How to measure body fat % ?

Jun 18, 2009 Author: jennincat | Filed under: Questions

I’ve been obessing about the scale but too lazy to do my body fat measurements because it takes 5 minutes instead of 5 seconds. Finally, last weekend I pulled out my calipers and there was good news and bad news. The good is news are the measurements themselves. 10.9% for the 7 site method and 12.8% for the 3 site method. I’m am happy with these numbers. The bad news is almost all my remaining fat is resting in one area. Grrrrrr……

Taking body fat measurements requires some practice even then it’s not 100% accurate. Even so it’s a great inexpensive way to track progress and it’s much more reliable than the scale. For instance, I’m 4 pounds heavier than I was for my first competition but my BF% is down by 1-2%. Which hopefully means I did gain a little muscle and lose some fat!!

Below are some links to calculators and directions on how to measure using calipers. I used both and they came up with the same percentages. Personally, I really like the Rusty Iron site because you take 3 measurements at each site and it averages them together. The trick to accuracy is taking the measurements in the same place every time, just like when you are using a tape measure. If I have a freckle or mole at the site I use that as a marker.

ExRx Body Compostition Calculator

and

Rusty Iron Body Fat Calculator

For calipers I am using the Accu-Measure Fitness 3000 Personal Body Fat Tester.

Amazon has these right now for $5.91. When I bought mine a few years ago I paid $19.99 at some vitamin store. What a racket.