I use 3 devices to monitor my body fat. One more than the others, but it is mainly a convenience thing rather than accuracy of measurement. There are very many ways to measure your body fat, but most of them are not accurate perhaps with exception of MRI scan. Even more important to note is the cost of these methods. Some of them are really expensive. This leaves us with 2 ways to measure body fat cheaply and conveniently (at home without having to dip yourself in a pool of water).
The first one being the calipers method where you pinch a location on your body and measure the thickness of the pinched part. Then you refer to a chart that gives you a table of fat percentages for each range of thickness measurement. This is considered to be fairly accurate and considered to be almost as good as the gold standard (hydrodensity weighing) when done correctly. Now for the pro and cons
Pros
It is very hard to master the technique. If you pinch a slightly different location each time then the results may vary. It you pinch too hard then the result may be different. So it is hard to get consistent measurements every time. The best way to do it is to take 3 measurements and then average them.
A slight variant of the calipers method is to take measurements in more than one location (3, 4, 7 or 9 measurements depending on the formula being used), and then plug the values in a formula to get the body fat. I like this webpage for the calculations because they also have videos showing the locations where to take the measurements and how to take them correctly. Again this method also has some pros and cons
Pros
If you stick to one formula then it is consistent through out the day. More accurate than just a single measurement because different people have fat stored in different locations.
Cons
Each formula gives a different body fat percentage with a lot of variance between them. I have seen one formula give 9% and another give 18%. So again it all depends on the technique.
The second method is to use a body fat analyzer that is based on bioelectric impedance. These devices are the most convenient and least error prone (from the user's perspective anyway). You can easily get your measurements by standing on the scales and letting it do its job. A few pros and cons
Pros
Very easy to use and readings are consistent when taken multiple times at the same time.
Cons
Readings are not consistent through out the day and everyday. A lot depends on what you ate and how much you digested and how much water you have in your body etc. In the morning it may say 12% and in the night it could be 15%. So you will have to take measurements more often (read: daily) and average it.
This is getting to be a long post so I will stop now. In my next post I will write about what devices I have and how I use them to measure my body fat.
The first one being the calipers method where you pinch a location on your body and measure the thickness of the pinched part. Then you refer to a chart that gives you a table of fat percentages for each range of thickness measurement. This is considered to be fairly accurate and considered to be almost as good as the gold standard (hydrodensity weighing) when done correctly. Now for the pro and cons
Pros
It is more or less consistent through out the day and your fat percentages will not change during the course of the day. It will not depend on the food you take or amount of water in your body. So if you take the readings once a week it will be sufficient to see if your fat went up or down.
ConsIt is very hard to master the technique. If you pinch a slightly different location each time then the results may vary. It you pinch too hard then the result may be different. So it is hard to get consistent measurements every time. The best way to do it is to take 3 measurements and then average them.
A slight variant of the calipers method is to take measurements in more than one location (3, 4, 7 or 9 measurements depending on the formula being used), and then plug the values in a formula to get the body fat. I like this webpage for the calculations because they also have videos showing the locations where to take the measurements and how to take them correctly. Again this method also has some pros and cons
Pros
If you stick to one formula then it is consistent through out the day. More accurate than just a single measurement because different people have fat stored in different locations.
Cons
Each formula gives a different body fat percentage with a lot of variance between them. I have seen one formula give 9% and another give 18%. So again it all depends on the technique.
The second method is to use a body fat analyzer that is based on bioelectric impedance. These devices are the most convenient and least error prone (from the user's perspective anyway). You can easily get your measurements by standing on the scales and letting it do its job. A few pros and cons
Pros
Very easy to use and readings are consistent when taken multiple times at the same time.
Cons
Readings are not consistent through out the day and everyday. A lot depends on what you ate and how much you digested and how much water you have in your body etc. In the morning it may say 12% and in the night it could be 15%. So you will have to take measurements more often (read: daily) and average it.
This is getting to be a long post so I will stop now. In my next post I will write about what devices I have and how I use them to measure my body fat.
Thank you Chandan! I have had a lot of trouble with the caliper method (multi-site). It would have helped if I had seen a demo. Thanks for the link. I will wait for your next post!
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