Body analyser scales

17adf33

Just bought these as my old scales were inaccurate- eg weighed me at less when leant back on heels (lots of practice!)
Disappointed that I weigh more than I thought, have been trying to lose weight now for 8 weeks, old scales showed about 4 lb lost. But amazed and pleased that at 60 my bone mass is slightly over the top of the range and muscle mass, which I thought would be awful, is bang on average. I have a problem with my hip which can make walking any kind of distance painful plus have bouts of joint pain/ fatigue. I do floor exercises as recommended by physio, yoga and when I'm up to it a home workout DVD.
Have had veiled comments from a "friend" that I'm overweight because because I don't take enough exercise, in her case walking to shops. She's right but in her case it is the only exercise that she does. Demonstrated some planking, which she struggled with. Without the strength and suppleness exercise, plus an osteopath I'm walking like a robot.
I lack discipline with these strength / suppleness exercises which are the gateway to more cardio. and tbh just staying mobile.
Add in hypothyroid with low T3. Relaay struggling to lose any weight, my maintenance seems low.But the muscle nass shows that I'm not lazy.

17adf33

Sorry for the typos

cmriverside

Well first I wouldn't put too much faith in a bioimpedence body scale. You can do some research - they're mostly just a marketing gimmick and not accurate.

Second, if your friend is making veiled comments about your weight and exercise, confront her about it. That's just rude.

Third, do whatever exercises you like and are able to do and do them as often as you can...it can only help.

Weight loss is about intaking fewer calories than you use on a long-term, consistent basis.

Learn to log food accurately and figure out how much you need to be eating to manage your weight. Logging is the best way to learn that.

Carim007

Hello,

By definition and by design, your body scale is not accurate ... whatever measure it displays ...

But, since it is consistently wrong, you can rely 100% on the trends it will display ...

At the end of the day ... this is exactly what you were probably looking for ...your progress !!!

cmriverside

But, since it is consistently wrong, you can rely 100% on the trends it will display ...

Yeah, this is not true either. A lot of its numbers rely on hydration and sodium...which vary day to day depending on food, water, stress, sleep, hormones and other factors. So it's not going to be "off" by the same amount every day. They're just bogus calculations in general - every day.

Body weight and taking tape-measure measurements using a mirror is a much better method.

springlering62

You and I are similar ages. I developed joint pain and immobility.

I don’t like taking medications. Rightly or wrongly, I figure if I take them now, when I’m young, I’ll be so adjusted to them later when I need them worse, that they won’t help at that time. So in my crazy logic, I’m “saving up” for when I need them.

When I would get out of bed in the morning, I would be so stiff and “frozen”, all I could do was shuffle around til things loosened up.

What really turned the corner for me was committing to doing 20-30 minutes of simple stretches five mornings a week.

I have about ten easy, unchallenging stretches that I do, and I hold each for a couple of minutes.

It’s the difference between bouncing down the stairs without a second thought, versus having to use one hand on the rail, one on the wall, and negotiate each step one at a time.

Simple, I know, but life altering for me. It’s as necessary to my morning as brushing my teeth.

AnnPT77

cmriverside wrote: »

But, since it is consistently wrong, you can rely 100% on the trends it will display ...

Yeah, this is not true either. A lot of its numbers rely on hydration and sodium...which vary day to day depending on food, water, stress, sleep, hormones and other factors. So it's not going to be "off" by the same amount every day. They're just bogus calculations in general - every day.

Body weight and taking tape-measure measurements using a mirror is a much better method.

Yupper, inconsistently wrong.

Silly story: Stepped on my BIA scale with a 25-pound kettlebell in hand to make sure it was resetting between weighings. Body fat percent went up from 24-point-something to 30-point-something. Now, BIA is not advertised to calculate fat content of kettlebells, but still . . . .

Hydration level can have a material effect, but not so obvious because absolute number differences are small.

I think the average trend in the body fat percent over long periods (weeks to months, with daily readings) probably still has the proper slope (increasing, declining, flat), but it's an approximation, not any kind of gospel.

17adf33 wrote: »

Just bought these as my old scales were inaccurate- eg weighed me at less when leant back on heels (lots of practice!)
Disappointed that I weigh more than I thought, have been trying to lose weight now for 8 weeks, old scales showed about 4 lb lost. But amazed and pleased that at 60 my bone mass is slightly over the top of the range and muscle mass, which I thought would be awful, is bang on average. I have a problem with my hip which can make walking any kind of distance painful plus have bouts of joint pain/ fatigue. I do floor exercises as recommended by physio, yoga and when I'm up to it a home workout DVD.
Have had veiled comments from a "friend" that I'm overweight because because I don't take enough exercise, in her case walking to shops. She's right but in her case it is the only exercise that she does. Demonstrated some planking, which she struggled with. Without the strength and suppleness exercise, plus an osteopath I'm walking like a robot.
I lack discipline with these strength / suppleness exercises which are the gateway to more cardio. and tbh just staying mobile.
Add in hypothyroid with low T3. Relaay struggling to lose any weight, my maintenance seems low.But the muscle nass shows that I'm not lazy.

OP, you're doing great.

It's worth noting that weight loss for anyone - any age, any thyroid status, any body fat %, etc. - is potentially not easy every minute. It's tempting to attribute it to age or thyroid, but who the heck knows. And the "why" - if it's not something we can change - really doesn't matter. (In case you think I'm being dismissive or over-sanguine: I'm 64 and severely hypothyroid.)

Productive change relies on things we personally control or influence - like eating and activity - so that's the best place to put focus, if you ask me.

With some food-logging & scale-weight logging experience, you'll figure out your personal calorie needs, and that's really the number that matters.

Friends can be weird. I had one tell me that "at our age it was impossible to lose weight without going low carb, because over the Winter she read all the books and they all said so". There I was, sitting there in person in real life, talking to her, telling her that that wasn't Universal Truth, and she didn't believe me . . . even when I reminded her that what I'd done over the Winter (plus a little ) was lose around 50 pounds without going low carb.

If you're 60 and female, I hope getting an official bone density test is something you've done or at least discussed with your doctor, because it's a good idea.

Stay strong, keep patiently increasing your exercise in ways that are sustainable for you, eat sensibly, and you'll accomplish your goals. (I'd predict weight loss may well help your joint pain - it sure helped mine.)

Best wishes! :flowerforyou:

17adf33

Thanks for the replies- I am logging all food. Just very very slow progress. Lost weight far more easily when younger- and less prone to gaining it. Was a normal weight for most of my adult life. Realise that scales are unlikely to be 100% accurate but found it encouraging that some of the readings were normal. Know what you mean springlering62 about the stretches.