Body Fat Caliper

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scapez
scapez Posts: 2,018 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
The next purchase I need to make is a body fat caliper. I'll be researching them but in the meantime, do any of you (especially personal trainers/professionals) have suggestions for one that's reasonably priced yet accurate?

Muchas Gracias.

Replies

  • UsedToBeHusky
    UsedToBeHusky Posts: 15,229 Member
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    I have heard of them, but know nothing of them. Hopefully, this will bump your post so you can get some ATTENTION AROUND HERE!! Ugh!
  • jbdowns35
    jbdowns35 Posts: 352
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    My digital scale does body fat, I'm not sure exactly HOW accurate it is, but I think it is pretty close. It wasn't expensive, Maybe $20 or $30. I think most of the newer scales are capable of this. I like being able to monitor my body fat %, gives me another way to measure my fitness levels, sometimes my weight goes up or stays the same, but my body fat has reduced from building muscle. I strongly recommend using your body fat % and take body measurements along with your weight to see an accurate reflection of your progress. Weight alone doesn't show the true picture.
  • scapez
    scapez Posts: 2,018 Member
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    I do have a scale that records BF% but I question its accuracy. I should've been more specific, I am looking for either a hand-held, tape, or caliper type.
  • Yanicka1
    Yanicka1 Posts: 4,564 Member
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    My BF on my scale is round 30% and my doctor calculated between 22-23 %. I also want to buy callipers but not sure where to look. I think we can find some nice and innexpensive ones at walmart but never saw any.

    So all that to say bump
  • jamk1446
    jamk1446 Posts: 5,577 Member
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    You're probably better off looking online. The only ones I found in a store were in GNC. Not even Academy and Sports Authority carried them. They had 2 kinds, both were plastic. I got the cheap ones just to have something but I'm not really sure how accurate they are.
  • Yanicka1
    Yanicka1 Posts: 4,564 Member
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    Also....I have a confession to make. I work in technical drafting and sometime I use callipers to mesure parts. Well sometime I bring those to the bathroom. They can get them at a hardwear store :blushing: They are very precise.
  • booncey
    booncey Posts: 75 Member
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    I've been wondering this myself. I have left a message for a friend of mine who is a registered Dietician and maybe she can answer the qeustion. She has measured mine before at the Hospital using some equipment that sent some type of electronic pulse (didn't hurt or anything) to measure the body fat. It's been many years ago and I don't have that great of a memory when it comes to those types of things.
  • booncey
    booncey Posts: 75 Member
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    My dietician friend called me back and she thought the scales should be pretty accurate. She said the handheld tools are around $60 or so and you would probably have to order it from online. She said the scales should be sending the same type of small electrical current through the feet to measure. Hope this helps.
  • delipidation
    delipidation Posts: 34 Member
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    The Accu-Measure Fitness 3000 (http://www.accumeasurefitness.com/products/index.html, about $20) is nice because it clicks when a certain pressure is achieved. This avoids the mistaken impression that you're losing fat when in fact you're just squeezing harder. You just slide the pointer over, grab the right spot, squeeze until it clicks, and you're done ...

    ... more or less. You still have to find a way to consistently hit the right spot (or spots -- some people measure a couple of different places and average the results), get the angle right, and then interpret the results by looking up your number on a chart that includes your age as a variable in determining your current body fat percentage. The more consistent thing is probably just to read the raw number and see whether it goes up or down over time, but that's a little tougher to communicate to others: "I've dropped body fat from 25% to 21%" communicates better than "I now pinch 11 millimeters instead of 15," or whatever the numbers are for your weight and gender.

    We own the Accu-Measure 3000, but at the moment I'm still using the reading from our Tanita scale, which infers the body fat level from the electrical impedance between metal plates under the feet. When that number gets below 20% on a regular basis I'll start cross-checking with the caliper for better accuracy.
  • shalinimunjal
    shalinimunjal Posts: 192 Member
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    Just a few hours ago I ordered the Accumeasure 3000 off Amazon today. I had seen it linked in someone's success story link (saint someone)

    Here it is. Only $10. Hope it works well http://www.amazon.com/AccuMeasure-MyoTape-AM-3000-Fitness-Personal/dp/B002VAPHXW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1327097222&sr=8-1

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