Hi,

I'm doing Atkins, but I've been reading Protein Power and am always willing to learn from all the low carb programs out there. I wanted to calculate my % body fat and lean mass, and therefore my goal weight.

They say to measure your waist at the navel and your hips at the widest point, but I never measure my waist at my navel. My natural waist, ie the smallest part of my hourglass, is currently at 29.5" whereas if I measure at the navel I get 37". This obviously gives me very different results.

Essentially, if I go by my 'natural' waist measurement I get 33% bodyfat, 108 pounds lean body mass and the goal to aim for should be between 136 and 147 pounds.

If I measure my waist at my navel (which SO isn't my waist) I get 38% bodyfat, 100 pounds lean body mass and the goal to aim for should be between 126 and 136 pounds.

These are obviously very different. I feel instinctively that I should go by my natural waist measurement, particularly since I don't feel going by a navel/hip measurement gives an accurate picture as those are the places where the extra fat is most heavily distributed and I have a comparatively much thinner upper body. But maybe there's a real reason I should be using the other measurement?

Does anyone have any advice on this?

Thanks,

Deborah

Hi. I use this site and it shows where to measure.

http://mybodycomp.com

I second that. It shows you a little diagram of where to measure. And you can feel reasonably safe registering there; I never got any spam through them (and I tracked it with a sneakemail.com address.)

Hi guys,

thanks. I'm actually already registered there; had forgotten. They seem to tell you to measure your waist at the narrowest part, which I'd agree with, which gives me the 33% bodyfat comp.

On the other hand, now I'm a tad confused about hip measurement! Do I measure at the top of the hip bone, or at the widest point? If I measure at the hip bone (I think) I get 2 inches less than at my widest point, taking me to a fat% of 30, a lean body weight of 113 pounds, and a target weight of between 143 and 156 pounds!

You know what? I'm going to go with what I think is logical - waist at narrowest point, hips at widest point. It also gives me the most sensible goal weight to aim for, I think - not too low and not too high, and has the goal weight I already am aiming for well within its range

Thanks for the help, I appreciate it.

Deborah

I don't worry too much. Just be sure to measure in the same place every time. You're looking for trends, not exact numbers.

At least that's how I look at it.