While body fat scales and monitors are a great way to track your fat loss or gain and are generally quite accurate when it comes to weight the devices can be off by a fair percentage some by as much as 20 when it comes to calculating your body fat. The most accurate readings were off by about 21 while the least accurate were off by about 34. A measure of your body composition distinguishes between fat mass and all other body mass. Based on your buoyancy and your weight the person administering the test can calculate your body fat percentage. The most accurate measurement of body fat measuring body composition. Dexa or dxa stands for dual emission x ray absorptiometry.
In this study the home use body fat scales either overestimated or underestimated bfps. Limited information is available but some 3 d scanners may be fairly accurate with errors of around 4 body fat. Underwater testing is considered to be an accurate tool for measuring body fat. 86010 waist neck 100 70041 x height 100 3676. Here is a video showing how a 3 d body scanner. The resultant number is the of body fat.
A dexa scan is like getting a full body. You can help improve the accuracy by following the tips above. For example if your calculations equal to 20 then your body fat percentage is 20. Just add the measurements to the formula and calculate.