Hi all. Guess this is the 1000th time somebody asks for this, but there is something annoying me about measuring bf%. First, my Tanita scale tells me I'm 13-14% (first thing in the morning, after a quick visit to the toilet). The mirror tells me I look more or less like John on april 1st 2003, which kind of agrees with the scale. But my Accumeasure caliper reads 9 mm suprailiac!!! That is, for my age (I'm 28) around 10% bf. I don't think, guys, I'm 10% at all. Cannot be. Also visited mybodycomp, but I couldn't measure myself properly and the measurement was just crap. The thing is that I've ever read that the accumeasure is meant to be far more accurate than the scale. It is not that I need to know my bf that badly, but I'm just curious about the way of measuring. Sorry if the post is repetitive, but I always read people having troubles with the scales, not with the calipers.

Any thoughts?

Thanks.

P.S. By the way, I'm currently around 149 pounds and my diet is 1800 cal. with 40CH, 40 Prot, 20fat (6 meals a day). I do weights 3 times a week and recently began to do hiit three times a week. Also do about 1 hour running the days I don't do hiit. Saturdays completely off from exercise. Are my calories too high for me? Sometimes I think they are, but going to 1500 makes me hungry late at night.
Cheers.

Using calipers correctly requires skill and experience, which I found out when I tried to measure my own body fat and got a ridiculously low number (13% back when I had a 38 waist and electrical resistance measurements had me at 23.5%).

So, don't take them too seriously. If you really want to learn how to measure your own body fat accurately with calipers, you're going to have to have somebody with experience help you out with it. It's unlikely you'd get an accurate measurement on your own without any help.

Are you just taking the one measurement? If so, you're asking for an inaccurate reading. We all carry fat differently that is why you should take measurements all over your body. There are a bunch of web sites out there where you can enter your skin fold measurements to find an estimate of your body fat percentage. Here's the one I use: http://www.engr.mun.ca/~butt/7men.html

Are you just taking the one measurement? If so, you're asking for an inaccurate reading. We all carry fat differently that is why you should take measurements all over your body. There are a bunch of web sites out there where you can enter your skin fold measurements to find an estimate of your body fat percentage. Here's the one I use: http://www.engr.mun.ca/~butt/7men.html


Thanks, AMR, that site looks useful, but still have a problem. I have NOBODY to take the measurements for me. I mean, yes, I have a few friends. But for some reason, since I began my fitness programm at the beginning of the summer, I lost a bit of contact with them (this could well be another thread, WHY everybody keep telling me I'm selfish and obsessed and they just don't call me anymore to go out, etc...?). So, nobody really close to me to take my measurements, then... Is there any way of doing it yourself? Like missing some pinches at the back or the arms or whatever, and still getting some decent number?

Thanks.

Thanks, AMR, that site looks useful, but still have a problem. I have NOBODY to take the measurements for me. I mean, yes, I have a few friends. But for some reason, since I began my fitness programm at the beginning of the summer, I lost a bit of contact with them (this could well be another thread, WHY everybody keep telling me I'm selfish and obsessed and they just don't call me anymore to go out, etc...?). So, nobody really close to me to take my measurements, then... Is there any way of doing it yourself? Like missing some pinches at the back or the arms or whatever, and still getting some decent number?

Thanks.

There is a 3 point method on that same sight: http://www.engr.mun.ca/~butt/skinfoldbf.html

Probably not as accurate but still just an estimate.

Friends: A friendship is like a bank account. You make deposites and withdrawls. Once you have a zero balance you're on credit. Credit is not good. Maybe you just need to make some deposites? Just hanging out and doing what they want to do every once in a while would be good.

P.S. By the way, I'm currently around 149 pounds and my diet is 1800 cal. with 40CH, 40 Prot, 20fat (6 meals a day). I do weights 3 times a week and recently began to do hiit three times a week. Also do about 1 hour running the days I don't do hiit. Saturdays completely off from exercise. Are my calories too high for me? Sometimes I think they are, but going to 1500 makes me hungry late at night.
Cheers.

