On the other hand if youre muscular and have a high bmi but suspect you have a lower body fat percentage waist circumference is a great way to determine your risk. Measuring the circumference of certain body parts is a simple method of body fat estimation.
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What To Know About Taking Your Body Measurements
How do you measure body circumference. Wrap the tape measure around the widest part of your upper arm from front to back and around to the start point. Less than 35 inches for women. Once these measurements are obtained use the following formulas to calculate an estimate of body fat. Place one end of the tape measure at level of your bust on the fullest level. Two methods that are commonly used to estimate whether you are a healthy weight or not are body mass index bmi and waist circumference. Waist circumference is considered a good estimate of your body fat especially your internal fat deposits and your likelihood of developing weight related disease.
You may be tempted to cheat by lowering the tape measure a few inches but then you wont get an accurate measurement. Measure the circumference of the subjects hips at the largest horizontal measure. Body frame size is determined by a persons wrist circumference in relation to his height. Measuring the size of your waist can help you to understand your risk for certain health conditions that are related to your weight. For example a man whose height is over 5 5 and wrist is 6 would fall into the small boned category. When youre ready to measure place the tape so it rests 1 inch above the tops of your ears 3 inches above the tops of your eyebrows and directly across the back of your head where you can feel a small bump or bone.
Waist circumference alone cannot indicate that you have a medical condition or that youll develop one in the future but it can help you and your healthcare provider to determine where fat is located on your body and if that fat may cause health. Steps in measuring your body circumference measuring your chest circumference. A basic way to measure body fat percentage is by using a soft tape measure like the kind youd use for sewing to record measurements of different parts of the body. Less than 40 inches for men. For example the us army uses a body fat calculation that simply requires an individuals age height. To help reduce your risk of medical complications your waist circumference should be.
Make sure that the ends meet and measure. Wrap the tape measure around the body under the armpit and over the scapula or shoulder blades at the back and back to the front of the bust line. To determine the body frame size measure the wrist with a tape measure and use the following chart to determine whether the person is small medium or large boned. Measure the circumference of your arm. To measure the circumference of your head choose a flexible plastic tape measure that wont stretch to get an accurate measurement.
Gallery of How Do You Measure Body Circumference
