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Calculate Body Fat Percentage To Guarantee Your Diet is Working!

To calculate body fat percentage you have a number of different methods which vary in cost, accuracy and accessibility. So which one should you use?

We know it’s important to measure our body composition and body fat testing helps you get an idea of how much fat vs muscle you’re carrying.

calculate body fat percentage
You can also start working towards the desired under 10% body fat which is the when your abs will start to show.

Getting a test done at the start of your diet and then perhaps once every month or two helps you access the two test results side-by-side so you can see if you’re making progress or going backwards.

But how do you know which type of test is right for you? This guide will answer these questions and get you ready to get tested!


What is A Body Composition Test?

Body composition tests are a great way to know how much fat you’re losing compared to muscle. The goal of any diet is to lose fat and maintain muscle; this will give the most dramatic transformation.

Women are usually less concerned with maintaining muscle and they just want to lose weight which is why women who lose weight still complain they don’t look “toned”.

The reason is, if you lose muscle as well as fat you’ll just look like a smaller version of what you look like now. But if you lose fat and maintain as much muscle as possible you’ll look MUCH leaner.

Lose 5 pounds of fat and you’ll have a much more visible transformation compared to 10 pounds of weight where most of it is muscle loss.

For this reason I recommend bodyfat tests as a cheap way to get a progress check. There are many ways to calculate body fat percentage, some accurate some not accurate, some expensive and some not.


Ways of Measuring Body Fat

There are a range of ways to calculate your body fat percentage, such as the common Body Composition Scales you stand on and the old calculate body fat using calipers method.

Then there’s more elaborate methods such as underwater weighing where you submerge yourself in a tank and even full body scans such as DEXA scans.

Here’s a quick table which gives you an overview of the different methods:

Body Composition Testing Methods


Name Skill Level Self Test? Equipment Cost Test Cost Frequency Accessibility Accuracy Rating
Body Part Measurements Low Yes £5-£10 N/A 2x Per Month Home 4/5 4/5
Body Composition Scales Low Yes £20 – £80 Free/£5 Weekly Home/Gym 3/5 4/5
Body Fat Calipers Moderate No £10-£15 £15 2x Per Month Home/Gym 3/5 4/5
Underwater Weighing High No £10k + £6 – £46 Monthly Universities 5/5 3/5
DEXA Scans High No £15 – £30k + £75 – £100 Monthly Universities/Hospitals 5/5 2/5
BMI Testing Low Yes N/A N/A N/A Home 0/5 0/5

You can read more about each method here:

Are Body Composition Scales Good For Calculating Body Fat?
Calculate Body Fat Using Calipers Guide
Underwater Weighing A Super Accurate Way To Estimate Body Fat
The DEXA Scan – The New Gold Standard Body Composition Test!

Bottom Line

There are a number of different ways to measure your body fat percentage and the more accurate the better.

With that said, if getting access to one is difficult and expensive then you can sacrifice the accuracy for convenience and go for a combination of Body Composition Scales, try to calculate body fat using calipers and/or assessing fat vs muscle using tape measurements.

As long as you pick a method or a collection of methods that allow you to calculate body fat percentage you’ll be OK. Just stick with them and be as consistent as possible in your testing it’ll serve regular people like you and me just fine!


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