Need help with measuring ....BF, BMR, etc. CONFUSED!

I personally think BMI is flawed and a waste of time when you carry more muscle then fat. According to BMI im overweight.

To give you an example.

Person A is 5ft 9 and 180lbs. According to BMI they are overweight at 26.1. But then lets say they are only 10% bf. That means that 162lbs is muscle and tissue and 18lbs is fat.
Then look at person B who is 6ft 2 and the same weight.
Their BMI is 23.1 which is normal according to BMI. But now say their bf is 35%. So they are carrying 63lbs of fat and only 117lbs of muscle and tissue. Person A is fat apparently but person B is in the normal range. So for me its not worth bothering with. Its like looking at the numbers on the scale to decide if you are overweight or not. That number tells you nothing.

I use bodyfat calipers to measure my bf %. Its inexpensive and easy to do.
I use Accumeasure Body Fat Calipers. Dirt cheap. Think mine were $15 or less.
Important thing to remember though is that even these aren't 100% accurate as they are open to human errror. What reason are you looking to want to take your BF for? If its just to monitor your training then these should work well as long as you are consistent with how you take your measurements. Its easy then to see if you are making progress. The scales are often not very accurate. The results can be effected by things like your hydration level. I believe that the floor scale measures your lower body and the hand scale your upper body.

Body fat is tough to figure using calculators online.
Just find the average that best describes you and decide where to go from there.
If body weight is within healthy, but body fat is too high, lift weights and eat around TDEE.
Most rank beginners will maintain weight but lose body fat.

Try and keep it around 20% if you aren't competing in a contest and simply want to be healthy.
Nutrition is going to dictate composition, so keep it 70-80% whole foods and the rest can be fun stuff!

I personally think BMI is flawed and a waste of time when you carry more muscle then fat. According to BMI im overweight.

To give you an example.

Person A is 5ft 9 and 180lbs. According to BMI they are overweight at 26.1. But then lets say they are only 10% bf. That means that 162lbs is muscle and tissue and 18lbs is fat.
Then look at person B who is 6ft 2 and the same weight.
Their BMI is 23.1 which is normal according to BMI. But now say their bf is 35%. So they are carrying 63lbs of fat and only 117lbs of muscle and tissue. Person A is fat apparently but person B is in the normal range. So for me its not worth bothering with. Its like looking at the numbers on the scale to decide if you are overweight or not. That number tells you nothing.

I use bodyfat calipers to measure my bf %. Its inexpensive and easy to do.
I use Accumeasure Body Fat Calipers. Dirt cheap. Think mine were $15 or less.
Important thing to remember though is that even these aren't 100% accurate as they are open to human errror. What reason are you looking to want to take your BF for? If its just to monitor your training then these should work well as long as you are consistent with how you take your measurements. Its easy then to see if you are making progress. The scales are often not very accurate. The results can be effected by things like your hydration level. I believe that the floor scale measures your lower body and the hand scale your upper body.

Mainly I want to know about finding a more accurate way to measure progress. I will still use pounds but people's bodies are so different. Also, I've heard that for my height (5ft 3) a healthy weight can be from 106/7 all the way to 140! That's a big difference. My frame is rather wide and short which I received from my father. So I figure using weight and BF % will help me get a better estimate of where I am and where I need to head.

Any advice on why the fluctuations between the different calculators for BF?

They fluctuate so much as they are all basically estimators. I find that the calipers work great. Punch them into google and watch a video on how to use them. Really simple and an easy way to monitor your progress.
Hydrostatic Weighing is one of best ways to measure body fat via water displacement and the accu measure calipers apparently are within a 1.1% accuracy result of them. Probably just marketing rubbish but I use them and I usually just figure out my bf and add on 2 or 3% to whatever the result is.
Any method will work really as long as its consistent. As long as you can measure a change its all good. If you do use floor scales make sure you use them at the same time every time and try not to exercise before using them or have eaten anything.

I take my measurements every week and add them into a few different online calculators. I note the results of each. Over time they all seem to go down by about the same amount (for me anyways). I know they are not accurate but it gives me an estimate of my progress. The military one seems to show a much higher BF % than the rest. If you do a google search online you can find comparisons of what different body weights look like so I match my online calculator results to the photos that look most like my body composition to get a good enough estimate for my needs. I haven't ordered calipers yet, but for the price it sounds like a good method to track progress.

Ha ha! That is too funny - high heels on the treadmill!

I'd say if online calculators are the only reasonable option available to you at this time to just do that and measure by progress and not worry too much about the exact %

Yes pick one measurment/site and use it to track the downward trend...that's what I have done...I have yet to get my dexa scan (I live in Canada may not have to pay for it)

The other option is there are some people who are very good at looking at pics and giving estimates...which would is better than any online estimate.

Thanks....my goal was around 20% because I definitely do not plan to compete. I think 26-28% sounds pretty likely. But I do plan to go in for a more accurate test from a doc soon.

If you have a college nearby that teaches exercise science, chances are they could have a bodpod.
See if you can get tested for cheap...or even free!