I wouldn't go any lower. I appear to be loosing fat at 2000/day with a bit more cardio and less weights than you're doing. I'm 155 (probably a bit less now) at probably about the sam BF% When I was below 1800/day it just slowed my metabolism. I also up my calories on lifting days to try to get the benefit of weights (and average 2000/day over the week).

Here's the one I use: http://www.engr.mun.ca/~butt/7men.html
That's funny.
My Tanita scale puts me at about 18%. This web site puts me at about 17.5

Using the Fattrack calipers, I can get anywhere from 11% to 24%.

For what it's worth, I use my Tanita in the morning as well.
Seems the most accurate at that time. I also do the measurement on thur. or fri. morning...seems that's when i'm the leanest or let's say i have expelled all the excess water from the weekend! ;)

For what it's worth, I use my Tanita in the morning as well.
Seems the most accurate at that time. I also do the measurement on thur. or fri. morning...seems that's when i'm the leanest or let's say i have expelled all the excess water from the weekend! ;)
Actually, the excess water is read as lean mass. My Tanita reads me as being anywhere from 186 to 192 at anywhere from a low of 14% to a high of 16% if I hop on before bed. Doing the math, all of the readings are remarkably close on weight of fat, but lean mass is all over the place.

Morning is within a pound of 183 (or whatever my stable weight happens to be), and BF is within 1% of 18.. usually in the low 17 range.

This is why I can't believe that the scale is giving me an accurate BF level. My first 2 months working out, I dropped from 210@28% to 195@18%. I'm now at 183, significantly stronger, able to run much faster/longer, yet the scale indicates that my BF is hovering, indicating a LOSS of both fat and lean mass as my weight continues to drop (now at about 1/2 to 1 pound a week).

Actually, the excess water is read as lean mass. My Tanita reads me as being anywhere from 186 to 192 at anywhere from a low of 14% to a high of 16% if I hop on before bed. Doing the math, all of the readings are remarkably close on weight of fat, but lean mass is all over the place.

Morning is within a pound of 183 (or whatever my stable weight happens to be), and BF is within 1% of 18.. usually in the low 17 range.

This is why I can't believe that the scale is giving me an accurate BF level. My first 2 months working out, I dropped from 210@28% to 195@18%. I'm now at 183, significantly stronger, able to run much faster/longer, yet the scale indicates that my BF is hovering, indicating a LOSS of both fat and lean mass as my weight continues to drop (now at about 1/2 to 1 pound a week).
I don't know about you, but my Tanita scale is only precise to 1%. Actually, I know it is only accurate to +- 3-4%. Anyway, I make sure to take a 7 day moving average of my LBM, Weight and BF. Over time I make sure they are headed in the right direction. Water retension is hell on these scales and snapshotting your stats is almost impossible, even if it seems to be on for a day or a few weeks. I try to stay consistent and do everything first thing in the morning after a restroom break. The manual actually says to wait a few hours after waking up so your water level can stabalize, but I am at work by that time. Use the averages and chart them to make sure you are going in the right direction as scales are only good for relative change. Besides, you don't really care what you weigh or what your bf% is if you get the look and fitness level you desire. Numbers around here can be deceiving; trust the mirror, your wardrobe, and pictures b/c they usually don't lie.

I don't know about you, but my Tanita scale is only precise to 1%. Actually, I know it is only accurate to +- 3-4%.
I got tired of pushing buttons on the $30 version and dropped the $100 on the one with 4 memories and "000.0" presicion on both weight and BF%.

Ya... I take measurements every morning and put them on a spreadsheet (with a graph) so I can track long-term. I actually have two spreadsheets... a daily and a weekly.

Like I said, I've been seeing a steady decline in weight, but virtually no change in BF, while I have certainly built muscle mass.
One caveate on these scales is that they do indicate that they are NOT for extremely active people... I have no idea how my activity level would skew the results.

NOT for extremely active people... I have no idea how my activity level would skew the results.

The Tanita type scales actually do not measure bodyfat levels, they measure body density -- that's different than body fat. Using a math formula they calculate a body fat prediction. One reason an active person might be "denser" than a couch potato might be bone density. There would be other factors as well. Anyway, these factors have to be accounted for in the BF calculation.

Some of the more expensive BF scales allow you to program in an activity level. This will change the mathmatical formula accordingly.