They take into account the amount of subcutaneous (directly under the skin) fat an individual has and use it to predict total body fat percentage. Skinfold measurements are done using calipers on several sites across the body. The Silver Standard Skinfold Measurements

Check your local sports medicine clinic to find one near you. However, they can be an effective alternative to DEXA and are extremely accurate. The main downside: Bod Pods are often hard to come by and they can be expensive to use. The testing procedure is very similar to underwater weighing – minus the water. Bod Pod (Whole Body Plethysmography)Īs another method of measuring density, the Bod Pod measures air displacement to estimate body composition. However, underwater weighing is an extremely accurate measure of body composition if you don’t mind going under. The downside, you have to get wet, and you need to be submerged underwater which may not be comfortable for some. With underwater weighing, the subject is submerged and their density is calculated to estimate body composition. Since muscle is much denser than fat, body density can tell us a lot about body composition. Check with your local physician to find one near you. X-ray technology makes DEXA scans extremely accurate but also harder to find. Not only will a DEXA scan let you know your precise body composition, but it will also break it down by body segment so you can see where you’re holding the most muscle and fat. In a DEXA scan, X-ray technology is used to estimate lean tissue, bone, mineral, and fat across regions of the body with amazing accuracy. The Gold Standards DEXA (Dual-energy X-ray Absorptiometry) Scan Note: For the best results, check your body composition every six to eight weeks to measure improvements and see progress. We outline the most popular methods and identify which ones you should trust. There are tons of different techniques, each with their pros and cons. Unfortunately, finding an accurate way to track your changes in body composition can prove to be quite challenging. Lowering your body fat percentage is also crucial for getting that six-pack of abs and a chiseled physique. Therefore, the BMI to body fat method is very inaccurate.Measuring changes in body composition is one of the most effective means of evaluating your diet and workout routine. For example, at age 30, the 'healthy' range is calculated to be 14.8 to 23.4, and at 40, that range is 13.7 to 22.2, thus allowing very severely underweight individuals (below 15) be considered 'healthy,' while a significant portion of the upper healthy range is considered 'overweight.' Even worse, if you consider elderly people, say 70, they are calculated to have a healthy body fat percentage with a BMI of 10.2 to 18.8, which means that only the lowest 4 healthy BMI numbers (18.5-18.8) are considered healthy by that age, and people are allowed to go down to dangerous BMIs as low as 10.2. However, as you get older, the range that is considered healthy gets lower and lower. For my age, 18, it says a healthy BMI (6.0% - 17.9% body fat) would be from 16.2 to 24.7, which is not that far off from the 18.5-24.9 range, although it allows for people who are anorexic (below 17.5) or near severely underweight (almost below 16) to be considered to have an athletic body fat percentage, in other words, healthy. The heritage BMI to Body Fat Calculator seems to be more inaccurate than BMI, considering it is actually telling people to go lower than even BMI does. Keep in mind that all of these equations, like anything else, have some general limitations: Based on that information, I can get a pretty good idea of what my body fat percentage really is. Personally, I like to try all the methods and see what the average value and the range are. Yet others swear by Covert Bailey's method.

However, most people will likely tell you that the Department of Defense Method or the YMCA Method is the most accurate. For me, the most accurate method was the Modified YMCA Method. In reality, there are many more variables that affect body fat percentage than just the simple things that are being measured for these equations. It must be noted that no empirical formula is perfect. I was surprised to find that the YMCA Method was less accurate than the Heritage Method. The Modified YMCA Method was the most accurate for my body with the Department of Defense Method trailing close behind it. It's interesting to note that all of the methods are within the expected +/- 3%.

Accurate body fat calculator