tools for measuring body fat
 

Hi all,
I've been thinking of buying one of those body fat scales to measure my body fat. However, I've seen a few sites on the web that say they are innaccurate. I also saw a site called www.mybodycomp.com that says they can determine body fat online using measurments. Has anyone tried this or know if it works?

Thanks,
Chris

In the book mastering the zone it explains how it is done usuing measrement this is quite accurate. But no thing seems to be absolute. It is on page 335. You can find it in the liabrary and photocopy it. As you need the charts to calculate. Good luck SMuffy :wave:

Re: tools for measuring body fat
 

I think this scale would be useful for measuring changes to your body fat percentage, even if the absolute number is not accurate, so long as it is consistent. For example, I have a digital scale that I bought years ago based on a Consumer Reports review. They tested scales for overall accuracy as well as consistency. Since there weren't any tested scales that were both accurate and consistent, I went with consistency. I know from comparing my scale to doctors' scales that mine gives readings about 4 pounds higher than my actual weight, but it will give me the same reading every time I get on it, even if it's 5 times in a row!

Test your body fat scale by getting on and off several times in a row. If the results are pretty consistent, then it should be a useful tool to you. If not, then you might just end up getting frustrated because you can't tell if you're going up, down or sideways! :spin:

There are many different ways to measure body fat and they all generally have a margin of error of about +/-3%, so whatever method you use, make sure it's the same one each time. The most accurate method is HYDROSTATIC WEIGHING which is a scientific method for determining body composition using the Archimedes Principal of water displacement; the difference between body weight measured on land and in a tank of water. Most impractical for the general population and difficult to find (some hospitals have tanks).

Hope this helps.