Testing body fat at home

GardeningZombie
GardeningZombie Posts: 55 Member
in Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
Good afternoon! I found the following site, and I was hopin for some insight as to how accurate it may be.

http://www.healthcentral.com/cholesterol/home-body-fat-test-2774-143.html

According to the measurements, I have 10.5% body fat, which places me right where I need to be to start a bulking cycle. Or so I have read. I was hoping to get some other posters to test it out, especially if they have recently tested their body fat. My electronic scale places me at a whopping 22%. At 5'8", 147.8 lbs I don't really know so I'm asking for a second opinions or two. Thanks!

Replies

  • DavePFJ
    DavePFJ Posts: 212 Member
    It came out fairly accurate for me - the site said 14%.

    I have a skin caliper - they're only about 8-9 dollars. There are many sites that tell you how to use it properly. This gives me around 15%.

    Electronic scales vary based on water....which the signal passes through quickly.

    I don't know what you look like (muscle wise), but 10.5% at 147.8 pounds sounds right. I'm 5'8" as well, and weigh about 155 at 15% BF.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    I'm very dubious about simple measurements as fat estimators. I've done the 3 estimators (including the Covert Bailey method) on fat2fit radio and the results were all over the place:
    22.1%, 18.9% and 14.1%.

    Covert Bailey method was the lowest.
  • MrGonzo05
    MrGonzo05 Posts: 1,120 Member
    The difference between 10% and 15% is obvious just by looking. However, many people will underestimate their BF%. You can post pics here or elsewhere to ask for an opinion. Although, my preference is that you are a hot chick if you post it here. LOL
  • Sarauk2sf
    Sarauk2sf Posts: 28,072 Member
    The difference between 10% and 15% is obvious just by looking. However, many people will underestimate their BF%. You can post pics here or elsewhere to ask for an opinion. Although, my preference is that you are a hot chick if you post it here. LOL

    ^^this..well, except the hot chick thing.

    BIAs are really inaccurate as can be those online calculators.
  • mjrkearney
    mjrkearney Posts: 408 Member
    Going by the online calculators, including the one posted, my body fat percentage is somewhere between 22 and 40%.

    Take that as you will.
  • tilmoph
    tilmoph Posts: 72 Member
    Having no access to a cloth measuring tape, and having had my regular measuring tape high jacked by my mom for some reason involving flowers, I did the measurements using the only things I could dig up; some shoe strings I don't remember buying but that were listed as 27 in long, which gave me something to work with. From measurements obtained using my precision tools and the highly scientific process of "eyeballing it and guessing what fraction it was" I got a result of 16% BF.

    ...I really, really wish I could buy that. Of course, whether this seeming inaccuracy is a result of the site, my shoestrings of math, or some failing in my (totally for realsies) exemplary eyeballing-and-guessing skills remains an exercise for the reader.
  • Dunkirk
    Dunkirk Posts: 465 Member
    What colour were the shoe strings? Black is more slimming than a lighter colour :-)

    Loved your creativity.
  • tilmoph
    tilmoph Posts: 72 Member
    What colour were the shoe strings? Black is more slimming than a lighter colour :-)

    The shoestrings were white, to avoid any tampering with the accuracy of the eyeball-o-scope. These were very scientifically accurate shoestrings.
  • godsgrl33
    godsgrl33 Posts: 307 Member
    I did the test you said, and mine was 25%, and my scale at home that is supposed to read body fat % says between 30-35%. I am 154 lb., 34-yr. old female. (5'5"). Don't know what is correct.
  • GardeningZombie
    GardeningZombie Posts: 55 Member
    Thanks all. It "seemed" to be more accurate than others as it measured areas of me which have very lite fat and areas that have a bit more. If I had to guess myself, I'd put near the 15%+ mark, but I have also been anorexic in my teens. I look at those pictures and think "wow, no wonder people thought I was sick!"

    I appreciate the thoughts of posting pics, but I prefer to keep those on a friend basis.
  • __freckles__
    __freckles__ Posts: 1,238 Member
    Can't tell if you're a man or a woman. If you're a woman and have 10.5% body fat, that is unhealthy (unless you're a serious body builder and even then they only stay that low for a short while) and you most likely will not be having a monthy cycle. Hoping you're either a man or the test you took is wrong. Here is a link to pictures of men/women at different body fat percentages. You can pretty much gage where you are at by using this:

    http://www.healthygrad.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/body-fat-percentage-men-women.png
  • NorthWoodsLee
    NorthWoodsLee Posts: 92 Member
    Unless you have skin calipers and know how to use them consistently, I recommend the Navy Body Fat formula. It's an algorithm based on comparing tens of thousands of water displacement ("dunks") tests with simple body measurements of the persons tested. It's generally considered the most accurate method apart from water displacement, modern high-tech approaches such as a Bod Pod test, or skin calipers used by someone who knows how to use them. All you need for the Navy Formula is a tape measure and a scale.

    A Bod Pod is an egg-shaped, high tech chamber that uses Air Displacement Plethysmography technology and many now consider it the gold standard for body fat/body composition testing. I took a Bod Pod test at the start of a fitness challenge last year and used the Navy formula, and then took a second Bod Pod test and Navy formula calculation at the end. In both cases, the Bod Pod and Navy formula results were within 1/2% of each other, the Bod Pod showing a 1/2% greater body fat number.

    Below is a link to the formula. All you need to input is your gender, height, weight, neck measurement, waist measurement at your navel, and (for women only) your hip measurement.

    http://www.skinbodyfitness.com/bmr_bmi_bfp.htm
  • NRBreit
    NRBreit Posts: 319 Member
    I just tried this method and found it to give VERY similar results to prior caliper tests (Jackson-Pollack 3 site and 4 site) at the same weight.
  • KathleenMurry
    KathleenMurry Posts: 448 Member
    Wow....this site put me at 14.7% and the last electronic scan I did had me at 14.4! Neat!
  • Jim_1960
    Jim_1960 Posts: 399
    Thanks for the US Navy calc m'friend.
    I previous used the military calculator on Fat2fitradio.com and they are so similar it is uncanny.....

    Well chuffed with results.!
  • Gkfrkv
    Gkfrkv Posts: 120
    If you don't mind answering, what is the best way to measure bf%? And even more basic: Is it important to know your %?
  • alyhuggan
    alyhuggan Posts: 717 Member
    Put me at 11% when I'm around 17-18%, seems legit! Where's my abs obliques and serratus :'(
  • LarryDUk
    LarryDUk Posts: 279 Member
    Put me at 11% when I'm around 17-18%, seems legit! Where's my abs obliques and serratus :'(

    This +1
  • keem88
    keem88 Posts: 1,689 Member
    depends what site you use. i get anywhere from 14% to 24% based on the same information i put in.

    5'5 and 103.5 lbs.

    i would go with a body caliper over a website
  • lucan07
    lucan07 Posts: 509
    That test gives me 26.6% BF I had it tested recently and it was 36.6% so way out for me.

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