Virily Editor
It can be rather frustrating for any person to find no change after stepping on the scale, even after spending hours every day at the gym. It is true that without some sort of motivation or incentive, you will gradually feel demotivated and eventually stop exercising completely. It is important for you to remember that your body weight should not be your primary focus. Nonetheless, it is quite natural for any person to wish for some objective feedback on the daily fitness progress. It is most often seen that many overweight people are healthy and many normal weights are unhealthy.
Useful Ways to Measure Your Body Fat Percentage
There are several ways for you to measure your body fat percentage like the ones found at Body Fat Analyzer – Top Scales. However, not every method will give you proper results. Here are some tried and tested methods that will give you accurate results.
- Skinfold Calipers: The method of measuring skinfold in order to estimate body fat has been in practice for well over 50 years. These calipers measure the thickness of the subcutaneous fat, which lies just below your skin at some specific locations in your body. 3 or even 7 different locations are chosen and measurements recorded from these locations. These locations are different for both men and women. When it comes to women areas such as triceps, above the abdomen, thigh, under the armpit, chest, and under the shoulder blade are considered. For men the areas include chest, thigh, abdomen, triceps, near the armpit, and beneath the scapula are considered. This method is affordable and can be measured at home. However, basic anatomy knowledge is needed for this method.
- Body Circumference Measurements: It is true that the body shape differs from person to person. However, your body shape provides vital information pertaining to your body. When you measure the circumference of some specific parts of your body, you will notice that it is a very simple way of estimating the body fat. When it comes to men, the circumference of the waist and neck are considered. For women it is the circumference of the hips. This method is also very affordable and simple. However, the results are not accurate for every person.
- DXA or Dual-Energy X-ray Absorptiometry: As stated by the name, this method uses X-rays of 2 different types of energy in order to estimate the body fat percentage of a person. In order to follow this method, you need to lie down on your back for around 10 minutes while the X-ray machine scans your body. You need not worry about the radiation as it is very low from a DXA scan. This method is also used to assess your bone density. It provides detailed information pertaining to your bone, fat and lean mass in separate regions of your body such as your torso, arms, and legs. This method is quite accurate, as well as, detailed. It gives you a breakdown of various body regions. However, DXA is only available in certain research or medical settings and cannot be done at home.
