How to get an accurate body fat measurement for women

[/quote] You will inevitably lose LBM while cutting. There are ways to minimize it, by eating enough protein, keep a moderate deficit over severe, weight lifting - however you will lose some. How much is impossible to say. [/quote]

To those asking why I'm pushing for the most accurate measurement possible- that's why. I'm trying to avoid losing lean mass as much as possible. I've read several studies that experiment with losing fat and retaining or growing lean mass and unfortunately the participants are always males.
Also, I'm curious about it for exactly the reason ilex70 said. I'm just a geek. I like numbers and data, I get curious, and I like to have something else to measure outside of weight. I especially like to feel justified about my body shape and build- and be able to feel okay about weighing much more than other women who are near my height and wear the same size clothes. I've been trying to embrace for some time that not all women are ballerinas and some women are bulldozers. I'm super strong and for me it's part of the journey to embrace that and be cool with it because I spent so many years thinking I needed to eat like other women and work out like other women (meaning vegan or super, super low cal, and work out by running or dancing only.)

So, I'm experimenting. I'm finding out if a woman CAN lose fat and retain lean muscle, or even grow lean muscle- and if it's absolutely inevitable to lose some- then how much? Can it be minimized? What numbers I start and end with are important for that. So far, I eat to a 2lb per week deficit but I never max out my calories and I never eat back my workout calories. I do try to get 100-150 g of protein per day and I'm slowly getting better at that. I'm training with a friend of mine and doing strong lifts 5x5. You know what? Even with a good size deficit, I've made decent gains already. That tells me that you can get stronger on a deficit. I assume getting stronger will translate to preservation of my current lean mass at the very least- but we'll see.

As to the notion that you WILL lose some lean mass- I'd assume it's because your organs, blood, and bones are factored into your lean mass. When you decrease in size, especially if you lose a lot of weight, say half your body weight, you are going to have significantly lower blood volume. Since blood is counted as lean mass wouldn't that appear as a lean mass reduction for every weight loss? I'm not arguing that I won't lose muscle because this is an experiment, after all, and I don't know the results yet, but I'm keeping in mind that lean mass might fluctuate for other reasons so if I've made strength gains greater to the body weight I've lost by the time I'm done, I'll feel good about it.