Linking To And Excerpting From healthline’s “The 10 Best Ways to Measure Your Body Fat Percentage”

Today, I review, link to, and excerpt from healthline‘s The 10 Best Ways to Measure Your Body Fat Percentage. Written by Grant Tinsley, Ph.D., CSCS,*D, CISSN — Updated on May 18, 2023.

All that follows is from the above resource.

There are many ways to measure body fat percentage. However, the most accurate measurements aren’t available at home.

It can be frustrating to step on the scale and see no change.

While it’s natural to want objective feedback on your progress, body weight shouldn’t be your main focus.

Some “overweight” people are healthy, while others with “normal weight” are unhealthy.

However, your body fat percentage tells you what your weight is comprised of.

Specifically, it tells you the percent of your total body weight that is fat. The lower your body fat percentage, the higher percentage of lean muscle mass you have on your frame.

Here are the 10 best ways to measure your body fat percentage.

1. Skinfold Calipers
   1. Summary
      Estimating body fat percentage with skinfold calipers is affordable and relatively simple once you know how to do it. However, the accuracy depends on the skill of the person performing the assessment.
   2. Instructional video: Here is an example of a 7-site skinfold assessment.
   3. For details, please review this section of the article.
2. 2. Body Circumference Measurements

   Measuring the circumference of certain body parts is a simple method of body fat estimation.

   For example, the US Army uses a body fat calculation that simply requires an individual’s age, height and a few circumference measurements.

   For men, the circumferences of the neck and waist are used in this equation. For women, the circumference of the hips is also included (5).

   1. Advantages: This method is easy and affordable. A flexible measuring tape and calculator are all you need. These tools can be used at home and are portable.
   2. Disadvantages: Body circumference equations may not be accurate for all people due to differences in body shape and fat distribution
   3. Instructional video: Here is a video showing examples of girth measurements.
   4. Summary
      Using body circumferences to estimate body fat is quick and easy. However, the accuracy of this method can vary widely and is not considered an ideal method of measuring body fat percentage.
3.  Dual-Energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DXA)
   1. Summary
      DXA is more accurate than many other methods of assessing body fat percentage. However, it’s often unavailable to the general population, fairly expensive and not feasible for regular testing.
   2. Instructional video: Here is a video showing how DXA works.
   3. For details please see this section of the article.
4.  Hydrostatic Weighing
   1. Instructional video: Here is an example of how hydrostatic weighing is performed.
   2. Summary
      Hydrostatic weighing is an accurate way to assess your body fat. However, it’s only available at certain facilities and involves holding your breath while being completely submerged in water.
   3. For details please see this section of the article.