Scale With Body Fat %

[[old] RacerX]

My wife is getting serious about losing the last bit of weight she put on when we had our daughter. She is erging several times a week, in addition to yoga. I have never owned a scale, but she asked me to pick one up last weekend. I thought it would be easy but wow there are a lot of choices. Of course, in typical fahion, I selected the most expensive one. It also has bio impedence to measure fat %.<br /><br />I think having her track both weight and fat % is best. Since rowing is a power endurance sport she will be putting on lean muscle mass while losing fat, therefore weight alone won't tell the whole tale of increased fitness. She is montioring every day at the same time to get as consistent a set of readings as possible.<br /><br />My questions for anyone who uses these scales are:<br /><br />1. Have you found them to be reasonably accurate? I think we are in the right range. She came in at 29% and I am at 9.5- 10%. That is about right for me, so my guess is that is accurate for her as well.<br /><br />2. Even if the % is not 100% accurate, have you found it to be consistent over time? In other words, if it reads high or low does it consistently read high or low so that measuring it over time is an accurate guage of improvement?<br /><br />Thanks,<br /><br />Aaron

[LindaM]

I use a Tanita scale. It's about 18 months old and has been consistent (relative to my weightloss) throughout that time period. I use the Adult mode rather than the Athlete mode, because that's where I started with it. However, I clearly qualify as an "athlete" according to their requirements. When I began with a weightloss plan in March 2004, I was at 139# and 30% bodyfat. By September 2004, I had dropped to 113# and 17% body fat. I've maintained my weight since then and bodyfat this morning was 15.6%. If I look at "athlete" mode body fat on the scale, it generally registers below 10%. (I don't look often.) Though I do have muscle definition now, that I never did before, I am not rail thin and have had no cessation of menses (which is a sign of being underfat in women). So I'd have to say the "athlete" mode does not register accurately for me. I don't know if 16% is accurate or not, but relative to my beginning point, and "healthy" ranges for women, it doesn't sound inaccurate. Hope this helps.

[[old] RacerX]

<!--QuoteBegin-LindaM+Jul 13 2005, 10:52 AM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(LindaM @ Jul 13 2005, 10:52 AM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->I use a Tanita scale.  It's about 18 months old and has been consistent (relative to my weightloss) throughout that time period.  I use the Adult mode rather than the Athlete mode, because that's where I started with it.  However, I clearly qualify as an "athlete" according to their requirements.  When I began with a weightloss plan in March 2004, I was at 139# and 30% bodyfat.  By September 2004, I had dropped to 113# and 17% body fat.  I've maintained my weight since then and bodyfat this morning was 15.6%.  If I look at "athlete" mode body fat on the scale, it generally registers below 10%.  (I don't look often.)  Though I do have muscle definition now, that I never did before, I am not rail thin and have had no cessation of menses (which is a sign of being underfat in women).  So I'd have to say the "athlete" mode does not register accurately for me.  I don't know if 16% is accurate or not, but relative to my beginning point, and "healthy" ranges for women, it doesn't sound inaccurate.  Hope this helps. <br /> </td></tr></table><br /><br />Linda,<br /><br />That is the same scale we have. And thanks, that is ezactly the type of feedback I was looking for.<br /><br />Aaron

[[old] mpukita]

