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Is it possible to "roughly estimate" a person's body fat percentage if you know their physical characteristics, such as their age, height, weight, body measurements and biological sex?

And if so, how?

For context, this is being asked for by an app attached to an activity tracker.

Aaargh Zombies
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  • Not likely. There are several ways to measure body fat percentage. Using the statistics you've provided is probably the least accurate method. – rrirower Sep 10 '22 at 16:15
  • A least accurate answer is better than none. – Aaargh Zombies Sep 11 '22 at 12:20
  • Assuming "body measurements" means measuring circumference of biceps, waist, hips, etc or even "pinch" measurements, there are quite a few ways practiced to estimate a person's body fat percentage. These tests can not be relied upon for exact accuracy, but the US military uses one such method officially (https://www.thebalancecareers.com/army-tape-test-3344565#:~:text=Key%20Takeaways-,The%20military%20tape%20test%20is%20the%20official%20method%20used%20to,vary%20by%20age%20and%20gender) How accurate you can be measuring yourself is another question (for us all) – jros Sep 12 '22 at 14:19
  • @rrirower - Surprisingly, circumference measurement done properly claims an error rate of 2-5% which is among the more accurate. – JohnP Oct 04 '22 at 13:24

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Roughly yes. Easier in males. If there is a fat stomach, you know that the percentage is at least higher than 15%. However there are some other cases where someone can have visible thigh separation but no abs.

So it depends on what you see as "roughly". I could say <15% or >15%; but this is very rough.

Michael C.
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There are several different methods, and it depends on what you mean by "measurements". There are two different ways (US Navy and YMCA) to measure body fat by measuring the circumference of various sites on the body. They have an error range of 3-12% depending on the skill and accuracy of the measurements and the method used, such as impedence, weighing, calipers etc.

JohnP
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