I'm looking for something that will not break the wallet and give me an accurate reading with body fat %. I had it checked about 18 months ago and would like to check it again.
Thanks!
Thanks!
Ways to calculate body fat %??
- Thread starter Hybrid93Hatch
- Start date
The best way that is reasonable, reasonably accurate method is to go to a gym and have them test it with skinfold calipers. Most gyms either do it for free if you are a member or charge $5. Or you could buy a pair of skinfold calipers and have someone at home learn how to use them along with you. A decent pair will cost you at least $20 though. Doing this once a month isn't so bad. There's not much need to test bodyfat % every week because there will not be a significant difference in a week (if you're training properly to lose fat it would be about a loss of 1% a week). I check people's bodyfat all the time using a 3-site method with skinfold calipers. But there are 7 and 12 site methods that are a little better which I'd prefer to use. If the calipers you buy dont give you the details of those I can pass them along to you.
Forget about those Tanita scales and any type of bioimpedance device. Most of them are horribly inaccurate.
Forget about those Tanita scales and any type of bioimpedance device. Most of them are horribly inaccurate.
Yeah I do. When I train people, if their goal is fat loss, I tell them if they are dedicated they can safely lose .5-1% bodyfat per week. I believe this is a better recommendation than saying 1-2 lbs of bodyweight per week. There are two main reasons for this:
1) Recommending someone lose .5-1% bodyfat per week makes allowances for the individual. Saying a person should lose 1-2 lbs of weight per week does not. Losing 2 lbs of weight is not significant for a 275 lb man, especially if he's an athlete, because of a greater caloric expenditure. However, for a 115 lb woman 2 lbs is quite a bit of weight to lose in a week. Going by bodyfat % instead makes allowances for the size of the individual. So if I recommend a 275 lb man to lose up to 1% bodyfat per week he can drop up to 2.75 lbs per week, which he could do safely. Meanwhile, for the 115 lb woman that means she could drop up to 1.15 lbs of fat safely. So going by bodyfat % instead of scale weight is superior in my opinion because it makes allowances for each individual.
2) Going by scale weight does not make allowances for where the gains/losses in weight come from. The weight could come from fat, muscle, or water. As you know muscle weighs more than fat so someone on an effective exercise program could lose 10 lbs of fat, gain 4 lbs of muscle, and think they didn't make as much progress as they actually did because they'd only see that they just lost 6 lbs. I put a woman on a workout program 8 weeks ago and she lost about 8 lbs of weight but her bodyfat % dropped 6%. She was worried about the scale not dropping as quickly as she would have liked but when she saw the results in the mirror that helped put her at ease. In reality she lost about 12 lbs of fat but gained about 3 lbs of lean mass. The scale didn't reflect this, but testing her bodyfat % and the mirror were better indicators of her progress.
Scale weight also fluctuates too much. And then we must consider the influence of water. If I stop working out for 6+ months and then start working out again for about 1.5 hrs per day I tend to lose about 8-10 lbs of weight in the first week. I know only about 1.5-2 lbs are from fat and the rest is from water weight.
So overall, yeah, I do believe recommending a loss of .5-1% bodyfat per week is generally superior to recommending a loss of 1-2 lbs per week.
1) Recommending someone lose .5-1% bodyfat per week makes allowances for the individual. Saying a person should lose 1-2 lbs of weight per week does not. Losing 2 lbs of weight is not significant for a 275 lb man, especially if he's an athlete, because of a greater caloric expenditure. However, for a 115 lb woman 2 lbs is quite a bit of weight to lose in a week. Going by bodyfat % instead makes allowances for the size of the individual. So if I recommend a 275 lb man to lose up to 1% bodyfat per week he can drop up to 2.75 lbs per week, which he could do safely. Meanwhile, for the 115 lb woman that means she could drop up to 1.15 lbs of fat safely. So going by bodyfat % instead of scale weight is superior in my opinion because it makes allowances for each individual.
2) Going by scale weight does not make allowances for where the gains/losses in weight come from. The weight could come from fat, muscle, or water. As you know muscle weighs more than fat so someone on an effective exercise program could lose 10 lbs of fat, gain 4 lbs of muscle, and think they didn't make as much progress as they actually did because they'd only see that they just lost 6 lbs. I put a woman on a workout program 8 weeks ago and she lost about 8 lbs of weight but her bodyfat % dropped 6%. She was worried about the scale not dropping as quickly as she would have liked but when she saw the results in the mirror that helped put her at ease. In reality she lost about 12 lbs of fat but gained about 3 lbs of lean mass. The scale didn't reflect this, but testing her bodyfat % and the mirror were better indicators of her progress.
Scale weight also fluctuates too much. And then we must consider the influence of water. If I stop working out for 6+ months and then start working out again for about 1.5 hrs per day I tend to lose about 8-10 lbs of weight in the first week. I know only about 1.5-2 lbs are from fat and the rest is from water weight.
So overall, yeah, I do believe recommending a loss of .5-1% bodyfat per week is generally superior to recommending a loss of 1-2 lbs per week.
Sorry, I guess I didn't make my question very clear. I know the calipers are a more superior method to use to measure progress. I was questioning if 1% loss in one week was plausible. Seems like a lot to lose in such a short period of time. Change in body composition and measurable results usually take longer than one week, don't you think? Now, are we talking about a serious building competitors or your average Joe?
Sorry Lex, I misunderstood you. But I say 1% bodyfat is no harder to lose than 2 lbs of fat per week. For many people it's even easier. For a 150 lb man to lose 1% bodyfat per week he only has to lose 1.5 lbs of fat. So I tell people they can safely lose .5-1% bodyfat per week. It doesn't matter if they are your average person who's just taken up exercising or an experienced lifter. Actually the experienced lifter may have more trouble losing .5-1% bodyfat per week if their bodyfat levels are low because the lower bodyfat levels are the harder it is to lose more fat.
