Body fat percentage is the percentage of fat that makes up your body. The remaining amount of your body's weight results from lean body mass, including body organs, tissues, blood, bone and muscle. If you weigh 180 lbs., and you have 10 percent body fat, then fat makes up 18 pounds of your body, while lean body mass composes the other 162 pounds. The American Council on Exercise lists the "fitness" to "acceptable" categories based on body fat percentage for women between 21 and 31 percent, and for men between 14 and 25 percent.
Step 1
Remove your shoes, and use the measuring tape to measure your height in centimeters. Ask a partner to measure your height from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head while you stand up straight. If you don't have a partner, you may stand against a wall and make a light mark on the wall at the crown of your head, and then use the tape measure to measure from the floor to the mark. You should measure to the nearest 0.5 cm for the most accurate results. Record the number on paper.
Step 2
Wrap the measuring tape around your waist. Men should measure the waist at the level of the navel. Women should measure at the narrowest point above the hip bone, then record the number, in centimeters, on paper. Covert Bailey, author of "The Ultimate Fit or Fat," says the measuring tape method is one of the most accurate forms of measuring body fat percentage. He says the average person may be off by only about 2 percent of their actual percentage.
Step 3
Wrap the measuring tape around your neck. The tape should hit the back of your neck at its midpoint, then wrap around to the front just under the Adam's apple. This will make the tape slope slightly downward. Record the measurement on paper. Women should proceed to Step 4, while men should skip to Step 5.
Step 4
Wrap the measuring tape around your hips. Place the tape around the widest portion of your hips. Record this number on paper.
Step 5
Plug your recorded numbers into the proper spots in the following formulas, created by Hodgdon and Beckett at the Naval Health Research Center. Females should use the following equation: body fat percentage=495/(1.29579-0.35004(log(waist+hip-neck))+0.22100(log(height)))-450. Males should use this equation: body fat percentage=495/(1.0324-0.19077(log(waist-neck))+0.15456(log(height)))-450. Calculate your body fat percentage using a calculator. Calculate the information in the innermost parentheses first, working outward. "Log," short for logarithm, in these equations indicates the need to use the log function on your calculator.
Step 6
Measure and record your body fat percentage every month. Bodybuilder and personal trainer Hugo Rivera recommends measuring your body fat every three weeks. He says you should notice a loss in your body fat percentage if your nutrition and workout plan is working. If you see a gain in body fat percentage, Rivera says you should rework your plan to find out what part is not working.
Tips and Warnings
- Keep the measuring tape level around the body part being measured. Sloping the tape could lead to altered results.
Things You'll Need
- Measuring tape
- Pencil and paper
- Scientific calculator
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