Body Fat Confusion

MelanieAG05
MelanieAG05 Posts: 359 Member
edited December 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
I hope you folks can help me shed some light on this!
I have done my body fat calculations using fat2fit radio website. There are three calculators on there so I did all three and the results were as follows:

Original Body Fat Calculator = 26.7%
Military Body Fat Calculator = 39.5%
Covert Bailey Calculator = 24.5%

I have previously only ever used the Military one and had set myself the target of 25% which is acceptable for my age (39) and fitness level (I workout 5 days a week, strength and cardio) so you can imagine my surprise when the other two calculations were so much lower!!

Does anyone know why this would be and which is the most accurate? Or any other thoughts on the topic would be helpful!

Thanks x

Replies

  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,432 MFP Moderator
    Its an online calculator, dont look too much into. Either a mumber was transposed or you missed something. Go out and buy body fat calipers, they are like $10 on amazon.
  • sathor
    sathor Posts: 202 Member
    also, are you sure you had the female / male setting thing marked correctly? Females for one of the things needs like 6 different measurements, whereas male uses like 2.
  • Silverkittycat
    Silverkittycat Posts: 1,997 Member
    No need to measure unless you'd like a DEXA for health. Really, most numbers are usually not accurate, use your mirror. Take photos. :)
  • kristy6ward
    kristy6ward Posts: 332 Member
    My results were very similar to yours. I guess I'll have to resort to a bodpod test.

    Or... if anyone has taken a bodpod test, which formula brought you closest to your true result?
  • Swissmiss
    Swissmiss Posts: 8,754 Member
    also, are you sure you had the female / male setting thing marked correctly? Females for one of the things needs like 6 different measurements, whereas male uses like 2.


    Now, this has me wondering.
  • MelanieAG05
    MelanieAG05 Posts: 359 Member
    also, are you sure you had the female / male setting thing marked correctly? Females for one of the things needs like 6 different measurements, whereas male uses like 2.

    yeah I did - I went back and checked all the numbers were correct.
  • MelanieAG05
    MelanieAG05 Posts: 359 Member
    No need to measure unless you'd like a DEXA for health. Really, most numbers are usually not accurate, use your mirror. Take photos. :)

    Thanks - I do take photos and look in mirror all the time so I know it is reducing.
  • MelanieAG05
    MelanieAG05 Posts: 359 Member
    Its an online calculator, dont look too much into. Either a mumber was transposed or you missed something. Go out and buy body fat calipers, they are like $10 on amazon.

    Thanks, I'll look into that!
  • kalynn06
    kalynn06 Posts: 368 Member
    Did you use your natural waist for the calculations? Some of the other calculators seem to want a measurement around the navel. The military one wants women to use the natural waist (Minimal abdominal circumference).
  • Tann19
    Tann19 Posts: 94 Member
    as you can see with the 3 different results, online calculations are not accurate. The most accurate is water immersion, but most universities and gyms use electrical body fat analyzers (usually handheld) or calipers.

    I use a scale that includes body-fat analysis. But I take the results with a grain of salt, it's not exact and should be used as a guide and not the end all.

    :flowerforyou:
  • jppd47
    jppd47 Posts: 737 Member
    Each one is accurate to its own guild lines. At one time I tried every one I could find, to include caliper (11%) and an electric device (9.8%), the online ones ranged from 9-15%

    I like this one:
    http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/cbbf/

    It takes a bunch of different measurements and age. Maybe its just me, but it seems that the more info the better to try to figure out an average.
  • Spanaval
    Spanaval Posts: 1,200 Member
    I get similar results as well. I don't think the military BF calculator is particularly accurate for me - At 5'1" and 112 lbs, it's hard to have close to 40% body fat.

    BTW, it's fun to play around with the numbers and see which #s make the most difference to the calculators. With some of these things, I know that it will be nearly impossible to get it to give me the #s I want, without going dangerously low on weight.
  • McLifterPants
    McLifterPants Posts: 457 Member
    This is the one that I used that gave me the closest measurement to my BFP scale (which seems to be pretty accurate)

    http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/library/blbodyfatcalculator.htm

    This version of the army one gave me essentially the same number:

    http://www.calculator.net/army-body-fat-calculator.html?ctype=standard&csex=f&cage=27&cheightfeet=5&cheightinch=7&cneckfeet=1&cneckinch=0.5&cwaistfeet=3&cwaistinch=0&cwaistfeetf=2&cwaistinchf=2.5&chipfeet=3&chipinch=1.5&x=45&y=8

    There are so many versions online that give such different numbers that it's a real pain. But these are worth a try anyways!

