most accurate body fat percentage online calculator?

KayteeB07
KayteeB07 Posts: 341
in Fitness and Exercise
Hiya all

My scales apparently calculate body fat and it measured me in at 29.5% body fat which by looking at me i just cant believe that to be true, i think im more 30-35% going by pictures online

However id love to get an accurate body fat percentage calcuation online, what would you recomend by the best website for doing this?

Replies

  • GrabacrPD
    GrabacrPD Posts: 94 Member
    http://www.linear-software.com/online.html

    The more data you provide the more accurate the results. Hope this helps
  • AhlaWahda
    AhlaWahda Posts: 189 Member
    Any body fat scale or calculator is inaccurate because it's can't possibly know how much fat, bone and muscle you have. If you want to know then I suggest going to a gym and do a caliper test. :-)
  • KayteeB07
    KayteeB07 Posts: 341
    thanks guys!
  • katy_trail
    katy_trail Posts: 1,992 Member
    i like the calculator on cathe dot com's workout manager. you don't have to own any of the workouts to find this useful.
    it also makes tracking workouts fairly easy. I like the calculator because it's based on really specific measurement data.
    the other bf% calculators just ask for a few measurements and the basics of your weight/ht/age.
    http://cathe.com/workout/

    that said, every calculator has a margin of error, so it's a general guideline.
  • katy_trail
    katy_trail Posts: 1,992 Member
    http://www.linear-software.com/online.html

    The more data you provide the more accurate the results. Hope this helps

    i just tried this. based on my neck, waist and hips.
    my results are 10 pts higher than the bf% based on more specific measurements.

    as the others said i'm sure it would be more accurate using the calipers, but the OP was referrng to a calculator online.
    she might not have access to a trainer who can measure her, if so, she'll be using the tape measuring method
    which is what I used.
  • emmaroid1981
    emmaroid1981 Posts: 45 Member
    I heard body fat calipers are the only true way to calculate body fat percentage. I got some from ebay they only cost £2.50.
  • Lupercalia
    Lupercalia Posts: 1,857 Member
    Hiya all

    My scales apparently calculate body fat and it measured me in at 29.5% body fat which by looking at me i just cant believe that to be true, i think im more 30-35% going by pictures online

    However id love to get an accurate body fat percentage calcuation online, what would you recomend by the best website for doing this?

    Scales aren't very reliable, and neither are the online calculators, unfortunately...that said, 29.5 is awfully close to your estimation of 30%, or somewhere in that neighbourhood.

    In the recent IPOARM post that HelloItsDan made, there are links to three body fat calculators on the Fat2Fit site. He suggests using all three and averaging them out, and going with that number. I did that this morning, and the average is about 5 points lower than what my scale said when I stepped on it. So who knows what my BF really is. What matters is being able to track the progression. Stick to one method, whether it's your weird scale, the online calculator, or if you have a caliper reading done, and use that same method to measure your progress as you go along. That way you can see what's happening with some accuracy, even if the number isn't quite right.

    If you're around 30% bf anyway, you are in the same boat as me--we just want to lose BF and it doesn't really matter so much if we're at 29.5 or 35 at this point, right? That's how I feel, anyway. When you get closer to your goal body composition, either going by how you look or by whatever measurement method you've stuck with, then perhaps see about springing for a more expensive body composition test. DEXA scan or BodPod or hydrostatic weighing....something like that. That's my plan, anyway.

    ETA: This thread might be helpful, OP: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/830595-body-fat-estimation-methods

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