Help needed - How to measure body fat?

Calipers will only be accurate when someone trained in using them measures you. It is near imposible to het a food reading measuring yourself. And even then not 100%. The more sites on your body you measure the more axcurate, min 3 site reading preferablu 5.

I recommend this site.


http://www.calculator.net/body-type-calculator.html?bustsize=90&bustsizeunit=centimeter&waistsize=70&waistsizeunit=centimeter&hipsize=90&hipsizeunit=centimeter&x=103&y=11


I would argue that it's pretty accurate. In comparison to the scale at my local gym there's only a 0.2% difference.

Get yourself a skin calliper. You dont need to be a rocket scientist to use one! Just make sure your grabbing with thumb and forefinger as much skin/fat/muscle (it should hurt a little) then put the calliper about an 1 cm from here. Plug your measurements into this calculator: http://scoobysworkshop.com/body-fat-calculator/

here you go: http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2012/07/02/body-fat-percentage/ Enjoy!!

Buy a scale that measures bodyfat %! They are not too expensive, you can get one that also measures %water, muscle (lean body weight) in pounds and bone mass. I bought mine a few years ago, the Tanita "Ironman" Inner Scan Body Composition Monitor.

If you want to just track differences/improvements, but don't really care about HOW much you really are you can just buy a tanita scale. They aren't super accurate but it can help you figure out if you've dropped or not. If you want a better result and are ok with paying a bit, I recommend doing a bod pod. Its the least invasive of the accurate tests, and from what I hear aren't too expensive.

calipers can be wildly inaccurate depending on the method (number of sites), if the tester uses the correct protocol for each test site, and is consistent in technique. commonly used numbers for calipers (caveat is with a trained tester and a good caliper, versus one of the cheapo $2 from gnc). I will also note that its easier to test and far more accurate for thinner subjects, you will note that the its very difficult or impossible to test an obese person with calipers.

Another method you may want to try is the circumference tests (look for the "army" test) that uses a formula to input a few key measurements for men or women, and will give you an estimate. all tests performed with a simple measuring tape.

Many still consider water testing (aka hydrostatic) to be the gold standard, and it does still have a high accuracy with the caveat that it is not suitable for people that are water phobic, or claustrophobic One of the common causes for error is if the subject has not completely emptied their lungs, creating additional buoyancy.

I feel the most accurate, and one of the easiest to use is the DEXA (also called DXA) body scanner. availability might be one of the biggest challenges, but I was able to find one in a relatively small town (I live in Little Rock, Arkansas). the cost was also attractive, at $50 for the first test and $25 for additional tests. I will note that the facility i use (hospital lab) will only allow you to get a test every 6 months.

the hand held or other bio-impedance tests are ok, as a ball park measurement but pretty inaccurate as far as the actual number. I used a pretty high end bio-impedance scale at a corporate exercise facility, at the company that manufactures that scale and a ton of other medical imaging equipment, a DEXA scan, and a $30 hand held bio-impedance tester within a few days of each other. the fancy bio-impedance tester was 5% off of the DEXA result and the cheap tester was 10% off.

what works for me is to identify an available "gold standard" test, that will probably have to pay for. could be DEXA, or hydrostatic (only ones i would call gold standards). try to take another test as close to your gold test as possible (calipers or home quality bio-impedance tester). you can do the home quality test weekly/monthly and have the gold standard test backing it up ever X number of months. Over time you should see patterns and get a better understanding of how much the home test varies from the more accurate test methods.

just my 2 cents.