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How can you measure your body fat?

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Carina1962

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Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Is there a machine which measures body fat? i don't mean BMI (unless it's the same thing) but i thought there was a body fat monitor which you can buy which can tell you how much body fat (%) you have. I thought about this when i watched the Horizon programme 'Eat, Fast and Live Longer' recently where they told Dr Michael Mosely his body fat was 29% compared to the chap who is on a calorie restricted diet which was 11% and put him in the 'one in a million' chance of developing any heart disease or cancer. As i am obese, i bet mine is over 50% but it would be good to know.
 
Before machines were invented Carina62, men would measure body fat by seeing how much stomach they could pinch!
Women could tell by how tight their dresses were! -)
 
I've a set of Omron Body Fat Scales from Amazon (there are similar models available from there for less than ?40).

I don't know how accurate they are but mine seemed Ok to me reducing the body fat % in line with me losing weight. It also provides a rough and ready guide to visceral fat in the form of a number (mine went from 13+ down to a more acceptable 7).

It always seemed to be in line with the machine used during my hospital check-ups too.

I think the thing is that it is best used as a comparative rather than an absolute guide.

Andy 🙂
 
thanks AndyHB, i did a bit of a google search this morning and the Omron did catch my interest. I think i will treat myself to a pair when i get back off holiday. The Horizon programme 'Eat, Fast and Live Longer' prompted me to take an interest in what my body fat percentage actually is. Did you see the chap from America who is on a very strict calorie controlled diet? his % body fat was something like 11% i think which put him in the category of one in a million chance of developing heart disease and cancer - very interesting indeed! 🙂
 
carina62 said:
Did you see the chap from America who is on a very strict calorie controlled diet? his % body fat was something like 11% i think which put him in the category of one in a million chance of developing heart disease and cancer - very interesting indeed! 🙂
Click to expand...

I'm afraid that I didn't see it. Telly watching seems to be a bit of a distant memory for me at the moment ..... well, if I exclude all the sport-watching!! :D

Mind you, I also hang on to the thought that fat isn't all bad. 11% seems a bit on the low side for me to be honest! I'm quite happy where I am now (16%).

Andy 🙂
 
carina62 said:
thanks AndyHB, i did a bit of a google search this morning and the Omron did catch my interest. I think i will treat myself to a pair when i get back off holiday. The Horizon programme 'Eat, Fast and Live Longer' prompted me to take an interest in what my body fat percentage actually is. Did you see the chap from America who is on a very strict calorie controlled diet? his % body fat was something like 11% i think which put him in the category of one in a million chance of developing heart disease and cancer - very interesting indeed! 🙂
Click to expand...

If you google NHS BMI calculator; you pop in your height; weight and age and it calculates your BMI; also tells you what you need to be.
 
Many gyms etc have fat content scales, on which you stand in bare feet. More sophisticated scales have handles you grip, too, so that fat, muscle, water etc content can be calculated for each individual limb, as well as overall total body content. In different research porjects, I've measured adults and children with scales manufactured by Tanita. In general, these professional use or gym scales are better than one you can buy, but too expensive to consider for home use.
 
thanks everyone and Copepod, i found out today that my gym has one and they charge ?10 as i am a member so will make appointment to get my body fat tested (i don't think i really want to know the result lol!) 🙂
 
Just one additional point - all body composition scales / meters rely on you inputting an accurate height, so it's worth taking off your shoes, finding a wall above a hard surface floor and getting someone else to measure you against a wall, as it's impossible to judge your own head angle (most people tip their heads back, but if you hold your head "flat", you gain about 1cm in hieght). You can improvise if you don't have a wall mounted measure - the measurer holds a book or card flat, and marks the wall, then measure from ground to mark with a tape measure.

Your gym staff should know all that. ?10 is quite hefty charge, but the gym will be needing to recoup several ?100 for purchase of the kit.
 
I asked my DN to measure my height; I've always thought I was 5.4 but was told no you 5.3 1/2....🙄 I then measured myself at the gym, minus shoes and was 5.5.....:confused:
 
I came out at 18% fat and carrying 13k of it. Seems a lot, hate to think what I was before I got into the healthy BMI range.
 
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