You're welcome
Calipers are accurate enough because all you need is indeed consistency. If you can't hit the exact right spot, find a spot you can
For example find a freckle, an old scar, exactly 2 thumb-lengths from your bellybutton or whatever. Knowing your exact percentage is not as important as knowing if it is changing and in which direction.
I really don't care if my abs are visible at 9% according to the caliper or 10.593% according to some other method - but I DO care if my bodyfat level is going up or down.
My wife has a very simple system for using calipers consistently; she gets me to do it!
You say your previous measurements jumped around a lot. That's both common and actually good news!
Firstly, it's common as it takes awhile to get consistent, you need more practise is all.
Secondly I've noticed, and mention this in my book where I "blogged" my experience with the anabolic burst I mentioned last time, I've noticed before that when you're losing fat the measurement does indeed jump around a bit.
When gaining it I notice the measurement smoothly goes up, but time after time I've seen that while my fat is
dropping the calipers get erratic for a day or two. Putting it in simple terms I suspect the fat simply breaks down a little irregularly and gets "lumpy", or something like that! I can't say for certain but I do know that with me that's a good sign. When it hops around and I end up taking about 6 measurements to get an average it's usually a bit lower the next day.
That's why I disagree with people saying you should only measure once a week, I'll measure every morning if I'm on a cut. Again I graph stuff and can clearly see the graph doesn't go down in a smooth line but jerks and hops in a generally downward direction. As you approach the cut-off point where you need to refeed you'll find every measurement is lower than before (the graph goes near vertical) then it suddenly reverses. That's the point you need to watch for, and you'll only spot it if monitoring daily.
So yes, go back to the calipers, take at least 3 measurements each morning, and average them. I mean average, if for example you get 10mm, 10mm and 8mm that's not 10mm, that's 9.3mm.
Don't go too far the other way though, if the results are vaguely consistent then just stick to 3 attempts, don't go chasing the number you
want to see, just record the number that you saw. That is to say don't do what my wife does!
Impression of wife:
"Mmm. Again.
Again..
Again!
Yay!"
B.