It is commonly assumed that a lattice of skyrmions, emerging in two-dimensional noncentrosymmetric magnets in external magnetic fields, can be represented as a sum of three magnetic helices. To test this assumption, we compare two approaches to a description of a regular skyrmion structure. We construct (i) a lattice of Belavin-Polyakov-like skyrmions within the stereographic projection method and (ii) a deformed triple helix defined with the use of elliptic functions. The estimates for the energy density and magnetic profiles show that these two ansatzes are nearly identical at zero temperature for intermediate magnetic fields. However, at higher magnetic fields, near the transition to a topologically trivial uniform phase, the stereographic projection method is preferable, particularly for the description of a disordered skyrmion liquid phase. We suggest exploring the intensities of secondary Bragg peaks to obtain additional information about the magnetic profile of individual skyrmions. We estimate these intensities to be several percent of the main Bragg peak at high magnetic fields.