Body fat measure

[lia]

I have heard of tests that can be done on a person so that you can know your body fat percentage. Is this something that you can do at home? I don’t belong to a gym, so is the only way that I have to measure my body fat level without having to actually go to the doctor to get that figured out? I think that’s a good way to measure the success of a diet so that you’re not mixing it up with water weight but I just don’t know how to do it.

Can anyone help me out in learning about this?

[Beth]

I know that there are scales that say that they can measure your body fat percentage, but I don’t know how accurate those are.

[anne]

Body fat percentage scales aren’t hugely accurate but they can often tell you if your’e headed in the right direction. So even if you aren’t getting an accurate reading of where you stand at the start, you can just use it as a baseline so that you can gauge whether things are improving or not. As long as your number continues to drop then you’re doing better, regardless of what the reading was at the start.

[brightstar]

Doctors, physical therapists, and physical trainers can all measure the body fat percentage but that really isn’t something you can do accurately at home.

[bonniekins]

...I'm feeling kind of like a dunce...what the heck is body fat measure I've never heard of that before!

[Nelly]

...I'm feeling kind of like a dunce...what the heck is body fat measure I've never heard of that before!

Essentially, it is the amount of fat in your body compared to everything else (ex. your muscles, organs, etc.) Depending on your gender, age and how active your are, etc. acceptable body fat changes. For instance, acceptable body fat for the average woman is between 25-31% and for the average man it's between 18-25%. In addition to acceptable fat there is also essential fat, which is the fat your body actually requires in order for you to survive. There are many ways to measure your body fat, some are easier than others. For instance, some people can tell just buy looking (but you need to have a good eye for this) and others use calipers to do it.