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How to measure fat levels


Guest irongymnast
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Guest Ido Portal

Either get checked in a facility that has underwater weighing device or a Bodpod, or get someone with a lot of experience to take your skin fold measurements with a caliper. The caliper needs to be from the caliberated kind, and not the 5 $ plastic ones, the person taking the measurements needs to have at least a couple of thousands of tests behind him, and the number of sites where the test is being taken should be from 7-12, the higher, the better.

Otherwise, I wouldnt bother with body fat testing, and would concentrate on photos to measure changes.

One last thing, the bio impedance measurement devices are a waste of time and money, they are useless for body fat measuring, due to their relience on liquid balance in the body, a factor that varies too much to get an accurate measurement.

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Ido - I know the calipers dont get realy body fat %age. But is it possible to use them to get a RELATIVE CHANGE value over time. Basically, to measure that your skin folds are getting smaller over time...??

Let's say there is a 3-7% difference error between a BodPod measurement and Caliper measurement. Given, the ERROR remains same, would it not be possible to atleast log the Variation of Body Fat over time (months of working out)??

PS: I've been considering getting those calipers for the above reason. Thoughts?

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Guest Ido Portal

I did not say calipers were bad. They are an excellent tool.

I would advice to get a quality one, though. The ones which rely on your own pressure are not accurate at all.

You need a spring caliberated caliper. Like Lang or Harpenden. (not cheap..)

Ido.

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Thanks. Now I wish I could go back to Houston :) A wellness center used to have 30$ bod pod assessments.

Dont know if I can find one in India.

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  • 1 year later...
I did not say calipers were bad. They are an excellent tool.

I would advice to get a quality one, though. The ones which rely on your own pressure are not accurate at all.

You need a spring caliberated caliper. Like Lang or Harpenden. (not cheap..)

Ido.

Ido- Whats the 'least expensive' I can buy or look up on one of these that you suggested?

Seriously, I need something to measure mine. It need not be super accurate in some ways.. I need it to be able to SHOW VARIANCE... or DELTA i.e. Change in Body Fat over a span of time... So I know if my workout + my food was having a certain Body Composition effect.

e.g. Lets say it shows BF as 15%.. when in reality I might be at 18%... Thats fine as long as when I measure 6 / 8 weeks later I can see whatever SHIFT ...Up or Down 3 or 4% is atleast a RELIABLE.. CHANGE in BF.. for me to determine how my Workout+Diet etc worked..

Suggestions / thoughts?

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