How do you measure body fat?

GODfidence
GODfidence Posts: 249 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Without a fancy scale ,personal trainer ,or a caliper.
Can you just use a tape measurer? How would knowing
Inches even help distinguish between fat and muscle?
That's confusing too.
Thanks!

Replies

  • cindygretz
    cindygretz Posts: 94
    http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/mbf/

    This is the one I use.
  • GODfidence
    GODfidence Posts: 249 Member
    Bump
  • Liftnlove
    Liftnlove Posts: 235
    A tape measure gives you your measumements, which are also important--but bodyfat is a completely different thing. Online bodyfat calculators are EXTREMELY inaccurate, so don't get hung up on the actual number, because it's almost surely wrong. However, you could use these as a baseline, and as long as the numbers go down, you know you're making progress. Don't forget to take progress pictures too, because sometimes your brain can't see the "truth" in the mirror--or at least that has been the case for me. Many days I still feel like a "fat girl", and it helps to have objective pics to prove to myself that's just not true anymore. :)

    You can also buy cheap calipers, but they're probably pretty inaccurate too. Whatever method you use, just use it as an indicator of progress--don't worry so much about the actual number. Unless you get a professional DEXA scan, you'll never have a totally accurate measurement...but that's ok. As long as you like how you look and you're making progress, that's all that really matters :)
  • kaitlynelkins9
    kaitlynelkins9 Posts: 26 Member
    I agree with the above post. I've found the most precise tool that's easy to use on a regular basis to be a cheap pair of calipers, but it's likely inaccurate. It does however show your progress fairly reliably if you practice using it consistently. Body fat scales take no practice, but they are extremely imprecise and not very accurate either. I measure my body fat percentage with calipers once a week, and while it's likely that it's not very accurate, it does give me useful information regarding my progress.

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