I think I want a way to track my BF besides the once every one to three months trip to the PT station at the gym to beg one of them to do it. I think I would like to get some calipers, but I've heard that calipers are inaccurate in the hands of someone who is inexperienced at taking the readings. So are there any calipers out there that are particularly easy for a novice? Or would I be better off with some type of scale? But, I really don't like the scales because from past experience they are really really inaccurate on me compared to the calipers. I really want the readings to be as accurate as possible.

Okay, so again the question is: Are there any calipers out there that are particularly easy for a novice? Or would I be better off with some type of scale?

Good question. My scale does it but it gives awful readings.

Don't know anything about calipers though, so I am of no help, lol.

My scale is pretty good. I have no idea if the NUMBER itself is accurate but it does seem to give comparatively accurate readings. In that I may gain weight but the scale says my body fat is lower, and indeed my clothes are a bit loser. Or sometimes I just gain weight AND bodyfat and yep, my clothes get tighter.

And that's enought for me--if you really want to know the actual number though you need to get a professional to use the calipers on you (the calipers, especially if you aren't trained well in using them will be more off than the scale).

Only Allison has advice for me?

I really thought there were some people on here who used calipers at home for BF measurement. No?

Anyways, perhaps I could do some other type of measurement to see how I'm doing like... waist or hips every week as a tracker? Any thoughts?

Oh, and thanks for the idea Allison, just go more by the change instead of the actual number. Maybe I could get it measured at the gym then go straight home and see what the scale says just to check it's accuracy.

I wish I had advice for you, but I've held off on buying calipers for the reasons already mentioned--I'm sure my own readings would be too inaccurate to be useful.

Besides, for now, I am just working hard until the spare tire disappears.

I have a body fat scale as well, but it appears to have started going wonky. For some reason now, the first time I step and get weighed, I get a bf% of like 15-18 (yeah right). Then if I step on it again I get somewhere between 27-29.

But I'm definitely way more toned then I was before. I can't pinch any extra skin on my legs. A huge majority of my bf is in my upper body. However, I find it difficult to believe it's up close to 30%. Don't bones, water, organs have to take up space?

I'm hoping to find a relatively inexpensive place to get measured at using calipers or some other technique. Pretty much anything other then the bio-impedance would be nice to try.

Ha! I kinda just want a way to measure the spare tire. I'm pretty hard on myself as far as looking in the mirror to judge and the scale is really really not doing what I want it to lately.

Neesha, maybe your scale needs new batteries...?



My gym will do it using calipers, but it's a huge hassle. Since they have paying clients, I usually feel like I'm their very last priority and they don't give a crap whether or not they do it right. And they only schedule very small blocks of time during the day when they will do this for you and those times are usually like 8 to 11 am during the week (I'm at work!!). So I'd just really like to find a way to measure it, fairly accurately, in my home, every week for tracking purposes, and to help me when the scale does not move in my favor.

Maybe I should just quit making excuses and convince some trainer to write me down for a specific time every week and just go and come back to work and work a little bit later that night.