But having said that, I don't suggest people measure their bodyfat % every week because the measurement often wont fall within .5% of accuracy. So I recommend people get their bodyfat % checked about once a month. But weight provides the opposite problem since many peoples' bodyweight fluctuates several lbs a day. So I tell people they can use weight as a gauge if they check it only in the morning on an empty stomach and realize the information is only good against the backdrop of bodyfat % which should be tested monthly. And of course appearance and the fit of clothes/measurements factor in as well.
But having said that, I don't suggest people measure their bodyfat % every week because the measurement often wont fall within .5% of accuracy. So I recommend people get their bodyfat % checked about once a month. But weight provides the opposite problem since many peoples' bodyweight fluctuates several lbs a day. So I tell people they can use weight as a gauge if they check it only in the morning on an empty stomach and realize the information is only good against the backdrop of bodyfat % which should be tested monthly. And of course appearance and the fit of clothes/measurements factor in as well.
From experience thus far, I have found that the most accurate and accessible way of calculating %BF is via skinfold measurements with calipers. There are several different methods and equations, I have found that the ost accurate one is the Allen modified Zwirren, which uses 10 skinfolds.You also have the option of finding a place that will use underwater weighing, which is THE most accurate method to calculate %BF. However, you may pay more $$$ for this service
Regardless of which method you use, you will be able to monitor you losses/gains as long as you use the same method to every time you calculate your %BF.
Hey. I wanna measure my bodyfat % as well. Where would i buy that equipment to do so. Also. I am 15, weighing in at like 135 to 140...Wut is the AVERAGE body fat % for some1 my age?
Prometheus, your replies were very well put
I have a bioimpedance device which was cheap at around £10, its a small device you pl;ace your thumbs on, and tell it your age, sex, height and weight.
I suspected it may be slightly innacurate, but I neveer thought it would be too bad. Do you think its safe for me to go by for my workouts, as the callipers are not really in my budget at the moment?
I am around 6'1", male, 21 yrs old and weigh around 69kg (sorry i dont know that in lbs!) and my device gives a reading of 17.6%
how accurate does that sound to you?
btw, I aim to drop my % as much as possible, but aiming for around 11%.
thanks
I have a bioimpedance device which was cheap at around £10, its a small device you pl;ace your thumbs on, and tell it your age, sex, height and weight.
I suspected it may be slightly innacurate, but I neveer thought it would be too bad. Do you think its safe for me to go by for my workouts, as the callipers are not really in my budget at the moment?
I am around 6'1", male, 21 yrs old and weigh around 69kg (sorry i dont know that in lbs!) and my device gives a reading of 17.6%
how accurate does that sound to you?
btw, I aim to drop my % as much as possible, but aiming for around 11%.
thanks
tanita
ive been wondering about this for a while now.
i have a set of Tanita body fat monitor scales and have been constantly told between 15-18% body fat for the 4 months ive had them. I'm 6ft 1/2 inch, 180lb and fairly muscular, with pretty good definition including abs/obliques, delts back etc. I'm a 31" waist and a good V shape.
although i workout in the gym, it's always more functional strength training (multiple muscle groups i.e. why do pullups alone when you can hold a dumbell with your feet and do knee raises at the same time, or incline situps with a 20kg dumbell in each hand, punching both top of situp etc for a real cardio boost too : ) than isolation work. i also do a lot of cardio, running, rowing, cycling one way and another and have been involved in Martial arts (Thai & Chinese) for 20+ years..
so, that said, this (15-18%) has seemed (i would obviously like to think so...) a little high? what do you think? difficult to tell without a picture i suppose? my self-assessment above is truthful and accurate.
have you any experience of Tanita scales being out as compared to more accurate measurements, and if so, by what kind of margins?
thanks.
kevsta
Prometheus said:
ive been wondering about this for a while now.
i have a set of Tanita body fat monitor scales and have been constantly told between 15-18% body fat for the 4 months ive had them. I'm 6ft 1/2 inch, 180lb and fairly muscular, with pretty good definition including abs/obliques, delts back etc. I'm a 31" waist and a good V shape.
although i workout in the gym, it's always more functional strength training (multiple muscle groups i.e. why do pullups alone when you can hold a dumbell with your feet and do knee raises at the same time, or incline situps with a 20kg dumbell in each hand, punching both top of situp etc for a real cardio boost too : ) than isolation work. i also do a lot of cardio, running, rowing, cycling one way and another and have been involved in Martial arts (Thai & Chinese) for 20+ years..
so, that said, this (15-18%) has seemed (i would obviously like to think so...) a little high? what do you think? difficult to tell without a picture i suppose? my self-assessment above is truthful and accurate.
have you any experience of Tanita scales being out as compared to more accurate measurements, and if so, by what kind of margins?
thanks.
kevsta
Prometheus said:
Sorry to just jump in here. I agree that body fat % is more important than the numbers on the scale, but wouldn't the above be losing 1% of bodyweight not bodyfat?
The way I see it is if someone had 20lbs of body fat, 1% would be .2 lbs, not 1.5, etc.
I could be wrong, but I just wanted to check on that.
I think it is usaully referred to as a reduction in bodyfat percentage. An example would be a 125 pound woman with 20% bodyfat would have 25 pounds of body fat, and 100 pounds of lean body mass. If she reduced her body fat level from 20% to 19%, a 1% reduction, she would have lost 1.25 pounds of fat and now would weigh 123.75 pounds, everything else being equal...