How Do I Measure My Body Fat %

When it comes to measuring your body fat % you have to consider two things.

1) The tool you are using to measure your body fat

2) The reason you are measuring your body fat

Let’s look at #2 first. If you’re measuring your body fat because you want to decrease it then your absolute body fat % number isn’t as important as your relative number from one measurement time to the next.

This all comes down to the tool you use, and making sure you use the same tool each time you measure. There are many body fat % calculators you can find online as well as mechanical tools like calipers and bio impedance scales.

Each one of these tools has some degree of variance, as none of them can be 100% accurate (unless you have access to body composition lab which is usually only found in a university laboratory setting and not accessible to the general public)

The virtual calculators online are relatively accurate, and the more measurements they ask you to input the more accurate they are.

The key to charting real changes in your body fat % is to use the same measurement tool each time you measure. This way you can be sure you are getting the same degree of variance each time you do a measurement.

So if you use our calculator we know there is about a 4% variance…but each time you measure you’re always within that 4% variance. So you can get a pretty accurate indication of how much your fat % has changed from one measurement to the next as long as yo stick with the same calculator each time you measure.

If you did your first measurement with our calculator then did your second measurement 4 weeks later with a different calculator you will have no idea if the measurements are comparable.

Stick with one calculator tool for all of your measurements, that way you can be sure the RELATIVE change is accurate.

John and the empowered team

Tags: body fat, bodyfat percetage, measuring body fat