Does anyone out there know if having extra skin {not fat} has an effect when they use those body fat calipurs. I have lost 45lbs and now have built tons of muscle on my body I get wacky readings from my bodyfat scale so when I went to town I had it done at a Gold Gym. The young man that did it gave me a reading of 27% which seems high by the way I think Or should say had hoped for? BUt... Iam preatty lean and have alot of loose skin say in a postion on your fours the skin hangs to the front I am totally SOLID standing, under my arms ateeny extra skin. I am 57 [lets face it the skin is not as resilat after weight loss at this age}Does any one know I am bewildered at what else to do I eat clean always and work out 3 hours a day

I don't think extra skin should impact a caliper reading much, if at all. The calipers measure the millimeters in a pinch of skin to see how much fat you have between the layers of skin. So even if there's excess skin, the calipers will still only measure what's in between your skin layers, not how much total skin you have. If that makes sense?

Before I had my excess skin removed (and there was a lot of it!), I was calipered at 12.5% at my lowest. I'm assuming that all my extra skin didn't affect the reading since I doubt I was any lower than that in reality.

As we get older (I'm 54), our bodies store fat in odd areas. We lose it on our necks and hands (which is why they get so vein-y) and store it around our middles -- the menopot. Was your caliper test a nine-site? That would give you a more accurate result than a three or four site test that might only be measuring your problem areas.

Regardless, all body fat tests except DEXA scans and dunk tanks are just estimates. And 27% is a perfectly healthy body fat percentage.

Thank you Meg
I just really had no idea it was a kid that did it. He basically told me I exercised too much and that was why I did not lose body fat even though he did not quetion what I did or how often. It was a 3 point underarm,at hip,and chicken wing back. I know I have alot more work to do but just this morning as I was do my 1 st workout p90x plyo I said to my self " I LOVE MY BODY" and believe me that is not someting I ever said before EXERCISE {which I am addicted to now}

Those calipers are only as good as the one doing the testing. Make sure, MAKE SURE you have somone that knows what the heck they are doing.

I have lost 100 pounds. I had mine done recently. The only place I had stored fat AT ALL was on my lower back/side of the hip area. Other than that, there was nothing left. I do have some extra skin. It didn't seem to effect my test though. The guy doing mine is known to be one of the very best trainers around. So, I trust him. He measured 8 points on me.