Jen, I've never found a BF calculator that uses measurements that was accurate for me -- sorry! I've played around with some and discovered that I couldn't get them to go under 20% even if I put my waist in at 14" and my weight at something like 96 pounds. I think they're biased against anyone over 50 being in the teens in body fat!
Is there another way you could check to compare the accuracy? Caliper readings, handheld, Tanita scale - something like that? Just for a ballpark number?
If not, your best bet may be to average your results. I know that's not a great answer but I can't think of anything else.
Even when I had a ton of excess skin, I was able to get fairly accurate caliper readings. An experienced trainer can tell skin, fat, and muscle apart.
I think Tanitas are considered to be good BF scales (that's what I have). They tend to read high on some people but are useful for tracking trends over time.
I found drugstore.com had the best prices (per mysimon and another shopping site) and offered free shipping as well. I don't think walmart carries the tanitas.
I have a confession, I don't like BF calculators that you stand on The last one I tried said I had nearly 49% BF. I've only tried Tanita for this. Same conditions, same weight, an upper body one puts me at 31-32% BF and this is with different brands/methods. One was a strap on my arm and another was a handheld. I guess I can average them or something but the overall importance is that whatever number you get, over time that number needs to decrease.
I thought my results were weird since I have very muscular legs but I have a lot of excess fat in my torso.
I bought my Tanita scale online from Drugstore.com. I find it to be right on the money weight wise, but body fat% is a totally different story. I really don't trust it - at all. It's got me down to a ridiculously low number. Like 17% or something. Sometimes even less, so yeah, I 'm thinking it's not super accurate.
On the other hand, I had my bodyfat taken in a body pod and then a few years later (with no real physical changes) got the same number with my Tanita. Since the body pod is like the best thing next to submersion, I'm sold on Tanita being even more accurate than calipers, because of the human element those bring forth - and even the fact that humans don't measure alike and the same one may not measure exactly the same. My number is really high but then also started dropping fairly rapidly with working out, so I think it's pretty accurate.
Body Fat Calculators??
