I had been considering getting one, but a few people have stated that they are hard to use and hard to get the exact measurement everytime.
What about a hand held BMI analyzer? Granted I dont go by BMI but BF%... so I dunno...

Good question. I'm looking for those answers as well. I feel BF% is a better measurement. BMI is a crock if you have a lot of muscle. Look at a NFL linebacker- 6'2", 255 lbs. OBESE!

Well, Stina, you can certainly spend your cash how you like, but if I were in at your place in your journey, I'd stick with good a ole fashioned measuring tape and a flow chart. That, the working out hard and eating right will all take you to where you want to be, without having to deal with the learning curve of calipers.

Good point Minu. I guess the reason I am interested in it is that every BF calculator tells me a different number, sometime its 10% high, sometimes lower... i just wish I really knew where I was and how close to my goal I really am.

i'm stuck too... i would buy the calipers, but i've asked two of the workers at the gym and they said you couldn't use them by yourself because of the locations you need to measure.

i've used the gym's body fat hand held device three times over a three week period. according to that device, my bf% has increased by almost 3 percent over that time period. that's simply impossible....

i have dave n's spreadsheet, but i don't think that thing is accurate either because of my non-standard body type. it shows me at like 32% body fat or something which i don't believe...

the only avenue open is letting the people at the gym pinch my fat. i'm sure it's as distasteful to them as it is to me and can't bring myself to go through with it.....

I think your body water percentage can throw the electrical impedance off on those units. If I'm "a quart low" on the water, my fat percentage is usually 2% higher.

THE ANSWER TO EVERYONES PROBLEMS!

GO here: http://www.drsears.com/ZoneResources/BodyFatCalcul ator/tabid/414/Default.aspx

A person on traineo gave that link to me, and she said that it works really well. When she went in to get it professionally done each time that website was basicly the same. So I use that to calculate my body fat It's great!

That one scares me... its the only one that makes me ten percent more than the other sites...

Call it denial if you must

What do you mean 10% it seems it works well for me, my body fat is apparently 21% which is around average... well good

on one site i am 37.8%, on another I am 39% and then on Dr. sears I am 48%

Are you sure you measured it correctly? what are the other sites you are using? I'll give them a shot

Well, the website was recommended to me.

I am 57 kg (or say around 127 pounds) and have got 21% body fat. So it seems around right considering i'm pretty close to my goal weight, im just trying to get rid of the stragly bits.

That's not impossible at all, I lose about 1% a week (currently at 19%) since I started my lifting routine full steam again. I have a handheld monitor, a scale that reports body fat, calipers (mostly have all this stuff just because I never threw anything away over the years) and I get it measured now and then at the gym to keep me honest so I know I'm not just seeing things; all three of my own "devices" and the body impedence measurement they take at the gym give me numbers within 1% of each other, although I primarily rely on the number from the scale.

It takes hard work, sweat, blood and tears, but it's not impossible at all, unless you're already in a low range.

As far as Stitch's site, it says I'm at 0% body fat, if I pad my waist measurement by 2 inches, I'm at 6%. I'm pretty sure I'm not at 0% or 6%... I can tell by looking at myself, and I wouldn't even want to be. I'll stick with actually measuring for numbers; those formula's might work for SOME people, but they're about as accurate as BMI for telling you how healthy you are for most of us. Personally, I put very little stock in these websites and formula's... to me it'd be the same as getting diagnosed with bronchitis over AIM because I typed "*cough*", if the doc ain't poking and prodding me I don't think he can really have any idea what's actually wrong with me.

21% for a woman is pretty low, not that I'm doubting you, but most of the women I know (and the list is short) that are in the lower 20s typically work out HARD at the gym just about every day and are usually training for something specific (marathon, body building competitions, etc.) Not that I'm saying you aren't that low or couldn't be that low (I don't really know you after all!) but it wouldn't hurt to double check that number with some sort of test.

Being that low on body fat doesn't just happen, it's something you have to spend a LOT of time training and working for... like to the point where your friends forget who you are and your children wonder if you were just a figment of their imagination or not! Then when you're not in the gym you're spending more time figuring out what to eat rather than actually eating it. It's the same thing for guys being 10% or lower. I've never met a guy that was even close to 10% that didn't practically live for that goal specifically in and out of the gym. For the record, my goal is 10% and yes, I do live in the gym and no, I don't have any kind of social life whatsoever.

"Normal" and "healthy" ranges that can happen without sacrificing your social life, children, sanity and marriage are probably mid-to-upper 20s for women and the upper teens for guys.

