Body Fat% ?

[Bloom]

I have changed my stats to my BF% as my body weight is up and down and is either discouraging or has me doing cartwheels one week to the next :rolleyes: The BF% is just slowly and steadily going down :D

I want to be sure I am as accurate as possible with what Im doing so please help.
At the start i searched for as many BF calcs as i could find and did them all. The highest reading i got was 46% and i cant remember what the lowest was. I was more measureing over my tummy pot tough.
Then one or more of the sites said that for a women to measure at the waist line so thats what i have been doing and using the excel calc i downloaded. From that i have gone from 39% to 28%. I have been reading my PP book and last night it said to measure at the navel. That is a couple of inches below my waist and 4 inches bigger. Is that just for men or everyone??
That would have had me at 42% to start with and 32% now, that actually wouldnt suprise me at all.
Interestingly when i did the PP calculations from my waist measurement like I have been with the Excel calculator i got the exact same results.
Please you people that do the BF% measurements tell me where you measure, navel or waist for women??, and if you think the calc in PP book is more or less accurate??.

[Bloom]

Well i take it no one has any bright answers for me :confused:
I found this site which i reckon gives me a pretty acceptable answer a little bit more BF than the calc I have been using. I think it is a good balanced result from all my 'homework'
I found one silly one that said I was 25% BF :lol: I wasnt fooled, one thing, i am not blind :p

[razzle]

hi bloom. We had a pretty long thread on BF about...hmm...two months ago under the Protein Power forum. (Show from last 90 days, and you should find it)

None of the measuring systems are very accurate. I had your experience, where they measuring/formula systems told me I was between 19% and 34% body fat. I could have guessed more accurately alone!

I eventually went and had my BF tested with Lange calipers weilded by an experienced tester. I plan to re-test with her every three months. That way, I can compute my LBM and working off that, computer my BF if/when any scale changes occur.

Not very helpful, I'm afraid! But I wanted to give your post some kind of answer. :)

[animaldoc]

but isn't the most accurate way to test BF by doing water displacement? (You get in a container with a known amount of water and then they see how much you splash out....)

Just curious.....

-animaldoc :wave:

[Bloom]

Thanks Razzle and Animaldoc,
yes animaldoc ive heard/read that the water way/weigh ;) is the best test but thats not an option and the calipers are the next best thing. Thats a maybe :idea: especially if as you say Razzle you can work it out yourself inbetween the visits to be measured professionally.
My eyes and the feel/tone and strength of my body tells me the results I have now are as close as Im going to get by measuring tape and if they are a few % out either way I dont suppose it matters, although Id actually be suprised if its far out at all :D

Ill go and have a search for that thread, thanks :)

[Bloom]

So this was the thread Razzle Lean Body mass (http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=37243&highlight=body)
Just about enough to convince me to change back to displaying scale weight :lol:
Do you weigh too?? Mine goes up and down 3-4 pounds with monotonous frequency :rolleyes: which my BF% thankfully doesnt :p thats why i changed. it feels more positive :D
How about you??

[razzle]

Bloom, I just don't change a lot right now and suspect I'll never see dramatic loss again ever. Pant-o-meter tells me that not much is changing. :) So weighing every month or so, after TOM, and getting caliperred (if that can be a transitive verb) once every three months is fine by me.

[Bloom]

Pant-O- Meters are the best indicator of the lot eh :thup:

Ive gone from a impossibly tight 16 to close on a 12 in just on 3 months :yay:

Your BF% is already looking good enough to be thrilled with :D