InBody Test and accuracy?

Emily3907

I recently joined my local wellness center. It is connected to a local hospital and they staff "exercise specialists" that have bachelor's degrees in kinesiology and exercise science. I just had my first assessment with one of these specialists and had an InBody test. Overall, it was pretty eye opening, but also a little relieving to know I don't have as far to go as I originally thought to get to my goals.

Anyways, my question is about the test they did. Basically, the way they do it at this wellness center is you have your first assessment, they create a program specifically tailored to your goals, and then you repeat the test every six weeks and adjust your goals from there.

So, my question is how accurate is this test and can I expect my goals to be properly met with the results from this test? Admittedly, I have a long way to go, approx. 105 pounds, so there is some room for a margin of error for now.

This is all rather new (and exciting) to me. I have always just walked on the treadmill with no real goals or lifted free weights here and there and never saw any great results (obviously). I am kind of excited to start a program tailored to me that I *hope* I can trust.

Azdak

The InBody is probably the best of the bioimpedance machines. It uses a multihertz signal and a 4 compartment model.

That being said, there are inherent inaccuracies in any BIA measuring device. James Krieger at his old "Weightology" web page did a review of all body fat methods and pointed out some of the flaws.

I haven't found a lot of research on the InBody, but what I have suggested that it tends to underestimate body fat by a several points.

The key to getting the most accuracy out of any BIA device is to perform the test under standard conditions:
1. No food or caffeine within 2-4 hrs of the test. Ideally, you would want to do it fasted.
2. No exercise within 4 hrs--ideally within 24 hrs
3. No substantial intake of any fluid-even water-before the test--or don't chug a glass or bottle of water on your way in
4. Make sure you are normally hydrated
5. Do the test at the same time of day, under similar eating/sleeping habits.

We have an InBody at our facility. I tested myself last year every 3 weeks for 6 months while I lost a good amount of weight.

It probably under estimated my BF% by about 2%. However, the changes in fat mass, muscle, visceral fat precisely followed the changes that I observed--scale, clothes, appearance, etc. It even picked up the water retention I experienced after a new, hard workout that resulted in considerable DOMS.

So I have mixed feelings. The objective info says that the InBody results must be approached with some caution, yet in reality I have found it pretty consistent and reasonably accurate.

Emily3907

Thank you!!

I think I will just take the results I am receiving as a good "marker" if I am improving, but not the end all be all. I just like the idea of having something beyond a scale number to track my progress in a way that shows improvements in fat loss/muscle gain.

The scale number can be so discouraging sometimes, even though progress is being made.