Skinfold Body Fat Calculator

You can use this skinfold body fat calculator to estimate your body fat percentage. Simply input your gender, age, and the seven requested skinfold measurements into the fields below and click on the "Calculate" button.

Calculating Percent Body Fat Using Skinfold Measurements

You can measure body fat percentage using a variety of different approaches. One of the most common methods involves determining the thickness of subcutaneous fat. The approach recommended by Jackson, A.S., Pollock, M.L., and Siri et al. can be used to accurately calculate percent body fat. To try this method, follow the steps outlined below:

1. Use calipers to take seven skinfold measurements in millimeters: chest, midaxillary, triceps, subscapular, abdominal, suprailiac and thigh.
2. Add these seven numbers together (sum).
3. Input the sum into the following formula:

Males:

BD = 1.112 − (0.00043499 × S) + (0.00000055 × S²) − (0.00028826 × A)   [Jackson & Pollock Equation]

Females:

BD = 1.097 − (0.00046971 × S) + (0.00000056 × S²) − (0.00012828 × A)   [Jackson & Pollock Equation]

Where BD is body density, S is the sum of your skinfold measurements (in mm), A is your age (in years).

Once you have determined your body density, you can calculate your percent body fat as follows:

% Body Fat = (4.95 / BD − 4.50) × 100   [Siri Equation]

Let's look at an example.

Sarah is a 45-year-old female. The sum of her seven skinfold measurements is 120 mm. As such, A = 45 and S = 120. Using the Jackson and Pollock equation outlined above, she calculates that her body density is 1.0429 and her percentage body fat is 24.64%.

References

1. Jackson AS, Pollock ML. Generalized equations for predicting body density of men. Br J Nutr. 1978 Nov; 40(3):497-504.

2. Jackson AS, Pollock ML, Ward A. Generalized equations for predicting body density of women. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 1980; 12(3):175-81.

You might also want to use our free FFMI Calculator and/or BAI Calculator