[RawGod]

I'm looking for a simple way to keep a log of body fat percentage at home. There are the bathroom scales, or the hand-held ones. Which kind and which model is the most accurate?

[Atlantic]

I just watched Dr. Oz and I think these weight shaming machines are weird and unhelpful. I suggest just accepting yourself.

[Saweeep]

Neither are renowned for their accuracy.

What they are useful for is giving you a baseline.

The ones with hands and feet connection give the most consistent results.

Buy a pair of callipers and get someone to measure you or go old school and rely on a tape measure.

[Ensam]

The best solution I've found is a pair of calipers and a very good scale. Not the expensive one at Bed Bath and Beyond but an electronic scale like you'd find in a doctors office with traceable calibration. Measure once a week with the calipers at the same time. Weigh yourself daily at the same time and use the 7 day moving average of your weight as the value for calculating your body fat. I've been able to keep the repeatability of my BF measurements to within 1% using this method and that's good enough to see whatever trend your on.

[The Beast1]

It probably depends on the amount of money you wish to spend.

The one at my gym has a margin of error ±5. I always assume worst case scenario so if it says 15 i'm really 20.

Calipers are the most accurate, yet most frustrating to use.

[ThrustMaster]

I purchased a fitbit aria for the tracking stuff. The BF scale is grossly inaccurate, but provides useful trending. The issue is that it uses impedance running a current through your body to detect your lean mass, water weight, fat mass. For example in the same day I can be 9.5% or 11.5% depnding if I'd use the bathroom, had a meal or drunk enough water.

The most useful way to approach it is to measure with as many of the same parameters being equal eery day. Shit the scale has shown me at 16% bf with a 4mm caliper measurement off lateral abs (~9% bf for my age group).

So once you build a picture on their trending tool over a few years the graphing becomes useful for trending, but otherwise calipers or a bod pod is the best way to go.

[VolandoVengoVolandoVoy]

http://dailyburn.com/life/health/how-to-...ercentage/

tldr: Hydro-static weighing and a kind of xray are the accurate ways to do it. Calipers and electrical impedance are mostly bullshit and only offer approximations.

[Spike]

My gym has one of those handheld devices too. I stopped using it. Its too inaccurate.

Only the mirror counts. That's what you and others see.

[Checkmat]

Even if they aren't accurate, they should be consistent. If you just want to measure your progress, it may not matter if you're 14% bodyfat but the monitor says 12%. As long as it shows consistent gains/losses it should satisfy your need.

[Aliblahba]

Complete Nutrition has a scale system that gives a good baseline, albeit it's not as accurate as hydro-static. Doesn't cost anything to walk in, take off your shoes, and stand there for a couple minutes. A personal trainer at my gym recommends using it. Again, free vs. the other methods.

http://www.completenutritionandwellness....-analysis/

I'm going in this morning to face the music and get some good news.

[storm]

Generally no, both the caliper and the handheld ones are not good. The scale is completely determined from your weight+age+sex. You need to go hydro-static to get reliable details. If your main objective is to measure your gains, the best alternative is to measure your waist, arms, thighs, and so forth.

[AhabTravel]

Some gyms have body fat scales that can be accurate for measuring change if:

• The BMI doesn't match the body fat percent at all, assuming you're lean (according to the mirror). If you're lean, BMI will be like 25 and the body fat percent will be like 12.
• The person using them is younger (less than 55)
• The person measures at a similar time and body state each week or measuring point
• If they use the same scale
  

Remember, that the measurement you want to watch is the change, not the value.

For instance: if you measure every Friday morning before you work out and before you've had food (similar time and similar body state) and you see that on Friday 1 you were 11.1%, Friday 2 you were 12.3%, and Friday 3 you were 10.4%, then you can gauge that you're moving in the healthier direction.

As others have mentioned, you'll generally see a confirmation of this in the mirror from each measuring point (before measuring, you can take mirror pictures) as you see large movements, such as over ten weeks dropping 6% body fat (or increasing).

The actual values are highly debatable - so only look at the change from each measuring point, assuming the above list applies to you.

[s3k]

-Buy a pair of body fat calipers. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2...at+caliper

-The formula I use is called the Parillo equation and uses a 9-site measurement.

-Take measurements of your upper chest, tricep, bicep, suprailiac (hip bone), lower back (above kidneys) (Will need help), subscapular (between shoulder blade and spine, abdomen (likely will be your largest reading), calf, and upper thigh. (try and keep most measurements on your right side of your body)

- Add up measurements (in millimeters) of all 9 sites. Divide this total by your body weight.

- Next, multiply that number by 27 and you will have your percentage of body fat.

-To find out how many pounds of fat that equals just multiply your weight by that percentage, than divide by 100. This will tell you how many lbs of fat you have.

