Measuring body fat percentage?

[criss]

So, I was talking with my best friend- who is also losing weight and posts here- about body fat percentage, and the various methods in which you can measure it. She uses this method, which has me really doubting its accuracy. How can a few measurements differentiate between fat, muscle, and bone? Furthermore, it says she's about 32-33% body fat, which I think is grossly off base since she looks more like 25-27% at most to me. It also tells me I'm about 26% body fat, when I think I'm closer to 22-23%.

So my question is, to those who care about measuring your body fat, have you used the measurement method? What's your opinion on it? Do you think it's accurate, or maybe that its accuracy varies from person to person?

Or maybe my idea of what different body fat percentages look like is just skewed. I tried googling it, and got this image:



If that's 25%, then I'm definitely not 26%.

[JohnP]

You can get a fairly accurate sense of body fat from the site your friend linked if the measurements are done by someone who knows how to handle a set of calipers but ultimately every method of calculating body fat has it's problems.

The most accurate are dexa, bod pod, and hydrostatic weighing.

If you want to post a picture of your in a bikini I'll be happy to give you an estimate. Alternatively there are lots of people who post in this thread and get estimates by people (some of which even know what they're talking about.)

[criss]

There is a bikini progress picture in my signature, actually, although it's fairly out-of-date now. I'm 133 and have lost a bit of fat/gained muscle since then. One inch around my waist, as well.

/edit, thanks for that link! I might take some new pictures and post there for more opinions.

[supergir111]

I think calipers are quite good, the more points on your body the more accurate. May need to ask a doctor or someone who can follow the instructions to do it for you though

[fatferretfanatic]

Calipers are supposed to be fairly accurate.

[zoodoo613]

I was looking at those caliper instructions and I wonder how it would work on me. I'm not very pinchable. My fat is pretty hard. Hmm.