I can't seem to find a gym/service that offers body fat measurements and don't have a scale that does it either so i've tried various internet sources and have gotten a range from 15% to 33%! (yikes) I know a lot of people here use mybodycomp.com (me included), but i was just wondering if people have found it accurate or in agreement with other body fat measurements (scales, calibers, etc)?

Any suggestions on where I can go to get body fat measured or are gyms/fitness centers generally the norm?

I can't seem to get good measurements. They vary widely each week. :\

I have heard that the BEST measurement is by the water immersion method, but that's difficult to arrange. And the fat calipers' accuracy totally depends on the ability of the person using them.

I have tried most of the ways and have gotten everything from 22%(I wish) to 36% 36 was from mybodycomp.com my home scale says 33 and the fat calipers say 29% (give or take a .1 or two) I desided I would go with the calipers they are steadily heading in the right direction and are much easier then taking all the mesurements every week. not to mention 29 seems closer to me.... but maybe I am just vain lol
anywho it doesn't really matter just use the same method every time you check it its good to keep up with progress because it will show how much you have lost even if the # itself is wrong

Ok not making light of your question but looking at your stats, at 100 pounds and being 5'3", I don't think at this point body fat percent is of your concern. Are you sure you are seeing yourself in a healthy way. As in, are you seeing something that probably isn't there?

according to everything i read you are about 10-15 pounds underweight.

please find some one to talk to i think you might have a body image issue.
trust me i know how hard this is 8 years ao i was 100 pounds at 5'10.
but trust me you do not want the side effects i have delt with. i have intestinal damage and have notice memory problems too. i also have done damage to my teeth and gums. i have had to have 5 caps put on from not getting enough vit. and minerals.

please go talk to some one about you body image problems. 97 pounds at your hight is not healthy.

seeing something that isn't there?--scary thought, what do u mean?...... i do admit that i know i'm "thin" but i still have many of my "fat habits" and sometimes look in the mirror and see my old self, but i think a lot of other people feel the same way sometimes...
I've actually dropped below 100 after starting Yasmin BC pills, and so am trying to gain 5-10 lbs. But i'm also trying to build muscle/tone up which is why i wanted an accurate way to measure body fat (to see if these squats, bicep curls, walking, and pilates are doing anything for me )

thanks for the advice everyone-- the 33% calculation freaked me out, but i guess it must be wrong, and keeping track over time with mybody.com does seem like a good idea. How often should I check though, like once a month?

If you want to add some muscle, check out body for life. It is a nice structured program. You may need to add more protien to your diet. I know that's hard as an ex-veggie person. (If those bc pills help you lose, then maybe I should switch).

The mybodycomp I think is more accurate then most online calculators, just because it takes more measurements in. There is no way that you are at 30% unless you have some serious lean mass issues which would probably include skelital issues. The body fat scales aren't that accurate either, but can be a good tool for while you are losing weight just to see the number going down.

If you are already at 15% I would be careful not to drop lower. Women generally need 12-15% to keep menstrating. (although there is temptation to do away with that problem at times). You generally do good with getting enough calories, just make sure to maybe add some to support the new activity when you start working out.

Pilates might also help you tone your core and give you better posture which can help with confidence and a longer look.

I'm not sure of the accuracy of mybodycomp either. I workout a lot (6 days a week weight training and cardio - alternating days) I have a lot of visible muscle. Yes I am short and don't have much of a waist (never have), but I look thin and its telling me I'm at 33% myself. I mean maybe I'm in denial but I'm fairly sure that is not accurate.

Anyhow I highly reccommend a lady named Joyce Vedral for weight training. She is awesome and I think in time you would gain a lot of muscle weight with her. Check out her site JoyceVedral.com.

Good luck.

Just as a sidebar, it occurred to me the other day to put in my goal weight and "goal measurements" into mybodycomp.com and see what my future held. To my surprise, the program dished out exactly the same percentage of body fat to my future (much lighter!) self that it has to the current me No matter what I tweaked in terms of measurement or weight it wouldn't change the outcome. This may be to do with progression: perhaps it looks at time elapsed between measurement A and B or weight C and D and figures that the percentage of fat can't have changed that much despite the "weight loss" I was trying to persuade it of (maybe it just figures that I had chopped off a limb or something to effect this overnight weight loss!).

I just hope that 33% body fat or whatever it gave me is not going to be my thinner self, or I will have the consistency of Jell-O at my goal weight!

So, I'm interested to know whether people who have lost a lot of weight and who have tracked it over time with mybodycomp.com have actually noticed their BF percentages declining.

I've noticed this too, both with mybodycomp.com and some other calculators like the one at am-i-fat.com, because of the particular equations they're using -- if you lose weight and inches proportionately (a good thing!), the equation will still come up with the same BF%, especially if you're an hourglass shape to start with. Mybodycomp.com tells me I'm about 8% higher than electrostatics or the US Navy method calculation, and am-i-fat.com clocks me in at a whopping 33%, nearly TWICE my actual body fat. I've actually fiddled around with numbers at am-i-fat.com a bit, and I actually come out lower if I put in my current waist and ADD several inches to my hips (and I've got a good waist-hip ratio to start with).

The US Navy method is the best of the measurement equations, IMHO, and comes very close to water-displacement testing according to some published research. There's a calculator at http://www.he.net/~zone/prothd2.html, and I'm pretty sure the calculator on the official Zone website (
http://www.zoneperfect.com/Site/con...lator_Women.asp) is based on the Navy method too.

Trustycat, going strictly based on your height and weight, you probably are in the 15-20% range. You may *feel* flabby, but it's pretty unlikely that at 5'3" you have less than 80 lbs of LBM unless you have a wasting disease or very advanced anorexia, in which cases you'd be hospitalized and being tube-fed instead of walking around doing Pilates and posting here . Sometimes it's best to go by how much bone structure and muscle definition you can see in the mirror. While it's different for everyone, depending on where you deposit your fat, I started seeing my pelvic girdle and lower rib cage at about 20%. My calves and shoulders started to look really cut at about 19%, and some of my upper ribs started to show a bit as well. 18% is usually about the point where your thighs don't touch at the top if you stand with knees and ankles together. If you can see a six-pack, you're usually somewhere between 14-16% (for women, that is).

Yup. Mine started out at 50% (98 pounds lean, 98 pounds fat) and is now down to 40%. I'm not sure if that's accurate, but at least the trend is right.

Ladybelle-- i've done some research on Yasmin and about 1/2 have weight loss, some have weight gain, and some have no change. But they say that the weight loss is generally a diuretic effect-- when i first started it, it killed my appetite which has since returned in full force, so i'm not too sure.
after several years of yo-yo dieting and little exercise, i doubt my body fat is 15% or lower, lol, but i guess you're right that 33% shouldn't be correct either.
I've started pilates once a week--hoping it'll help my posture because my spine is slightly curved

~thanks for the tip on joyce, i'll check that out!

I have used mybodycomp since I started this WOE, I didnt' have alot to lose to begin with, but my BF has gone down 7% with an 11 pound loss. I agree if you take the measurements and calculate the same place everytime, your still going down from where you started. I had mine done at the gym 1.5 years ago and I know I wasn't anywhere near that shape when I started Atkins, or mybodycomp. I feel it's pretty close, and like I said, it went down and thats all that matters to me. Also, you can't just put your height and weight in there, it calculates off of your body measurements, so if you lose inches and not weight, you will be losing body fat

I have the scales that will measure your body fat %. I think the brand is Tanita. They seems to be pretty accurate. I weigh in once a week - but I only check my body fat every other week.

Hope that helps.