- Body weight - (lbs of fat) this number will tell you your LBM (lean body mass)

- Want to look into the future and see how much you must weigh to reach a specific body fat percentage?
here's the formula
LBM/(1-%)= so for an example if my LBM is 125lbs and I want to reach 5% the formula would be as follows.
125/(1-.05%)=132lbs. So my ideal weight to reach 5% body fat would be 132lbs of body weight.

I've used just about every formula out there and got dexa scanned and the Parillo formula is by far the most accurate. Based each formula off of my dexa scan.

-

[Vaun]

buy a tape measure and calipers off of amazon. The calipers should have an explanation guide, but the tape measure will really tell you a lot more about your current fat level. $10, done.

[Spike]

Yesterday I remembered this thread when entering the gym. I tried the handheld fat monitor again (didn't use it for 4 months now).

It said 8.5 %.

Get the fuck outta here. I dropped a lot of weight this year but no way is that thing accurate.

[Aliblahba]

(05-02-2015 10:30 AM)Spike Wrote:  

Yesterday I remembered this thread when entering the gym. I tried the handheld fat monitor again (didn't use it for 4 months now).

It said 8.5 %.

Get the fuck outta here. I dropped a lot of weight this year but no way is that thing accurate.

   

[s3k]

Spike- can you see your abs even after you just ate a big meal? 8.5% you shouldn't look bloated at all.

[Ethan Hunt]

(04-29-2015 07:38 AM)ThrustMaster Wrote:  

I purchased a fitbit aria for the tracking stuff. The BF scale is grossly inaccurate, but provides useful trending. The issue is that it uses impedance running a current through your body to detect your lean mass, water weight, fat mass. For example in the same day I can be 9.5% or 11.5% depnding if I'd use the bathroom, had a meal or drunk enough water.

The most useful way to approach it is to measure with as many of the same parameters being equal eery day. Shit the scale has shown me at 16% bf with a 4mm caliper measurement off lateral abs (~9% bf for my age group).

So once you build a picture on their trending tool over a few years the graphing becomes useful for trending, but otherwise calipers or a bod pod is the best way to go.

I'm using those scales too. Was a bitch to set up. I was really surprised when it was telling me by BF was 27%.. when I logged into my account I was on the wrong gender! Correcting that and instantly dropped to 17%.

[Spike]

S3k.

I can see my abs but they're not really defined yet. Guesstimating 11%, maybe 10% I went from 81 to 73 kilos in 6 months. At 81 I thought my abs would be really visible at 77. Then lowered that number to 75. Now at 73 its getting scary. Still no rockhard abs. I'm afraid I might have to drop down to 70. That's where I draw the line. Haven't been that light since high school.

I might try it out to see what my body will look like but its not a weight um comfortable with.

[Dalaran1991]

What's the actual use of knowing your body fat percentage? Is there some medical reasons?

I mean if you are 12% but you don't see visible abs nor veins then that doesn't mean shit. Conversely if you are 18% but has nice abs that's all you need right?

[jbkunt2]

Get a DEXA scan and you will know for sure.

[S3K2]

Yes a DEXA scan is the most acccurate however, most insurances do not cover it and the cheapest I have found was a little over $100 for the scan. I do it once a year personally.

Darlaran - It allows you to stay motivated and see what diets/foods are working and whats not. Also, your weight may stay the same yet you could be dropping fat like a mofo. This is called a recomp. Your gaining muscle and loseing fat at the same time. A very tight strict diet will do this for you, temporarily.
Also, lets say you lost 10lbs and you were 14% prior to the 10lbs lost. Now your 13%. You just lost about 4 lbs of fat and 6 lbs of muscle. In this case the diet must be changed quickly. It is very important (even more so during a cut) to keep track of your bf% as consistantly as possible. Its ok to have a standard deviation of 6%. As long as you measure the same exact way every time. You will have a good idea whats working for you and whats not.

[sterling_archer]

Most accurate and cheapest thing, calipers need mastering: http://fitness.bizcalcs.com/Calculator.a...y-Fat-Navy
If the US navy developed it for its sailors than as sure rest of us can use it too.

[the Thing]

(07-05-2018 07:52 AM)Dalaran1991 Wrote:  

What's the actual use of knowing your body fat percentage? Is there some medical reasons?

It's useful to check if your nutrition and hormone regimen is on point, and if not adjust accordingly.

I found out that the floor scale types, if off by a certain %, will always be off by that % so as long as the measurement conditions are the same (in the morning right after you wake up and go to the bathroom) if it says 15% one week and 14% the next, it still means you dropped 1% even though the numbers are off.

Also, electricity follows the path of least resistance, so if you have fatty legs and you've been skipping leg day, the number will be off towards the higher end. The ones with hands and feet connections try to mitigate this by taking measurements over multiple paths.