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How to Calculate Body Fat Percentage?

Do you want to know what percentage of your body weight is due to fat content? The Body Fat Percentage calculator is based on Body Adiposity Index or BAI (1) and can very accurately calculate the body fat percentage. Use this calculator if your weight is increasing or if you are overweight or obese.
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Height *   cm   (or)  
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Body Fat Percentage is a better way to measure about how healthy you are, then the popular body mass index or BMI. BMI calculator tends to overestimate and underestimate for muscular body mass and athletic body respectively. BMI is known to be of limited accuracy, and is different for males and females with similar body adiposity (2).
While no estimate maybe accurate, however using both the above calculators is a good way to understand if you are physically fit and the risks associated with being overweight or obese (3).

First Calculate Body Fat Percentage Before following Planning a Weight Loss Regime
The fat percentage of your body will give you a fair idea of your physical fitness, and can help with any weight loss program. It was scientifically validated before it was published and provides a simple approach for measurement of body fat percentage.
While the body mass index requires your body weight, the fat percentage calculator requires only your height and hip circumference.

How to measure your Hip Circumference?
To measure your hip circumference- stand straight in relaxed posture and keep your feet as close together as possible. Use a measuring tape to measure the largest circumference around your hips.

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Fat Facts

  • WHO estimated in 2008 that more than 1.4 billion adults were overweight, and of these over 200 million men and nearly 300 million women were obese.
  • The quickest way to reduce body fat might simply be to increase your muscle mass.
  • Exercising a targeted portion of the body does not ensure that there is greater fat loss from that portion.
  • Sites for storage and consequently loss of fat are determined largely by gender and genetics.

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Body Fat Percentage (BFP) versus Body Mass Index – Which is a better indicator of Obesity

  1. There is a phenomenon called as normal weight obesity. This is associated with normal body weight by body mass index (BMI) but have high body fat percentage BFH). They have significantly higher risk of developing metabolic syndrome and higher mortality (4).
  2. Body mass index (BMI) reflects the influence of body height over body weight and till recently was used as an important diagnostic indicator for recognizing obesity; however, the current evidence indicates that it fails to reveal body fat percentage (BF%) (5).
  3. Scientific evidence shows that over all Body Fat Percentage is a better indicator of cardiovascular risk factors then Body Mass Index (BMI) (6).
  4. Current evidence suggests that body fat and not body weight, is a major risk factor for musculoskeletal pain as fat releases harmful cytokines that cause pain (7).
  5. World Health Organization (WHO) reports that obesity in the world population is an epidemic and causes more deaths than underweight (8).
    It is estimated that by 2025 - 18% of men, and 21% of women will be obese in the world (9).

  • 1. A better index of body adiposity
    (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21372804/)
  • 2. The body adiposity index (hip circumference ÷ height(1.5)) is not a more accurate measure of adiposity than is BMI, waist circumference, or hip circumference
    (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22484365/)
  • 3. Validity of the Body Adiposity Index in Predicting Body Fat in Adults: A Systematic Review
    (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6140443/)
  • 4. The concept of normal weight obesity
    (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24438734/)
  • 5. Correlation between body composition and risk factors for cardiovascular disease and metabolic syndrome
    (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22689563/)
  • 6. Percent body fat is a better predictor of cardiovascular risk factors than body mass index
    (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22510779/)
  • 7. The association between body fat and musculoskeletal pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis
    (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30021590/)
  • 8. Obesity
    (https://www.who.int/health-topics/obesity)
  • 9. Trends in adult body-mass index in 200 countries from 1975 to 2014: a pooled analysis of 1698 population-based measurement studies with 19·2 million participants
    (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27115820/)

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Comments

isaiah-garza

Yes i am fit.

212_5, India

very helpful

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