy because my visceral fat was .06 lbs (basically zero! whoohooo). But more importantly it showed my bone density. The technician said my 51.5 year old bones were that of a super fit 30 year old. Now if that is not scientific proof that lifting weights makes you younger I don't know what is! I think it is what makes me look younger than my age. When I came home with the results my husband said "I don't think we are going to have to worry about osteoporosis!" LOL it was so totally cool.

So if I could offer advice to the ladies. START LIFTING NOW. Find an all body women's workout 3 days a week. Do it now and do it for the rest of your life. Do your cardio, but put it in 2nd place. I'm still a runner. You don't have to give up your cardio.