how do you calculate

**LilVito469** · 02-09-2004, 01:23 PM

hey guys this might be a stupid question but how do you calculate your body fat percentage? I usually got it done while I was at the gym but unfortunately I dont have enough to renew my membership. Maybe you guys can help me out.

**LilVito469** · 02-11-2004, 09:45 AM

does any one know???

**Yung Wun** · 02-11-2004, 09:49 AM

u have calibers??

**DBarcelo** · 02-11-2004, 01:53 PM

Check out this website...... http://www.he.net/~zone/prothd2.html it gives some pretty good info, but I can't vouch for it's accuracy.

**Gear** · 02-11-2004, 06:39 PM

get some calibers

**big_mike** · 02-11-2004, 07:09 PM

calipers are the only way to go. Everything else would be completely innacurate.

**DBarcelo** · 02-11-2004, 10:32 PM

Calipers are generally accepted because they're cheap, but they are considered to be medically inaccurate also. They're used, but considered to be at the bottom of the todem pole when it comes to accurate ways of measuring body fat. There's a type of ultrasound that's supposed to be very accurate, but the machine costs about five grand. The water test has been considered the most accurate, but even that has a good margin of error.

**IronAdam** · 02-12-2004, 11:17 AM

Originally Posted by DBarcelo

Calipers are generally accepted because they're cheap, but they are considered to be medically inaccurate also. They're used, but considered to be at the bottom of the todem pole when it comes to accurate ways of measuring body fat. There's a type of ultrasound that's supposed to be very accurate, but the machine costs about five grand. The water test has been considered the most accurate, but even that has a good margin of error.

Where can you even find a place to do the water test? I'v heard about it alot, but have no idea where you would get it done. Anyone know?

**DBarcelo** · 02-12-2004, 06:00 PM

You'd have to speak to your doctor. It's very expensive, so hospitals are usually the only ones that have them.

**brad fuel** · 02-19-2004, 04:36 AM

Try the universities for under water weighing.

as for ultra sound, they use exactly the same principles and assumptions as calipers except for one thing. There is no compression of the skin so doing multiple readings of the same area should not be affected loss of interstitual fluid from the pinching. But once you get the measurement in millimeters, you plug them in the same formulas as you would for calipers method

LM1332 · 02-19-2004, 01:05 PM

yea all the online bf calculators are all BS

**DBarcelo** · 02-19-2004, 06:05 PM

I still say that they are all good for telling your progresses. If you even use the online calculator, it may not be accurate at all really, but it should show you if you're losing bf or gaining bf over a period of time.

**brad fuel** · 02-20-2004, 02:48 PM

Dbarcelo is right. so long as you're consistent with your method, you can measure progress. All of them have systematic bias so if yo'ure only measuring Change in body fat it will be accurate.