Fat%
- Thread starter Shar123
- Start date
If it just measures height and weight it does not know. That's the problem with many quick, cheap, easy, etc. measures of body fat. According to the BMI charts a person with decent muscle mass and very low body fat would be considered obese, and unfortunately many insurance companies and government agencies use that as their only measure of your fitness and health. Some machines have electrodes and pass a current in one foot and out the other, giving a decent estimate of lower body fat, while some others require you to grip some handles and pass a current through your upper body giving a decent estimate of upper body fat. If you happen to have very evenly distributed body fat these may give a good overall body fat estimate, however many people have a lot more body fat in the lower or upper half of their body verses the other half and get a measure that is way too low or way to high for overall body fat. The best methods for measuring body fat are the skinfold measure method done by a well trained person or the water displacement method, everything else is a wag (wild assed guess).
