Body Fat Estimation Thread

[skipbeat]

Certainly up to you. I try to cut when I hit 15%, so you can see my different school of thought (and probably where I get my info from).

I've never been 15% before so it's not like I'm missing something I used to have.. I'll get there soon enough.

[MattJ.D.]

I've never been 15% before so it's not like I'm missing something I used to have.. I'll get there soon enough.

you may never want to go back lol

[Tom Narvaez]

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If you said, 22.3% (as per DEXA), you win the internet.

[veryhrm]

Hmm... what's the height and weight? also do you know what model DEXA machine and if a GE brand which column that reading's from?

[Tom Narvaez]

Dunno, mate. Got it off another thread on this site. It is also a common photo in those articles about determining bf% visually. Just thought it was interesting because it makes me skeptical of some of the numbers I get from the Navy Method.

[gtl]

Dunno, mate. Got it off another thread on this site. It is also a common photo in those articles about determining bf% visually. Just thought it was interesting because it makes me skeptical of some of the numbers I get from the Navy Method.

Back in July, calipers put me at 6.7% or something like that. They were done with 11 sites, all tested 3x by an experienced person. Knowing that calipers can be off ~3%, I rounded up to 10% because I am not diced/shredded to the bone/BB comp ready. The navy method coincidentally also put me around 10%. I would say its fairly accurate when compared to calipers. The thing that can throw it off though is any kind of bloat or full stomach etc.

As far as DEXA, I've never had it done so I can't comment much. I do know that everyone who I've heard has gotten DEXA has read MUCH higher than expected.

[veryhrm]

In 4-hour Body Ferris mentions that he went off one day and got his fat measured as follows:
3-point SlimGuide calipers: 7%
Accu-measure (*) : 7.1 -9.4
BodyMetrix Ultrasound: 9.5%
DEXA: 11.3%
BodPod: 13.3%
Omron hand held bio: 14.7%-15.4 %
4-site SlimGuide calipers 15.46%-16.51%

*- that's a 1-point caliper i think.

That's some significant variation between measurement methods. I've also read elsewhere of people getting BodPod readings of like 10% and 15% the same day so i'm somewhat skeptical on that one though it's supposed to be pretty good. Probably operator error in some way or maybe an air leak. Don't know.

(Note that dexa can be off too, but the new GE ones claim an accuracy of +/- 300g fat. (assuming the machine is correctly calibrated and in good repair) but that's 1.3lbs. If you're low fat, say ~10%, that's a 1 percentage point range. )

[Mike C]

What happened to weighing yourself submerged in water? I thought that was the most accurate method.

[LudwigVan]

This is a good series of articles discussing various body fat measurement techniques and the strengths/weaknesses of each:

http://weightology.net/weightologyweekly/?page_id=146

[gtl]

Not sure why my edit didn't come through on my last post, but

Fat cells, after depleted of triglycerides, will hold water. It is not until the water is gone that the fat cell shrinks. I wonder if on something like a DEXA scan, this stored water can show up as fat mass (since it is accumulated in fat cells). That would mean that bodyfat levels could show higher than what they technically are. I think this makes sense mostly because the water in muscle tissue is measured as lean mass.

/end bro science