MichaelWood
:
Skinfolds are your best option, cheapest option. Most accurate is hydrostatic weighing but expensive and usislaly have to be in a research study. See if someone at your gym can do a quick 4 fold body fat test for u
Rychnz
:
The most simplest way I use when gaining weight is to measure waist circumference. If I'm putting on weight and my waist size is not increasing then I know it's going to be muscle as waist is generally always the first place to put on fat. Same with loosing weight, the waist size should be decreasing and the size of arms and shoulders etc should not change if you are maintaining muscle.
There is room for error but for me this is very reliable and simple.
jlhflex
:
hydrostatic weighing is NOT the most accurate... The best is Bone density or DEXA scan. You can ask a doctor to have one performed. It will give you every single detail of your body
lamarclark09
:
If you feel that you’ve gained weight but your clothes getting looser then high chances are that you gained muscle not fat because muscles are dense and firm therefore take up less space while fat is voluminous and takes up more space. You can also go for body composition testing.
ryanhuggins
:
The easiest method is by looking in the mirror and taking measurements. As others have said, if your clothes are getting looser but your weight stays the same, you're going in the right direction. Progress photos are great, they can show you definition. Once you see those triceps breaking through, you know you're definitely on the right track.
Beyond that, a body fat tester will help. One like the handheld Omron brand ones you see at the gym are good enough. They can be problematic, especially at low bodyfat levels, but they work well enough. If you have a tape (like what tailors use) then you can measure certain body parts and there is a formula that will give you a rough idea from those measurements.
I use the Omron tool, it's a quick and easy test I can do second thing in the morning... when the water is out of my system.
jelarv
:
For the past 5 years I've been using a scale by Withings that records fat mass as a percentage of body weight (sends it to the cloud where the data is kept). It's unreliable for a day-to-day analysis but seems very accurate over month-long or longer periods.
16 comments
There is room for error but for me this is very reliable and simple.
Beyond that, a body fat tester will help. One like the handheld Omron brand ones you see at the gym are good enough. They can be problematic, especially at low bodyfat levels, but they work well enough. If you have a tape (like what tailors use) then you can measure certain body parts and there is a formula that will give you a rough idea from those measurements.
I use the Omron tool, it's a quick and easy test I can do second thing in the morning... when the water is out of my system.