Air Displacement Plethysmography (Bod Pod)
The Bod Pod is an egg-shaped machine that measures your body fat percentage while you sit quietly inside it for a few minutes.
Plain English
Patient-Friendly Explanation
The Bod Pod is an egg-shaped machine that measures your body fat percentage while you sit quietly inside it for a few minutes. It works out your body volume by measuring how much air your body displaces, then combines this with your weight to calculate fat and lean mass. It is quick, safe and does not involve radiation or getting wet.
Medical
Clinical Definition
Air displacement plethysmography (ADP) is a densitometric method that determines body volume by measuring the volume of air displaced by a person seated inside a sealed chamber, such as the BOD POD. Body density is then combined with body mass to estimate fat mass and fat-free mass using the Siri or Brozek equations. ADP is a validated alternative to hydrostatic weighing and DEXA for assessing body composition.
Key Insight
Why It Matters
Precise body composition measurement, rather than scale weight alone, helps our clinic track whether weight loss is coming from fat instead of muscle. This guides adjustments to diet, medication and exercise so you lose the right kind of weight.
Sources
Reviewed against standard medical references.
Medically reviewed by
Family Physician & Registered Acupuncturist, Accord Medical Clinic. MBBS (NUS), Graduate Diploma in Family Medicine (NUS), Graduate Diploma in Acupuncture (Singapore College of TCM).
Last reviewed: August 2026
This page is general health education, not medical advice. Whether any treatment is appropriate for you is a decision made in consultation after assessment.