Body Fat Test

Body fat is nothing but fat deposited in your body. Fat can be of two types – storage body fat and essential body fat. Essential fat is required so as to maintain proper health while storage fat is accumulated in the adipose tissue. The amounts of essential fat is higher in women than in men due to the differing hormonal functions and demands of childbirth and on the other hand, storage fat protects the internal organs of the body. There are several medical tests and tools for body fat test and the best part is they can all be found online and you can get it done at home. But before we go into details of the different kinds of tests, you need to know what does your body fat percentage mean. Fat percentage means the ratio of the weight of fat in your body to your actual weight.

Home Body Fat Test

How to measure body fat is a common question most people ask. Instead of going to a professional, you can opt to use body fat monitors and get a test done at home. You just need to get a body fat scale so as to measure the amount of fat in your body quickly. These scales use the method of Bioelectrical Impedance so as to measure the percentage of fat. A low intensity electric current is passed through your body and then the measurement is taken. The result so found is used along with the total weight of a person so as to determine the total body fat. However, there are several factors like water content in the body, physical activity and skin temperature which may not give an accurate measurement.

For a relatively accurate measurement, you should make sure not to drink or eat for a few hours (at least 4 hours to be precise) before the test. Moreover, you should not go through any exercise for at least the last 12 hours. Even if these rules are followed, it has been found in some instances that there is a variation in the actual measurement.

Most Accurate Body Fat Test Methods

One of the most common body fat test which is known to give most accurate results is the immersion test also called underwater weighing. In this method, a scale is placed under a tank of water and a person sits on that scale. Once he or she sits on it, the person is told to blow air out as much as possible. After air is blown out, the person is dunked under water and is told to blow out even more. As fat is lighter compared to water, a person with more fat would float. Even though there is a slight margin of error, the accuracy is highly dependent on the amount of air blown out.

Another method of accurately measuring body fat is the DEXA method. This test is used to measure bone density, but it can measure fat density as well. The process uses a body scanner and two x-rays of of low intensity so that it can read soft tissue mass and bone mass. It hardly takes about 10 to 20 minutes for the test to be complete.

Bob pod gives excellent results and this type of test does not take even a minute to complete. You just need to enter a chamber in the shape of an egg and be there for just 20 seconds. The process is such that it can measure air displacement in the body within a matter of seconds. The resulting measure changes into relative body fat after taking into consideration the person’s weight.

Body Fat Test Calculator

Today with the improvement in technology, there are several body fat calculators which are found online and you just need to enter the measurement of your body to get the measurement. You should be ready with the measurement of the lower back, tricep, subscapular, calf, thigh, suprailiac, abdomen, bicep and chest and enter them in the online calculator and once you are done with that, they automatically give you the results. The ideal body fat percentage depends on the race of the person as well. For example the bones of Africans tend to be more dense while those of Asians are lighter and this also has an effect on the body fat percentage.