Oh, and back on subject. The calipers are pretty accurate but I prefer to just look at my scale. It's easier and more convenient, so yes, calipers work, they seem to be accurate if you use them right, and they aren't particularly hard to use, but they aren't the easiest solution, at least not for me.

i was using this one URL but for some reason its now down.
then i switched to this one URL which apparently isn't good either according to some people.... so i really dont know anymore... I'll just feel like crap if I am actually 48% instead of 37%... it will make me feel like a fat blimp again

Clifford, as a female teenager (still) most females are pretty thin. And when you think about it for the age of 19 and having only 57 / 127 pounds on me you know theres not really much room for fat.

That site, is a professional doctors site, so most of the time I do not doubt it. I know alot of sites can be full of it, but if someone told me that it is quite accurate then I believe them, also the fact that it is a dr's site.

Here's the link I think minu gave to me
http://www.musclesurf.com/ideal-bodyfat-percentage .html

As you can see i'm in the very good range, just below good. Hence rougly average for my size and all. I am short, 167 cm. So it makes all the difference.

As I have been told by jennifer, that because I dont really have much weight to lose, its hard to lose the last straggly bits. The only weight I really have on me is around my thighs, backside, and thats it? Where most females have it.

So thats my reasons to why I don't doubt the site. I've tried other websites and they're all roughly the same anyway.

I have reason to believe that maybe the measurements are of slightly, other than that... well I don't know

Stina, don't feel bad. Really. I just beleive the website I use is right for the reasons I posted above. But thats my belief, who knows your measurements may be true at 37%, im gonna try the urls you gave me and see what I came up with.

well yeah i've used both of those websites before, the first site doesnt work as you said. but the second website I got:

Your Results

You have 18.6% body fat.

You have 10.8 Kilograms of fat and 47.2 Kilograms of lean (muscle, bone, body water).


Which is roughly close to 21%.

I remember when I first started using the Dr Sears website around the start of the year my body fat was 23% (and I had also been training a few months before hand). So to get down to roughly 21% does show indeed that you're losing body fat which is the most important thing. I beleive it's pretty accurate considering that I have only been exercising around 2-3 times a week.

I now have a new training routine so that should tell then if i'm losing body weight, because i'm doing it 5 days a week happy about that.


EDIT:

http://www.bmi-calculator.net/body-fat-calculator/

According to this website: You have a Body Fat Percentage of 32.01%.
HAHAHA I doubt it :O

http://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/bfb

I'm 24 percent body fat. they said leave the leeway for around 1-3% because of water displacement.

http://www.davedraper.com/bodyfat-calculator.html

Go there and use the spreadsheet. I'm 25.5 there. See if those sites work for you. The total of all those sites would probebly be an average anyways.

Sorry for all the posts.

lol thats ok. I also found this one I like too: http://www.changingshape.com/resources/calculators /body-fat-calculator.asp

Well im 25% body fat

Man I feel horrible now. That is a difference compared to 21 though, oh well not to worry, im working out more now so it should be good in the long run.

just think of all the people who would kill to have 25% body fat *cough*me*cough*

*raises hand"

ME TOO!!!

I got that caliper and as far as I know its kinda most accurate method to check your bodyweight unless you do the water check.

But actuelly...

It doesnt matter which system you use - caliper or calculation - (unless you REALLY wanted to know your %). At least for me the more important thing is to see, that I have a progress. So at least the % goes down i don't care too much if my BF% is right messuared or ~25% shown to high or something.

It would be nice if there were a pictorial website of women in bikinis demonstrating various body fat %s. I bet there's one out there if I looked.

If you find it, do post it here as I've been curious about that too.

bah. use the same thing until you get close to your goal, then learn to use calipers. Nothing compares to the accuracy and efficacy of calipers, even if you're using the 3-fold test you can do on your own. (and they are neither difficult nor uncomfortable).



uh, yeah... I'd be *curious* too

I looked and couldnt find anything.... guess its up to us to start one!

Any volunteers?

I tried the link to the Dr. Sears site, and it comes out higher for me than ANY other measurement I've ever used. I have a feeling your body type has a lot to do with which of the body measurement formulas work best for you.

Here is a place with two calculators for men and three for women:

http://www.eskimo.com/~cdickens/FatCalculators.htm l

Well dr sears was recommended to me

Dave has made the only point worth mentioning. It does NOT matter which method use and it does NOT matter how accurate it is. What does matter is that you use the same one consistently for a number of months - this will show a downward trend (If your doing the right things).

My personal favourite method is to take bodymeasurements and then use these measurements into an online calculator, this way, I know if my measurements are lower then so will the BF%, I track both numbers and this will show you the progress, it really does not matter one jot if the calculator you are using is +/- 5% or whatever, it's the trend that is important, and when you get close to your goal, then have a proper skinfold to know your real level.

For what it's worth, I also have an omron hand-held analyser, and that is as consistent as the website formula albeit it's consistently 3% lower, however like weighing-in, you have to use in the same conditions on the same day and time each week.