Measurement of Body Fat Percentage

[Guest guest]

Hi folks:

Here's a 'little wrinkle' for you. (IMO one of the joys of life is

ocasionally discovering little wrinkles like this one!) I have been

using the US Navy method for measuring BF%. Its formula requires a

constant, your height, your abdomen (at navel) circumference and neck

circumference.

Since, for any given individual, height and the constant will not

change from one measurement to the next, any change in BF% is a

reflection of changes in abdomen and neck measurements.

So, since in the past couple of months my weight has declined a few

pounds and both of these measurements have declined also, one might

have expected that my BF% had declined as well. Right?

WRONG! My BF%, at least according to the US Navy formula, has

increased! The reason is that the circumference of my neck has

declined somewhat more than that of my abdomen. This means that my

abdomen-minus-neck measurement (which is what the formula uses) has

increased somewhat ......... so, so has my calculated BF%!

Rodney.

[And yes, I have been taking these measurements with special care for

quite some time, so I do not believe it is an 'inaccurate

measurement' issue.]