The body fat calliper method is extremely dependent on the person doing the measurement, so it’s more useful for measuring progress. The Navy Method is slightly less variable, and is a pretty good balance between cost, accuracy, and reliability if you’re looking for something. Not as good as DEXA, far better than body impedance, and more accurate than callipers.
Body fat definitely is a better method, up to a point - once someone is definitely into the “obese” or “underweight” on the BMI, there’s a good chance of the person is unhealthy in some way. Bodybuilders achieve worryingly low body fat % with “obese” BMI score, but they can still have plenty of other markers that say they’re unhealthy, and underweight is underweight. But my BMI is ~25 (“overweight”) and ~15% body fat; I’m ok.
A lot of people who are 50% body fat and have a BMI of 35 love to hear that the BMI is flawed.
The body fat calliper method is extremely dependent on the person doing the measurement, so it’s more useful for measuring progress. The Navy Method is slightly less variable, and is a pretty good balance between cost, accuracy, and reliability if you’re looking for something. Not as good as DEXA, far better than body impedance, and more accurate than callipers.
Body fat definitely is a better method, up to a point - once someone is definitely into the “obese” or “underweight” on the BMI, there’s a good chance of the person is unhealthy in some way. Bodybuilders achieve worryingly low body fat % with “obese” BMI score, but they can still have plenty of other markers that say they’re unhealthy, and underweight is underweight. But my BMI is ~25 (“overweight”) and ~15% body fat; I’m ok.
A lot of people who are 50% body fat and have a BMI of 35 love to hear that the BMI is flawed.