Want to know how to measure your body fat without having to have an MRI scan or be lowered into a flotation tank so they can work out your density, or worse still waste $100 on those body fat scales? Well, there are literally dozens of methods, for some you'll need a pair of skin-pinch callipers to grab hold of your subcutaneous fat and enter measurements into a complicated formula, others base it on the intrinsically inaccurate but simple waist measurement. But, according to the latest medical research the Navy Circumference Test still works best.
So, what is the Navy Circumference method?
This body fat calculator involves taking a few simple measurements -
Abdomen (men only and horizontal at navel level, Waist (women only
horizontal at smallest width, Hips (women only - biggest horizontal
circumference, Neck (just below the larynx with the tap sloping slightly
downwards), Height without shoes.
Got those? Next step is to feed them into this form, which will tell you the awful truth, or otherwise:
Incidentally, if you're wondering why it's called the Navy Circumference
Test, it's because the US Navy accepts new recruits only if their body fat
percent is below a certain value, and expect their sailors to maintain it at
or below that value. Of course, recruits often question the test, but Navy
research and independent validation has shown again and again that it really
is accurate.