How to Calculate Body Fat Percentage Loss
While a typical scale provides an overview of your body weight, it doesn't measure the specific elements that make up your body composition. Your weight changes due to varying levels of water, fat and muscle mass. When trying to lose fat, an accurate and inexpensive way to keep track is to measure inches, not pounds.
Instructions
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Girth Measurement for Men
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1
Draw four columns on a sheet of paper. Label them Upper Arm (U), Abdomen (A), Forearm (F) and Buttocks (B).
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2
Pull the measuring tape snugly around each of the four body areas, positioning your tape around the region with the largest girth. The tension of the tape should not be so loose as to leave gaps, nor should it be so tight as to produce a skin indentation. Record each measurement.
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3
Men ages 18 to 26 should use this formula: U + A - F - 10.2 = body fat percentage. Men between the ages of 27 and 50 should use B + A - F - 15.0 = body fat percentage.
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4
Continue to retest as weight is lost, and track your results.
Girth Measurement for Women
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5
After drawing your four columns, label them Abdomen (A), Thigh (T), Calf (C) and Forearm (F).
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6
Measure each of the four body areas, positioning your tape around the region with the largest girth. The tension of the tape should not be neither loose-fitting and gapping nor tight and leaving indentations. After recording your measurements, remeasure to ensure your result is accurate to within 0.2mm.
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7
Women ages 18 to 26 should use the formula A + T - F - 19.6 = body fat percentage. Women 27 to 50 should use A + T - C - 19.6 = body fat percentage.
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8
Continue to retest as weight is lost, and track your results.
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1
Tips & Warnings
Measuring the thickness of skinfolds, using a skinfold caliper, is an alternative way of estimating body-fat percentage.
Body-fat scales using bioeletrical impedance analysis can be used. However, they can be inaccurate if the scale is used when skin temperature is abnormal, immediately following vigorous physical activity, or when the amount of water in the body is unusually high or low.
The most accurate method of calculating body fat is through hydrostatic, or underwater, weighing. This method can be costly and time-consuming.
The girth measure equations may fail for persons who appear excessively fat or thin. Persons who have unusually high muscle composition, which increases girth due to muscle instead of fat, will also get inaccurate results.
Girth measurements have an accuracy variance of up to 4 percent.
