measuring body fat

January 24, 2011 By David

Want to know how to measure body fat? A scale is not enough! Measuring body fat is one way that I use to measure progress. I lost over 35 lbs of fat over a 6 month period and some times, the scale stayed the same from week to week. However, I didn’t get discouraged because I was measuring body fat ! Using a fat caliper, and an online calculator, you can calculate body fat.

You may be losing fat and gaining muscle but the scale will show you the same weight!! Knowing your bodyfat gives you a more accurate picture of your fitness level. Using this caliper, you can check your own fat at home! It’s not only cheap, it’s very accurate! Sure, it takes a little while to learn how to use a bodyfat caliper but if you use it consistently (for me, once a week), you’ll learn to be consistent.

Now are you wondering if a body fat scale is an better replacement? I have one and have used it for over 18 months, every week, comparing it to what the body fat caliper was showing me. I can tell you that the body fat scales that use electrical impedance to calculate body fat fluctuate A LOT. They are very susceptible to room temperature, body temperature, whether you exercised recently or ate recently. It would fluctuate up and down several percentage points in a 24 hour period. I’ve found that measuring body fat with a caliper to be much more reliable and consistent.

We recorded a video showing step-by-step how to measure body fat.

This is important for tracking your results with P90X, Insanity, TurboFire, Power 90, etc! Preserve the muscle, lose the fat!

How to measure body fat

This is the fat caliper I use and seen in the video:

As a bonus, it also includes a measuring tape so you can track the progress in “inches” as your body changes. Know how big your arms, chest, waist, thighs, hips, calves and neck are!