where can I check my body fat and muscle percentage?

I've been doing some pretty raw cardio training for the past couple of months and do not want to get into the trap of weighing myself and being disappointed that I have gained weight as I know muscle is heavier than fat so where can I either buy a muscle/fat checking device or go just to check?

Public Comments

1. Well there's some free solutions online but their not very accurate because it all depends on vague information. The best, cheapest, and most old fashion way to do it is to get yourself a body fat caliper and a chart and measure yourself. Then look up your numbers on the chart to determine your total body fat.
2. I have been getting mine at the gym. If you have a gym membership, just ask one of the personnel to do it for you - do a body fat calculation, Body mass index and your total weight. It's free because you are paying a membership's fee, but if you don't have a gym membership, you may purchase a device called fat and muscle percentage calculator for $40+ and you can do it yourself.
3. many scales have them now... at Linens and THings or Bed Bath and Beyond. You must be very careful with these and realize they are not 100% accurate. Water weight will skew the readings. Take your readings first thing in the morning for the best results, but realize that there could still be some fluctuations on the numbers you get. Best to determine your measurements instead of your body fat % since you can't really take it accurately. http://www.mybodycomp.com/ has a great tool you can use to track your measurements... and it will do some various calculations to tell you your progress. You have to sign up, but it's free... and I never get any junk mail from them.
4. go to a gym most will figure it out for you for a small fee and some will doit for free when you sigin up for a sample membership.
5. you should be able to do it a the gym, not sure otherwise
6. You can buy scales that have body fat monitors incorporated in them. They are not entirly accurate but they are fine for comparison purposes, ie. take a BF% reading every day and se whether it goes up or down.