what's your body fat percentage?

[slodki]

i just one of those scales that reads your body fat.
not the most accurate, but ya know.
16%

[baldy]

Been down to 9% before in my running skinny emo phase. These days I am a lot more respectable, knocking on 20%, but still ripped.

[VeganGraham]

How does a scale differentiate between fat and muscle ?
Doesn't it just make a guess based on weight and height ?

[vegieburger]

the scales have conductors that you put your feet on and they send an electrical current through your body (muscles conducts electricity better than fat) and it calculates your body fat percentage by how long it takes the current to get through your body (taking things like age, sex, height and weight into account) but they are not very accurate and things like how much water you have recently drunk can change the result.

I do not know my bfp and have no desire to find it out as I am sure it would be quite depressing.

[VeganGraham]

Oh, I see, I didn't realise they were that sophisticated.

So how would measuring the electrical resistance between the feet work on someone like me ? The current would go up and down my muscly legs and miss out my fat belly.

[Linnéa76]

I think you're right, BGW. There are devices where the current goes through the whole body (you hold the other pole with your hands). But if just the feet are in contact with it, only the lower body is measured and apparently the body fat percentage is underestimated for men and the other way around for women.

[vegieburger]

I just assumed it could go all the way through your body from your feet. I carry most of my fat in my 'booty' and thighs, which might explain why ages and ages ago when I used on of these I got a much higher result than I expected. I think it also assumes that women do not have that much muscle so I'd hate to see the bfp a woman who was heavy because she had a lot of upper body strength would get.

I'm curious as to the most reliable, yet accessable, method of bfp calculation?

[slodki]

usually people who work at a gym are trained in using calipers, if used over time and averaged this is accurate. the same kind of technology that makes a body fat scale work can be used in various places on the body and averaged. also the most accurate way of measuring body fat is a water tank test, but not very accessible. you can train yourself with the calipers and use that and calipers are not very expensive.

[quote="vegieburger"]I just assumed it could go all the way through your body from your feet. I carry most of my fat in my 'booty' and thighs, which might explain why ages and ages ago when I used on of these I got a much higher result than I expected. I think it also assumes that women do not have that much muscle so I'd hate to see the bfp a woman who was heavy because she had a lot of upper body strength would get.

[mabli]

I was around 17% in March but Ive toned up more since then so probably less now, it was measured on a machine that I stood on and held onto with my hands, it calculated my height too.

Dont know if the machine is accurate, it just happend to be there so I had a go.

Why would someone want to know this info btw?

[vegieburger]

[quote="hardcore iv"]I think this could be remedied by doing a handstand on the scales

[hardcore iv]

[quote="mabli"]

Why would someone want to know this info btw?

[Alistar]

16% is pretty low for a woman isn't it? I thought the average for women was about 25%?

I imagine I'd be around 12%. Quite glad I've put a bit of weight on recently as I was too light before. Feel a lot stronger because of it.

[mouche]

I was 14% a year and a half ago, right before losing a few kilos and getting a lot leaner.

A few casual measurements with calipers about 6 months ago suggested a sub-10% body fat percentage, so I reckon I'm still hovering around or just below 10%.

[vegan hal]

[quote="Alistar"]16% is pretty low for a woman isn't it? I thought the average for women was about 25%?

I imagine I'd be around 12%. Quite glad I've put a bit of weight on recently as I was too light before. Feel a lot stronger because of it.