Can someone help me decipher my Withings scale?

MileHigh4Wheeler

I've been using the Withings body scale for quite a while and just had a recent frustration where some light was finally shed on the fact that if I had been able to track my BMI, body fat and water levels then I could have seen what was happening.

Well, I HAVE been tracking all of that every day for quite some time but didn't know how to utilize it. It's just been an easy way for me to log my weight each day, the rest was "interesting but fluff". Apparently not fluff .

I would like to know how others take the info from the scale and turn into actions in their routines, eating habits and exercising to either correct a bad trend or encourage a good one.

Thank you!

CurlyCockney

I don't use my scales that way. I do change my actions if it says it's going to rain though.

dewd2

My Withings scale tracks body fat, takes my pulse, monitors the CO2 in my house, and tells me the weather forecast. All I really care about is my weight. The body fat isn't really accurate but, if you are consistent about the time you weigh yourself (and done with the same water/food intake), then you can get a trend. Other than that, I really don't care. I got it because it automagically syncs so I have a weekly record.

CafeRacer808

The only actionable data I use from my Withings scale is my weight. I sync the data from my daily weigh-ins with the Happy Scale app (you can use Libra if you're on Android or trendweight.com if you prefer the web), so that I can monitor my long term weight trends. The method that Withings (and all other similar scales for that matter) uses to track body fat % is inaccurate. I look at those numbers to get a sense of how my body fat % is trending over time, but my actions are dictated solely by my weight and whether or not I'm meeting my daily calorie goals as set by MFP.

DancingMoosie

What are your goals and how are your weight and bf% trending?

AnvilHead

CafeRacer808 wrote: »

The only actionable data I use from my Withings scale is my weight. I sync the data from my daily weigh-ins with the Happy Scale app (you can use Libra if you're on Android or trendweight.com if you prefer the web), so that I can monitor my long term weight trends. The method that Withings (and all other similar scales for that matter) uses to track body fat % is inaccurate. I look at those numbers to get a sense of how my body fat % is trending over time, but my actions are dictated solely by my weight and whether or not I'm meeting my daily calorie goals as set by MFP.

^ This exactly. All of it.

The thing I like best about my Withings scale is that it effortlessly uploads my daily weigh-ins to Trendweight (and a couple other sites/apps I use for data tracking) without me having to do anything but step on the scale. I look at the bodyfat reading just for amusement, but I know it's not accurate nor is it even consistent (my BF% reading sometimes fluctuates 2%-3% from day to day, and that's not how it works in real life). I have the BMI reading set not to display because BMI correlates directly with weight anyhow, so if my weight is doing down, BMI is also.

CurlyCockney

Yes the uploading to different sites is great. I've also set it (through IFTTT) to turn all my lights off when I stand on it, just to add a bit of drama!