A lot of times, my clients at the Diversified Health and Fitness gyms will ask me a lot about their body fat percentages. And if you’re trying to lose weight right now, this is a number you should also pay attention to, as it is a good indicator of how much fat your body is losing through your efforts.

A regular scale is great to have, and I always suggest weekly (not daily) weigh ins to keep yourself on track and motivated. However, a regular scale doesn’t tell you what percentage of the body is made up of fat, bones, blood, and organs. So you could actually be losing fat, and gaining muscle – but the number on a normal scale will say the same thing. This can be pretty discouraging.

Body fat percentages can be measured in a few different ways:

Body Fat Calipers

This is one of the more popular ways to measure body fat, and one most commonly used in gyms when you start an exercise program. An expert pinches your skin in different areas and measures it, plugs the numbers into a formula, and comes up with an estimate of your body fat.

The result is based on the idea that the thickness of fat under your skin is reflective of your total body fat. It can be an accurate way to measure this, but more often than not, it isn’t. A very skilled tester is usually the key to success with this measuring tool, but most are not great at it. Also, as you age, your body fat tends to settle in different areas and moves inward, so you’re more likely to get a skewed result.

So if your gym offers it for free, try it out and see what your results are. But I wouldn’t recommend getting too worked up about the numbers you get, because more than likely, they’re going to be off.

Bioelectrical Impedance

One of the fastest ways to measure body fat, this popular machine is also commonly used at gyms, health fairs, and in the home. You can purchase one for about $150.

When stepped upon, the scale passes a signal from hand to hand or foot to foot. The faster the signal travels, the more muscle you have. The idea behind the scale is that water is a conductor of electricity, and muscle contains a lot of water while fat contains almost none.

The results of this test can be pretty accurate, with about a 4% margin of error, but will be affected by how hydrated you are, your skin temperature, and how much you ate that day. The best time to do it is first thing in the morning after you drink a glass of water.

Dexa (dual energy x-ray absorptiometry)

This is the test they use to measure bone density at your doctor’s office, but will also effectively measure your body fat as well.

It uses a whole body scanner and uses low dose x ray to measure your bone mass. It typically takes about 20 minutes, and has a high degree of precision, with about a 2 – 3% margin of error. If you’re getting your bone density done anyways, this is a great time to check up on your body fat!

Hyrdostatic Weighing

This involves weighing your body underwater, and measuring your body weigh underwater. You sit in the tank, blow out as much water as you can, and then you’re dunked underwater, where you blow out even more air from your lungs. Fat floats, so the more fat you have, the measurement will reflect this.

This is also a highly corroborated result, with a 2 – 3% margin of error. A lot of colleges and universities offer this service, generally within a lab setting.

Online BMI Calculators (Body Mass Index)

You can also determine your Body Mass Index by using online calculators, which will ask you your height and weight and plug those numbers into a formula. Still, this number is not a great indicator of overall fitness, and can be very misleading. It doesn’t give you the fat percentage, just a ratio that places you somewhere on a given chart. It can be a good guideline, but is not as accurate as the other methods.

So, there are many ways to measure your body fat. What I always suggest to my clients is that they take a look at the cost of the most accurate methods, and if they can afford it, go for those. You don’t need to remeasure your body fat for about another month or two after this, if you’re really on the track to lose weight and you’re eating properly and exercising. It can really be an excellent tool to keep you on the track to your best body ever.