Calipers

Body Fat Caliper - If You Aren't Using This Tool You Are Wasting Your Time!
By Peter Harris



A body fat caliper is a measurement device used to measure the thickness of skin folds on different parts of your body. The calipers will measure the thickness of the skin folds in millimeters. You can then take the average of those readings, find that number on a chart according to your age group and it will list your body fat percentage. This article will explain what body fat is, why knowing your percentage is important and the ways it can be measured.

Do you know what body fat is? It is the amount of fat that your body contains relative to everything else. When you want to lose weight this is what you really want to focus on. Your weight is made up of several different structures in your body. Your fat content is one of those things that you can control through diet and exercise. What most people don't realize is that you can lose fat and your actual weight may stay relatively the same. You will look slimmer, your clothes with fit better and you will have more energy even if you don't lose actual pounds.

It is important to know your percentage, testing with a caliper because this tells you an accurate story of your actual progress. When you step on a scale you see your total weight. This doesn't tell you where the weight is coming from, does it? Knowing your percentage of body fat you will know exactly what you need to lose to reach your desired goals.

If your goal is to lose weight and you start doing some cardio, lifting weights and eating better it should follow that the number on the scale should decrease over time. What many people fail to realize is that as they are working out they may be gaining muscle. Muscle weighs more than fat. So they are losing fat while they are gaining muscle and their actual weight (the number on the scale) doesn't change. But they look better! This can throw some people off and they get discouraged, thinking their diet is working. Don't put so much stock on your "scale" weight. Your fat percentage is much more important in determining your progress.

What if you are a hardgainer and you have been struggling to gain weight? What kind of weight do you want to gain? Maybe you don't care but if you are trying to gain weight through gaining muscle mass then knowing your body fat percentage will help you determine where you new weight is coming from. If you've gained 10 pounds how will you know if that is fat weight or muscle weight? You need to know the percentage you started with. If this number stays relatively the same then you know you've gained muscle weight. If it increases dramatically you know you've gained fat weight. See how this differs from the number on the scale?

You can use another instrument called a body fat percentage calculator to take your measurements. I don't recommend these. They are not nearly as accurate as the calipers. At best they can give you an estimate. You need to be more accurate than this.