![]() While it might work for "normal" people, the RFM, like the BMI, is biased against muscular men and women. What? You don't think that number sounds right? Me neither. Subtract 46 from 64 – which comes out to a body fat percentage of 18.82.Convert 32 inches to centimeters – 81 (rounded off).Convert 72 inches to centimeters – 183 (rounded off). ![]() So, if you're a 6-foot tall man with a 32-inch waist, it works out like this: Women: 76 – (20 x height/waist circumference) = RFM.Men: 64 – (20 x height/waist circumference) = RFM.Then plug the numbers into one of the following sex-specific equations: Next, measure your waist circumference, placing the tape measure at the top of the hip bone. First, measure your height in centimeters. The winning body fat formula was the relative fat mass index, or RFM, which is so simple, anyone can do it at home. The Cedar Sinai researchers took over 300 possible body fat formulas out for a run on 3,500 patients and compared the results to the DXA body scan, which is the gold standard for technology-driven body fat analysis. Plug almost any experienced lifter's numbers into a BMI equation and it'll hit over 27, automatically causing the specter of Adolphe Quetelet, the Belgian mathematician who invented the BMI formula, to appear out of the ether and point at you, calling you "Fatso!" in Dutch.Ĭlearly, a better way to determine body fat percentage is needed, and investigators from Cedar Sinai think they've found it. However, the BMI doesn't distinguish between muscle, bone mass, or fat. The armed forces (with the exception of the Navy, which just uses body fat percentage) also use BMI to determine if a recruit is fit to serve, with the minimum BMI being between 17 and 19 (depending on the branch) and the maximum being 27.5 (except for the Marines, who are more liberal in this regard). Insurance companies still use the BMI to determine insurance rates, with people on the high end being monetarily penalized because they stand a better chance of dying early and costing insurance companies a giant gravy boat full of money. The BMI supposedly tells us if the individual is underweight, normal weight, overweight, or obese. ![]() At the very least, that "crowd wisdom" method would probably be more accurate than the widely-used body mass index (BMI), which is a value derived by dividing someone's weight by the square of their height and expressed in units of kg/m2. ![]() Sure, just have some fat bastard stand naked on a platform while passersby guess how much fat he's carrying. It makes me wonder if the same approach could be used to determine someone's body fat percentage. This phenomenon was later coined "the wisdom of crowds," after the title of a book that described Galton's findings. Just for grins, statistician Francis Galton ran an analysis of the numbers and discovered that the average guess of the ox's weight was 1,197 pounds, which, amazingly, was only one pound off the actual weight (1,198 pounds). In 1906, eight hundred people tried to guess the weight of an ox at a county fair in Plymouth, England. ![]()
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