These are measurements of folds of skin and fat taken at specific locations on your body. The instrument used to measure skin folds is call a skinfold caliper. The information is then entered into an equation to estimate total body fat.

Pros

• The calipers are not overly expensive.
• It does not require sophisticated equipment.
• It's portable.
• It's fast.

Cons

• It relies on as assumption that may or may not be true: the thickness of the fat below the skin is proportional to the fat stored deeper in the body.
• In adults, this measure is more accurate at younger ages. In a person's forties, the amount of fat under the skin as a percentage of total fat begins to decline.
• Some of the time, the measurements cannot be done without the help of another person.
• The amount of tissue picked up to form the skin fold can vary, so technical training is required.
• You can get different results depending on how hard you pinch the fold of skin. More expensive calipers will minimize this problem and improve accuracy.
• Since many of the equations were developed using information from normal weight people, they may be inaccurate when applied to people with excess body fat.
• If measurements are taken repeatedly over time, they may be inaccurate if different people make the measurements and they have varying skill levels.

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