    (Scale gives me 22.2, first calc gives me 22.4, 2nd gives me 23)
  • taso42
    taso42 Posts: 8,980 Member
    It's best not to put any stock into those online measurement-based BF calculators. You'd honestly be better off doing the comparison visually against the pics here: http://www.leighpeele.com/body-fat-pictures-and-percentages
  • vim_n_vigor
    vim_n_vigor Posts: 4,089 Member
    The military one puts me at just over 50%, the other ones have me at 29% and 32%. If you really need to know what yours is, get the calipers, or pay someone to do a bf% analysis.
  • vim_n_vigor
    vim_n_vigor Posts: 4,089 Member
    Each one is accurate to its own guild lines. At one time I tried every one I could find, to include caliper (11%) and an electric device (9.8%), the online ones ranged from 9-15%

    I like this one:
    http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/cbbf/

    It takes a bunch of different measurements and age. Maybe its just me, but it seems that the more info the better to try to figure out an average.

    This one gives me 20%. I don't really believe that is right either.
  • McLifterPants
    McLifterPants Posts: 457 Member
    Each one is accurate to its own guild lines. At one time I tried every one I could find, to include caliper (11%) and an electric device (9.8%), the online ones ranged from 9-15%

    I like this one:
    http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/cbbf/

    It takes a bunch of different measurements and age. Maybe its just me, but it seems that the more info the better to try to figure out an average.

    This one gives me 20%. I don't really believe that is right either.

    Yeah that one gave me 18%... LMFAO... take a look at my stomach and you'll KNOW that's off! I lift weights a ton and have pretty strong abs, but they are hidden under a good inch of pudge still :-P
  • kalynn06
    kalynn06 Posts: 368 Member
    Each one is accurate to its own guild lines. At one time I tried every one I could find, to include caliper (11%) and an electric device (9.8%), the online ones ranged from 9-15%

    I like this one:
    http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/cbbf/

    It takes a bunch of different measurements and age. Maybe its just me, but it seems that the more info the better to try to figure out an average.

    This one gives me 20%. I don't really believe that is right either.

    Yeah that one gave me 18%... LMFAO... take a look at my stomach and you'll KNOW that's off! I lift weights a ton and have pretty strong abs, but they are hidden under a good inch of pudge still :-P

    It's funny, because, for me, that one is closest to what I get with calipers and visual estimation. The military one, for me, is ridiculously low, because I have a small waist relative to my other measurements. Body shape seems to play a pretty role in which one works best.

    I usually average my calipers plus 2 online formulas and track that. Usually the numbers are pretty close and I'm really just looking for progression.
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
    Original Body Fat Calculator = 26.7%
    Military Body Fat Calculator = 39.5%
    Covert Bailey Calculator = 24.5%

    Did you try the Military one more than once to make sure you didn't enter something incorrectly? That's a pretty big difference. But they do all give differing results. For me they were not THAT different, but I just use the average, which seems pretty correct based on the way I feel and look and previous measurements I've had with calipers or those electro-thingys you hold in your hands.
  • geekyjock76
    geekyjock76 Posts: 2,720 Member
    DEXA scans are considered the gold standard but can be expensive ($150 on up). Hydrostatic weighing is a cheaper option ($50) and has a standard deviation a little greater than DEXA.
  • onikonor
    onikonor Posts: 473 Member
    I am similarly confused.

    Here are mine.

    http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bf/ 27% measures wrist, waist, hip, forearm
    http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/mbf/ 36% measures neck, waist, hip
    http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/cbbf/ 21% measures wrist, waist, hip, forearm, thigh, calf

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/652245-online-body-fat-calculators?hl=body+fat+calculators#posts-9462728
  • doneatfour
    doneatfour Posts: 120 Member
    When using the military body fat calculator, you have to follow the military guidelines for where to measure. For women, waist is the natural waist and not the navel. And HIPS are much lower than you would think. Standing in profile, the tape is placed around the widest part around your buttocks. If you try this, you will probably find that the numbers get closer together.
  • michellekicks
    michellekicks Posts: 3,624 Member
    The Original BF calculator gave me 26.8% with 121.5 lbs lean body mass
    The Military BF calculator gave me 32.8% with 111.5 lbs lean body mass
    The Covert Bailey BF calculator gave me 25.1% with 124 lbs lean body mass

    I had a DEXA done in April, which gave me a LBM of 120 lbs. I also had a DEXA done in 2004 and it also had LBM at 120 lbs. I don't lift weights but fully expect I haven't lost lean mass since April.

    So the Original BF Calculator is closest for me... and slightly overestimated my fat mass.
  • sathor
    sathor Posts: 202 Member
    Just a thought, are you sure ALL the sites used the same system? IE, the one that was off, trying inputing metric numbers instead and see what happens.
  • sathor
    sathor Posts: 202 Member
    also, are you sure you had the female / male setting thing marked correctly? Females for one of the things needs like 6 different measurements, whereas male uses like 2.


    Now, this has me wondering.

    dunno. I'd blame the boobs, but I don't think there are even one of the numbers. Wrist are though.
  • KiltFuPanda
    KiltFuPanda Posts: 574 Member
    I've just recently heard of the Covert Bailey, and I'm impressed with it's accuracy.

    By standard, I'm 35%
    By military, 28-33% (depending on the site used)
    By CB: 25%

    I have had a proper caliper test done, and got measured at 24-25% bodyfat (268 lbs lean weight, 92 lbs fat).

    Considering it takes into effect your legs, I'm more confident than using just neck/waist/height measurements.
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