In this post I talked about the Accumeasure calipers and the process I was using to try and get consistent results. Well, I still wasn't completely happy in that regard so I've now also acquired some Slimguide calipers.

These are a rather more substantial affair and they use a spring to apply the correct amount of pressure to the skinfold. Rather than the single suprailiac test site used with the Accumeasure, the booklet supplied with the Slimguide describes the four site Durnin and Womersly method. For this method you need an accomplice to take the readings.

So, instead I am using the Jackson and Pollock three site method. The sites can be seen here. The abdomen and thigh readings are easy to do yourself, whilst the chest reading can be done using a mirror. The readings then get applied to a formula, along with your age and out pops your body fat percentage. There is also a Jackson and Pollock three site method for women, but one of these sites is at the back of the arm, so you would need some help for that.

Comparing the results between the two methods I was getting a discrepancy of about 1.5%. I then found a post on the Burn the Fat forum indicating that there was an error for my age range in the extended version of the Accumeasure table that I was using. This error was overstating body fat percentages by about 1.1%. So, as of now I am getting 15.4% body fat from the J-P method and 15.9% from the suprailiac test.

For now, I'm still using the suprailiac test as the main method of tracking, but I might switch over at some point. I've also changed by long term goal to 11% body fat, as I'm sure this is achievable on this new basis.