I may have missed it above, but I’m wondering. Where did you get your Bod Pod done in the Dallas / Fort Worth area. I’ve had pretty good results with the Bod Pod in Houston, Texas at the Memorial Herman Ironman Center. I understand that it can be screwed up, but I’m willing to take the chance.

Can you provide the name of the facilities in Dallas / Fort Worth for

1) Bod Pod
2) Hydrostatic

Thanks!

I am painstakingly addressing climate and optimal testing environment standards so that test subjects can rely on traceable and calibrated measures.

You are right with your inference that “the Bod Pod is useless in the hands of a boob”… as the unit does require calibration and know how to assure accountability to the NIST standards and repeatability. It is not that the system is unreliable, quite the contrary, it is that the environment and people measured are subject to variations.

Just so you know, feedback like yours is appreciated and correlated by those of us that operate this technology for the consumer! I hope you reach your goals!

Dr Jim Costello – Houston, TX

http://www.MobileBodPod.com

In any case, I still assume the Bod Pod is great and highly accurate, as long as it is functioning properly and the operator calibrates it correctly and isn’t a boob.

Maybe you should read those two posts again, and the one called “error error error” that I linked to in this post. Because I said very clearly that the most reliable tests still have a couple percent margin of error. Also, if I simply stuck with the Bod Pod and left it at that then I’d still think I had upwards of 100 pounds left to lose, which as it turns out would mean that I’d be DEAD, since the operator screwed up and it gave me a reading that was ~12% too high.

As for BIA, it most definitely IS a “valid body fat [measurement] technique” but has a wider margin of error than tests like hydrostatic weighing, Bod Pod, and DEXA. BIA monitors range from $30 home devices to $10,000 models that you’ll find in doctors’ offices. Consequently some are way more accurate than others and can reduce the margin of error due to hydration levels.

DEXA is quickly getting a reputation for being perhaps the most accurate technique to measure body composition while you are still alive, but that test costs in the neighborhood of $450. Considering that DEXA’s margin of error is similar to underwater weighing, which is still the test against which all others are compared, I think I’ll stick with saving $350 and know that I can still be reasonably confident in my test results.

Skinfold calipers are the most prone to error due to their complete dependence on the skill and training of the technician doing the test, and because they only measure subcutaneous fat. But in the hands of an experienced tester, even that test is quite valid for an approximation of body composition.

Finally, considering I’ve now had five different tests that all put me at 33.x% body fat and one test that put me at 44.9% due to operator error, I can be quite confident that my body fat percentage is in the 31-35% range, and most likely 33-34%.