HOW TO MEASURE BODY FAT PERCENTAGE AT HOME

BIA Scale

A Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA) scale measures the strength of body tissues by flowing a small electrical signal that travels more easily through the parts of the body that are mainly composed of water (such as blood, urine and muscle) and from that calculate the percentage of body fat. Currently there are home scales (bath type) on the market that include a bioelectric impedance analyzer, which has two electrodes built into two pads where the feet are located at the base of the scale.

Advantages:

• It is easy to use
• Fast
• No knowledge of professional measurement techniques or supervision is needed to use it, making it ideal for doing so at home.

Disadvantages:

• This instrument only considers the total fat mass in the body, so it does not indicate the specific location of the fat.
• The person to be measured must have controlled conditions of hydration, amount of urine and blood circulation, since an increase or decrease of these elements in the body, can generate erroneous results on the percentage of body fat.
• The price of such a reliable equipment is generally high, the cheapest ones do not cost less than $100 USD.

Skinfold Caliper (manual) 

This is the most well-known instrument and used by health professionals for taking skinfolds with which formulas are applied to calculate the percentage of body fat. The results are highly accurate if the measurements of the skinfolds are made by a person who has knowledge in the technique of anthropometric measurement and has had experience, in addition to the choice of formula to calculate. It is not ideal, though, for self measurement.  

Advantages:

• Instrument most used and recommended by professionals.
• The price ranges of the skinfold calipers can be very affordable in relation quality - price.

Disadvantages:

• Knowledge is needed for anthropometric measurements, such as corporal lengths and/or skinfolds.
• Can be difficult to self test. 

Accumeasure Digital  Skinfold Caliper

This is a small digital caliper that has come to market that shows the results of the thickness of the fat skinfold on the screen that has built-in, and has memory to record different results of various measurements, with these measurements you can apply a formula to calculate the percentage of body fat.

Advantages:

• It is easy and quick to read the measurement result.
• Saves several measurements to an internal memory.
• It has an affordable price.

Disadvantages:

• Knowledge is needed for anthropometric measurements, such as corporal lengths and/or skinfolds.
• As there are variations and duplicates of this product on the market, it can be of dubious quality and provenance.
• Difficult calibration and technical service in case of damage.

Tape Measure Method

This is a way to calculate percentage of body fat by applying an equation using the result of the circumference measurement of different parts of the body. There are several formulas to calculate it and it is relatively easy to perform, however, it is a method that is not fully accurate and has been discarded by many professionals.

Advantages:

• Easy to perform.
• Only requires a tape measure

Disadvantages:

• Highly inaccurate results. 

Skinfold Calipers

Anthropometers

Kits