body fat calculators

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twelfty
twelfty Posts: 576 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
it's probably been said before but i'm actually annoyed by the inaccuracy of them today a friend of mine and me used various calculators, he's 5'7 and trying to lose weight i'm 6'4 and trying to gain weight so tipping the both ends of the scales quite fairly,

we took measurements and used 4 or 5 different calculators, at estimation i put myself between 12 and 15% and i'd say my mate is about is about the 18 - 20% mark

given there's usually a 3% tolerance to these calculators my lowest result was 10.1% my highest was 17% with tolerance that gives me a range of anywhere between 7% and 20%

my mate did the same and got different results from different calculators one saying 10% and the other saying 17% with tolerance giving him a range of between........... 7% and 20%

now somewhere along the line one of those may be correct, however, given that the one that said i was 17% said he was 12%, and the one that said i was 10.1 said he was 12%, the one that said he was 17% said i was 12%........ etc my conclusion is none of these are accurate in the slightest other than maybe the last one, but i don't feel confident enough to say that it was because i could be 15% and he could be 20%..... he could be 17% i could be 15% etc i have to ask what on earth is the point in them if none of them give accuracy at all?

Replies

  • InfinityStars
    InfinityStars Posts: 14
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    I think they're just meant to be as a rough guide, however I know I have ranged from about 15-25% depending on the calculator. I tend to not use military ones, because I'm not in the military, but that amount of difference for the same measurements is quite worrying. I would trust a doctor above online calculators.
  • Vonwarr
    Vonwarr Posts: 390 Member
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    It's not a very accurate thing at all. Even the devices that measure it can be way off (My scale says 33% BF, the one at the gym says 17.5% BF). The best is a DEXA scan but they can be expensive and hard to get. Even they have an accuracy of +/- 3%.

    Honestly, you can ballpark it visually, and that's generally good enough as different people carry it differently.

    Check out the article below for pictures and descriptions of various body fat % ranges.

    http://www.builtlean.com/2012/09/24/body-fat-percentage-men-women/
  • chloeobe
    chloeobe Posts: 72
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    The PT at my gym tested my body fat using on of the hand held machines, and only tested it once. I came out at 29% body fat which he said was unhealthy. This shocked me considering I am a 5"3, 110 pounds and UK size 6 and have more than healthy BMI. After discussing with numerous people that said it sounded wrong I was retested by a friend using 4 point caliper calcs, and came out at 20%... Just proves the innacuracy and inconsistency!

    I now go by the "if you can pinch more than an inch method" seems to be more accurate :)
  • twelfty
    twelfty Posts: 576 Member
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    see now, size 6/8 is perfect size imo, my ex was and i wouldn't have wanted her to go up or down, it gives just the right amount of bum, but no muffin top etc, that PT sounds like a bell lol


    cheers for the link wolf yeah my estimations are fairly accurate going by that


    ETA: with women imo it's got to be more diffcult taking "womanly bits" into consideration and varing size, a woman of 5 foot with d cups is gonna be a fair chunk heavier than a woman with A's

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