Health Calculators

Skinfold Body Fat Definition

With obesity on the rise, many people are concerned about their health and want to know how much body fat they have and if the amount is within normal levels. There are many methods of measuring body fat levels from using a simple tape measure to using skin calipers or even immersing people in water to see how much water is displaced or by using special kinds of scales.

However, if you want to know what your body fat measurements are, then you can use this free online Skinfold Body Fat Calculator to find out fast and easy without having to use complicated math or equations or buying expensive gear.

How to use the Skinfold Body Fat Calculator

The Skinfold Body Fat Calculator lets users put in the following factors:

  1. Gender of User
  2. Age of User
  3. Triceps measurement
  4. Thigh measurement
  5. Suprailiac measurement
  6. Abdomen measurement
  7. Chest measurement

After you put in these factors into the Skinfold Body Fat Calculator, you merely click on the calculator button and it shows you your exact body fat measurements.

These listed results can be printed if desired so that you can bring them to your doctor to see where you stand in regards to being in a healthy level of body fat or if you need help in losing weight. Then if needed, you can talk to your doctor and get a plan of action to help you to get into shape.

What Good is Body Fat?

Body fat isn’t all bad even though most people cringe when they hear this term. It actually is needed by our body for being a source of energy. The human body burns body fat when we are sleeping or otherwise doing something that doesn’t require much energy, as well as when we are exercising. But if you want to lose weight, of course, then you must take in less calories than the body burns or it will turn into excess body fat.

Why Should You Know How Much Body Fat You Have?

Body fat is one factor that doctors may use to see how healthy or in shape that you are. It is a common thing that is monitored to determine a person’s fitness level, but other factors such as your weight, glucose levels, blood cholesterol levels, and other factors also play a part in how healthy and fit a person is.

Body fat is stored over the entire body, but some areas of the body tend to have more body fat than others. These include the stomach area in men and the thigh and rear area in women. This is a normal distribution of body fat in the human body.

In addition, women’s bodies have more body fat due to the fact that it is used in reproduction to help cushion the growing fetus, etc. and most body fat charts say that women are in a good range if their body fat is between 18 and 25 percent. Men naturally have less body fat and are considered in a healthy range if their body fat is between 12 and 18 percent.

The bottom line is that all humans need certain levels of body fat to function normally, but many people may have excess body fat due to many reasons. If you wish to find out in an easy and quick way the percentage of body fat that you have so you can figure out if you fall into normal levels, then use this simple Skinfold Body Fat Calculator.

Checkout the similar skinfold body fat calculator, Durnin/Womersley Skinfold Body Fat and the US Navy Body Fat calculator.

Skinfold Body Fat Formula:

Females:Body Density = 1.0994921 - 0.0009929*sum + 0.0000023*sum2 - 0.0001392*age(triceps, suprailiac, thigh skinfold measurements)Males:Body Density = 1.1093800 - 0.0008267*sum + 0.0000016*sum2 - 0.0002574*age(chest, abdominal, thigh skinfold measurements)Body fat % is average of the following two methods:Siri: Percent Fat = [(4.95 / Body Density) -4.50] * 100Brozek: Percent Fat = [(4.570 / Body Density) - 4.142] * 100