How to measure body fat percentage?
There are a lot of ways to measure body fat percentage. The most accurate way is to have a professional body composition test done at a medical facility. This test uses specialized equipment and techniques to measure fat mass, lean mass, and other body composition percentages. However, at home, you can use a few easy tests that can provide an approximation of your body fat percentage.
How to calculate body fat percentage using skin folds?
There are two types of body fat subcutaneous fat which lies just under the skin and visceral fat which lies deep in the belly, between the muscles. Visceral fat is metabolically active and has a direct correlation with insulin production and sugar metabolism. Excess visceral fat is associated with insulin resistance and high blood glucose levels. The more subcutaneous fat you have, the lower your visceral fat will be and vice versa.
How to calculate body fat percentage?
There are a number of ways to calculate your body fat percentage, such as hydrostatic body fat test, skinfold test, bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA), or water weighing. Of these, the most accurate is BIA, which is a non-invasive test, and water weighing, which is also highly accurate.
How to calculate fat free mass?
The method for calculating fat free mass is the same as the one for calculating body weight. The difference is that you replace the weight with the sum of the volume of all of your muscle mass, bone mass, and internal organs. The fat mass is the difference between the total mass and the sum of the mass of the fat-free tissue.
How to get body fat percentage?
There are many ways to measure body fat but the two most reliable ways are through bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) or skinfold thickness tests. These two tests are inexpensive, easy and quick to do, and can be used to measure body fat percentage in the home or gym.