How to Accuratley Measure Body Fat

Accurately measure your body fat by using measurements from your wrist, waist, hip and forearm, as well as your total body-weight as indicated by the bathroom scale. Body fat between 10 and 20 percent is considered good for men ages 20 to 40, and between 19 and 23 percent for men ages 40 to 60. Body fat between 19 and 26 percent for women ages 20 to 40 is considered good, and between 23 and 30 percent for women ages 40 to 60.

Things You'll Need

• Scale
• Paper
• Pen
• Calculator
• Tape measure

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Instructions

Prepare

• 1

  Gather together the pen, paper and calculator to make the formula-figuring process easier.

• 2

  Weigh yourself on a scale, and label your body weight on a sheet of paper.

• 3

  Figure your "waist girth" by measuring at the belly button with the tape measure. Record the figure on the paper.

Male Body Fat

• 4

  Multiply your body weight by 1.082, and then add the resulting figure to 94.42. Label this as "Result 1" on the sheet of paper, to use again in later step.

• 5

  Multiply your waist-girth by 4.15, which will produce Result 2. Subtract Result 2 from Result 1. You will end up with your "lean body weight," as if your body was completely fat-free. In summary, Result 1 minus your waist girth multiplied by 4.15 produces the lean body weight.

• 6

  Subtract your lean body weight from your total body-weight, which you gathered from standing on the scale. Multiply that result by 100. Divide that result by your total body weight for your percentage of body fat. In summary, your total body weight minus your lean body weight, multiplied by 100, divided by your body weight is equal to your percentage of body fat. Fitness expert Hugo Rivera, for example, has 8.72 percent body fat.

Female Body Fat

• 7

  Stand on a scale to determine body weight. Measure the circumference of your wrist, at the widest point, using the tape measure. Measure the circumference of your waist at your belly button, and the circumfrence of your hip at the widest point. Measure the circumference of your forearm at its widest point, as well.

• 8

  Multiply your body weight by 0.732 and write this on your piece of paper as Result 1. Add Result 1 to 8.987, and label the result as Result 2. Divide the circumference of your wrist by 3.14, and label the figure as Result 3. Multiply your waist measurement by the figure 0.157, and label this figure Result 4.

• 9

  Multiply the measurement of your hip, taken at the widest point, by 0.249 and label the number produced as Result 5. Multiply your forearm measurement by 0.434 and label the result as Result 6.

• 10

  Add results No. 2 and 3, so that, in summary, Result 2 + Result 3 = Result 7. Write Result 7 on the piece of paper. Subtract Result 4 from Result 7, to achieve Result 8. Subtract Result 5 from Result 8 to get Result 9, and write this down. Result 9 is your lean body mass.

• 11

  Subtract your lean body mass from your body-weight. Take the number produced, and multiply it by 100. Then, divide that result by your body-weight. In summary, subtract your lean body mass from body weight, and multiply the result by 100. Then, divide that result by your body weight.