Body Fat % accuracy?

brittrose33
brittrose33 Posts: 58
in Health and Weight Loss
At the moment, I cannot get to a doctor or gym to have my body fat checked, and have no access to a scale with a body fat check. I used the "Fat 2 Fit" website to calculate my BF%, using every calculator. Two of the calculators gave me a BF of 27 and 28.6, however the military bodyfat calculator gave me 39.3! I checked out a couple pictures and I would say I look way closer to the 27-28.6 body fat range. Should I take an average of the three, go by the highest, or concentrate more on the 27-28.6 range? I will eventually have my body fat checked, however I want a rough estimate to follow until I do.

Replies

  • doneatfour
    doneatfour Posts: 120 Member
    Fat2fit does not give good instructions for taping for the military one. For women you take the point of minimal abdominal circumference and for hips you take the widest protrusion around the buttocks from a side view. The DoD uses the Navy formula. Look up OPNAVINST 6110.1G or "OPNAVINST body fat." I know for me, that area is a couple of inches smaller than around my lower abdomen, dropping my body fat percentage significantly according to the military one. If you look up dressmakers measurement guides, that is also where they measure hips. If you measure in the places the formula was designed for, it should come closer to the others but may still be a couple of percentage points higher.

    Also, I average the three and my BIA scale reading.

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