To Lose Body Fat

As an alternative to the body fat scale, body fat calipers can also be used to measure body fat relatively accurately.  Body fat calipers resemble a pair of large tweezers which are used to measure skin folds in order to calculate the amount of fat under a person’s skin, otherwise known as subcutaneous fat.

When using calipers, you need to measure skin folds in at least three areas of your body which must include your belly, thighs, and triceps.  If it’s your first time using calipers, it’s highly recommend that you let a professional do it the first few times and ask him to show you how.  That way you can learn to use them in the correct manner and vastly improve your accuracy when measure your own body fat.

Calipers can range in quality and price widely, from $10 all the way up to $300 or more.  Why such a vast range in price?  Well, as with most things you get what you pay for and when buying a pair of calipers, it’s no different.  Now that doesn’t mean you need to buy the most expensive pair of calipers on the market and a higher price doesn’t necessarily mean better accuracy.  The most important things to look for when buying calipers is to find some that are of a reputable brand such as those by Accufitness or Lange and that can hold a steady level of tension.  If the calipers you buy can not consistently hold a steady of tension, the accuracy can be thrown way off. All this being said you should be able to get a decent pair of calipers for $30 to $40.

How accurate are body fat calipers?  Well, like anything the answer is “it depends”.  The biggest factors that can affect their accuracy however include the person using them and the quality of the fat calipers.  On average though, if used properly fat calipers have about a 3-4% margin of error.  Overall they can be slightly more accurate than a body fat scale simply because they are not influenced by external factors such as whether you recently worked out, drank water, or ate a meal; all of which can affect your typical body fat scale.

Though underwater or hydrostatic weighing is by far the most accurate way to measure body fat, it’s just too impractical.  Using body fat calipers, like the body fat scale, is a great alternative to this and much more convenient and economical for the average person.

A lot of people will use a bathroom scale for measuring their weight. This is okay for general weight loss but if you are focused on losing body fat specifically, body fat scales are much more suitable.

The main problem with your typical bathroom scale is that it only gives you the weight of your entire body; your fat, muscle, organs, blood, even what you ate for dinner are all thrown together into this one number.  This is just plain misleading and certainly not a good way to measure body fat. It’s common for example that a person after going through a weight loss program for several weeks could end up at the same weight they started with.  How can this be? Simple; muscle weighs more than fat. The weight that you lose from shedding fat was made up the muscle you gained. In other words you could be well on your way to reaching your body fat goal but instead think you are no better off than you started!

Therefore, if you seriously want to lose body fat, you should consider investing in a good body fat scale also known as a fat monitor. Fortunately, body fat scales are actually quite common nowadays so you should have no trouble finding one in your local department store or fitness shop. Also, if you can, try to purchase a body fat scale that contains a body water monitor as well. A body water monitor will help indicate whether you are dehydrated. This is important as not only is dehydration bad for your overall health, it can actually slow the progress of body fat loss.

You might be wondering how a body fat scale works? A body fat monitor measures the resistance of a small electrical current that passes up one of your legs through your body and down the other leg. The way it measures this electrical resistance is by what’s know as Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA). Since water is a good conductor of electricity, the way BIA is able to differentiate fat from muscle is because unlike fat which contains very little water, muscle is roughly 75% water.  The electrical current can therefore pass through the muscle with much less resistance.

With a 4-5% margin of error, body fat scales are not the most accurate way to measure your body fat percentage but are still close enough to meet most people’s needs and the sheer convenience makes them a highly useful tool in the path towards your body fat goal.