<!--QuoteBegin-RacerX+Jul 13 2005, 11:28 AM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(RacerX @ Jul 13 2005, 11:28 AM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->My wife is getting serious about losing the last bit of weight she put on when we had our daughter.  She is erging several times a week, in addition to yoga.  I have never owned a scale, but she asked me to pick one up last weekend.  I thought it would be easy but wow there are a lot of choices.  Of course, in typical fahion, I selected the most expensive one.  It also has bio impedence to measure fat %.<br /><br />I think having her track both weight and fat % is best.  Since rowing is a power endurance sport she will be putting on lean muscle mass while losing fat, therefore weight alone won't tell the whole tale of increased fitness.  She is montioring every day at the same time to get as consistent a set of readings as possible.<br /><br />My questions for anyone who uses these scales are:<br /><br />1. Have you found them to be reasonably accurate?  I think we are in the right range.  She came in at 29% and I am at 9.5- 10%.  That is about right for me, so my guess is that is accurate for her as well.<br /><br />2. Even if the % is not 100% accurate, have you found it to be consistent over time? In other words, if it reads high or low does it consistently read high or low so that measuring it over time is an accurate guage of improvement?<br /><br />Thanks,<br /><br />Aaron <br /> </td></tr></table><br /><br />Aaron:<br /><br />You/She might also want to try measuring BMI by the "body part measurement" method. One calculation is shown at:<br /><br /><a href='http://www.bawarchi.com/health/obese.html' target='_blank'>http://www.bawarchi.com/health/obese.html</a><br /><br />There are others, which include using a wrist measurement as well, but I cannot seem to find them on the web. If it would be helpful to you, let me know and I'll try to track it down in my books at home this evening.<br /><br />I understand that they (the calculations) can be just as accurate, or more accurate, than a scale, which I believe will sometimes only automate the basic height/weight formula that's also automated here:<br /><br /><a href='http://www.caloriecontrol.org/bmi.html' target='_blank'>http://www.caloriecontrol.org/bmi.html</a><br /><br />... unless the scale uses some bio-electric impedence measurement technology, which most retail scales don't, as I understand it.<br /><br />Regards -- Mark<br />

[[old] RacerX]

[quote=mpukita,Jul 13 2005, 01:56 PM]<br />[quote=RacerX,Jul 13 2005, 11:28 AM]... unless the scale uses some bio-electric impedence measurement technology, which most retail scales don't, as I understand it.<br /><br />Regards -- Mark <br />[/quote]<br /><br />Mark,<br /><br />Thanks for the offer. Actually the scale, made by Tanita does use Bio-electric impedence analysis.<br /><br />Aaron

[[old] mpukita]

[quote=RacerX,Jul 13 2005, 05:06 PM]<br />[quote=mpukita,Jul 13 2005, 01:56 PM]<br />[quote=RacerX,Jul 13 2005, 11:28 AM]... unless the scale uses some bio-electric impedence measurement technology, which most retail scales don't, as I understand it.<br /><br />Regards -- Mark <br />[/quote]<br /><br />Mark,<br /><br />Thanks for the offer. Actually the scale, made by Tanita does use Bio-electric impedence analysis.<br /><br />Aaron <br />[/quote]<br /><br />Cool, then it should be fairly accurate from what I've read. Out of curiosity, what did you pay for it? Do you remember?

[[old] RacerX]

[quote=mpukita,Jul 13 2005, 05:40 PM]<br />[quote=RacerX,Jul 13 2005, 05:06 PM]<br />[quote=mpukita,Jul 13 2005, 01:56 PM]<br />[quote=RacerX,Jul 13 2005, 11:28 AM]... u<br />Mark,<br /><br />Thanks for the offer. Actually the scale, made by Tanita does use Bio-electric impedence analysis.<br /><br />Aaron <br />[/quote]<br /><br />Cool, then it should be fairly accurate from what I've read. Out of curiosity, what did you pay for it? Do you remember? <br />[/quote]<br /><br />If I recall correctly it was about $100 to 110. There were ones with BIA that were in the $50-75 range as well.<br /><br />Aaron

[[old] mpukita]

[quote=RacerX,Jul 14 2005, 03:39 PM]<br />[quote=mpukita,Jul 13 2005, 05:40 PM]<br />[quote=RacerX,Jul 13 2005, 05:06 PM]<br />[quote=mpukita,Jul 13 2005, 01:56 PM]<br />[quote=RacerX,Jul 13 2005, 11:28 AM]... u<br />Mark,<br /><br />Thanks for the offer. Actually the scale, made by Tanita does use Bio-electric impedence analysis.<br /><br />Aaron <br />[/quote]<br /><br />Cool, then it should be fairly accurate from what I've read. Out of curiosity, what did you pay for it? Do you remember? <br />[/quote]<br /><br />If I recall correctly it was about $100 to 110. There were ones with BIA that were in the $50-75 range as well.<br /><br />Aaron <br />[/quote]<br /><br />Thanks Aaron!

