Hi!!
I have a little question for you.. how do u measure uŽre body fat?

I found a site where you put your measurements, weight and height and it calculates ur body fat. But is it reliable???
IŽll leave you the link http://www.scientificpsychic.com/fitness/diet.html

Rafaella -

There are variety of ways to measure body fat. A calculator like that one, which only takes into account your weight and height, is going to be the least reliable option. Other online calculators take into account measurements from many different areas on your body (thigh, calf, waist, hips, neck, wrist, etc), and they are somewhat more accurate. They will still, though, only be an estimate of your body fat.

There are several ways body fat can be directly measured. Again, there are different levels of accuracy with each method. There are scales that send a small electric signal through your feet, measure the amount of time it takes for the signal to return, and uses that to calculate your body fat percentage. These will give you varying measurements depending on your hydration level, time of day, etc, but will probably be more accurate than an online calculator and can be done at home, or as part of your weigh-in process.

The most accurate methods for measuring must be done by a trained professional. A pro can either measure the width of various skinfolds in specific locations on your body with calipers and enter those numbers into a calculation to come up with a percentage. If the readings are taken accurately by someone well-trained, this can be very accurate. The most accurate (and most expensive) is hydrostatic weighing, in which you are weighed underwater, again, by a professional. Because fat and bone/muscle have different densities, your % body fat can be calculated by your underwater weight results.

Amanda is right, if you want to get an accurate measure of your body fat, you'll want to have a professional measure you. They do it at my Y. For kicks, I just entered all my info into the calculator you linked to and it guesstimated that I have 20.3%. I just had myself measured with calipers at the gym last week and that test had me at 16.6%. So take the online calcs with a grain of salt--they're just guessing.

Tks for all ur answers!!
I´m thinking of re joining the gym, when I do i´ll get my % calculated (I must admit I hate calipers)!
For now I guess I´ll look go with the calculator, even though they it´s not reliable if it´s the same calculator at least you can see changes and if you´re going up or down.
I´ll see if I can get one of those scales, but I guess they´re kind of expensive... today I talked to my mom and aunt about my healthier choices and they want to start too eating better and exercising and loosing weight so maybe I´ll get the scale and all of us can use it!

At some gyms is that if you get a personal trainer, they might have free body fat calculations. I don't have a trainer so unfortunately it would cost me at my gym.