Determine your body fat percentage with our body fat calculator. The body fat chart also shows that the percentage of fat needed for the body to function properly increases with age. The bmi numbers are way too general to be really useful says tammy callahan marketing manager of life measurement inc which. The body fat percentage bfp of a human or other living being is the total mass of fat divided by total body mass multiplied by 100. To get the best results measure to the nearest 14 inch 05 cm. Skinfold measurements have been used to estimate body fat for over 50 years skinfold calipers measure the thickness of your subcutaneous fat the fat underneath the skin at certain body.

Use the metric units tab if you are more comfortable with the international system of units si. But others feel that body fat percentage is really the way to go. There are also hand held devices and scales which measure body fat but these are often inaccurate. Then input your gender and measurements below to receive a body fat index based on average values. Body fat includes essential body fat and storage body fatessential body fat is necessary to maintain life and reproductive functions. However this would be classed as over fat or obese in someone in their late 20s.

Hydrostatic weighing and other high tech machines are expensive and almost impossible for a layperson to access. Higher levels of body fat may be dangerous for you. The formulas require the measurements to be in centimeters with an accuracy of 05 cm. A basic way to measure body fat percentage is by using a soft tape measure like the kind youd use for sewing to record measurements of different parts of the body. The percentage of essential body fat for women is greater than that for men due to the demands of childbearing and other. There are many different methods for measuring body fat but some are more accurate than others.

Use a tape measure to determine your waist wrist hip and forearm circumference. Percent body fat the percent body fat is calculated using the formulas developed by hodgdon and beckett at the naval health research center in 1984. The body fat calculator can be used to estimate your total body fat based on specific measurements. The chart below shows the average body fat percentages of americans from samples between 19992004. So for example 26 body fat is quite acceptable for a male over 55 years old. This data means that if your body fat percentage is lower than 31 for women and 24 for men you are in the average range and you have nothing to worry about.

Gallery of Body Fat By Body Measurements