[[old] bmoore]

I've got the Tanita and it gave me a good guide for fat loss vs. lean mass loss during an 8 week weight loss program I went through.<br /><br />There can be significant variances due to time of day and hydration, so I weigh in the morning and then take the last 7 days average to get a better number for watching the lean mass stay constant.<br /><br />There are several competing body fat tools, of which the hydrostatic weighing is said to be the gold standard. The cost of such a test, however, is prohibitive for frequent testing. The daily feedback of the Tanita is so valuable that any negative or in-accuracy that may occur due to the electrical impedance method is not too relevant. So, I highly recommend the Tanita products for watching changes in your body.<br /><br />Regards,

[[old] Rob Collings]

<!--QuoteBegin-bmoore+Jul 14 2005, 07:25 PM--><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><div class='genmed'><b>QUOTE(bmoore @ Jul 14 2005, 07:25 PM)</b></div></td></tr><tr><td class='quote'><!--QuoteEBegin-->There are several competing body fat tools, of which the hydrostatic weighing is said to be the gold standard.  The cost of such a test, however, is prohibitive for frequent testing.  The daily feedback of the Tanita is so valuable that any negative or in-accuracy that may occur due to the electrical impedance method is not too relevant.  So, I highly recommend the Tanita products for watching changes in your body.<br /> </td></tr></table><br /><br />I'd agree with that. As long as you keep to the same conditions each time, you should be able to get a good track on changes. But don't expect the absolute value to be correct.<br /><br />On Saturday, I had a BIA analysis and skinfolds done. The BIA wasn't exactly under controlled conditions (straight after lunch), but it gave 13%. The skinfolds gave 7% which apparently looks about right.<br /><br />Rob.<br />

[[old] akit110]

I think Men's Health magazine did a review on the Tanita scale last year and said the Tanita scale was accurate for %BF measurement and within +/- 1%BF of the value as measured by more sophisticated means.

[[old] Zot]

I have the Tanita scale too, but I found that body fat measurement can differ by as much as 5-7% from morning to evening, due to hydration differences. The Tanita manual suggests that morning body fat readings are inaccurate as a person dehydrates while they sleep. So I weigh in evenings before dinner to get the most accurate BF reading, and it seems to align with what my doctor visits tell me.<br /><br />Zot

[[old] Neb154]

Kind of a bump of the topic, but does anyone know anything about measuring the wrist, waist, chest, hips, etc. to find % body fat?

[[old] ALLANON]

Bioelectric impedance analysis is extremely dependent of hydration. The technique measures the amount of resistance that a current occurs when traveling through your body. Since lean mass is about 70% water and fat mass is less then 6% water, the current encounters an extreme resistance in fat, and minor resistance in lean mass. So as you see proper hydration is an extremely important part of measuring using this technique. If you believe your readings are off, chances are it is not due to a defect in the device but the fact that you are dehydrated so you should attempt to rehydrate yourself (also extremely important for training and racing). An easy fairly good indicator of hydration is urine it should be clear, an example is, it took about four days of drinking about 2 gallons of water a day for myself to get hydrated to this point. However you should remember that all methods use different technology so these should not be compared to each other but used as a guideline for weight loss or gain composition, be it lean mass or fat. By the way D.E.X.A. is the current gold standard for body composition measurements as it is extremely accurate but expensive.<br /><br /><br /> I have found at least with me it does seem to be very accurate and cheap. I bought a tanita um-028 the only place I could find them is Bed Bath And Beyond, this store is mainly in the states, cost $30. I have been tiring to lose about 30-40lbs 6'4" tall weight 236lbs; body fat reading is about 24%. I prefer this technique due to the price and ease of you use, and also the reliability when properly hydrated. I have no issues with calipers except that it is difficult to self measure accurately and it is just as much an approximation as BIA is. <br />

[[old] gibbo1969]

All so called body fat measuring scales are hopelessly inaccurate unfortunatly. They are useful in so far as they are generally consistently inaccurate, so you cam measure progress. But as they only measure impedance through the bootom half of the body they will never give an accurate reading.<br />To obtain an accurate reading either get a qualified PT to use calipers or get a full impedence or better still water displacment test done by a medical professional.