Gaining a few pounds of weight may be harmless. However, a significant rise in weight can increase the level of body fat, which is the leading cause for a number of serious health conditions, including increased heart rate and high blood pressure. That’s why it becomes necessary to keep track of the amount of fat in the body.

Here are a few ways to measure the body fat level:

1. Skinfold caliper: It measures the skin thickness at various places around the body. Since fat is stored in adipose tissue beneath the skin, the measurement indicates the level of fat in the body.

2. Hydrostatic Underweight Weighing: First, the dry weight of the person is measured using a weight balance. Then the person sits on a chair in a steel weighing tank, containing water. The amount of water displaced by the person is found and used to calculate the body weight in water. These two weights then help to determine the body’s density, which is finally used to find the amount of fat in the body.

3. Bioelectrical impedance: An electrical signal is passed through the body tissues. Since current passes less easily through fat than through blood, muscle and urine, the resistance to flow of current is used to determine the level of fat in the body.