Because body weight only measures one of several factors in healthy body composition, you can't rely on your weight alone to tell you if you're at a healthy weight. Organizations including college wrestling teams and the U.S. Military use body fat percentage as a way of gauging whether or not a person is at a healthy ratio of fat to lean mass. Although you can employ expensive gadgets like calipers or electroimpedance machines, you can measure your own body fat percentage with a tape measure.
Step 1
Take off your shoes, then measure your height. If you're alone, this is easier if you mark the wall with a pencil, then measure the distance from the mark to the floor.
Step 2
Measure your neck circumference at the edge of your collarbone and shoulders. This will mean the tape angles slightly downward in front. Keep your neck relaxed so as not to flex the muscles and artificially widen your neck.
Step 3
Relax your stomach and measure the circumference. Men should measure at navel level. Women should measure wherever their stomach is the narrowest.
Step 4
Measure your hip circumference, if you are a woman. Men don't need this measurement.
Step 5
Input your numbers into a free body fat calculator. The actual formulas for this require familiarity with college-level algebra, so using an online tool is best.
Step 6
Round the result to the nearest .5 percent.
Tips and Warnings
- For men, a healthy body fat range is 10 to 20 percent if you're between 20 and 40, 19 to 23 percent if you're older. For women ages 20 to 40, 19 to 26 percent body fat is healthy. Older women can have body fat in a range between 23 and 30 percent.
Things You'll Need
- Tape measure
References
- Calculate Your Body Fat: U.S. Navy Method
- "You: The Owner's Manual"; Dr. Mehmet Oz & Dr. Michael Roizen; 2005
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