“Smart” Scales and Data

springlering62

So this is mildly interesting. I did a body pump class with my daughter, a few hours before a flight home Tuesday afternoon. She had me get on a real fancy body scan machine at the gym.

At home, I use a Renpho Bluetooth smart scale, which does a daily “scan”.

Just to show you how laughable both are, here’s Tuesday morning on the Volt scan, and Wednesday morning on the Renpho scale. Renpho is the handwritten numbers.



Percentages are wildly different between the two devices.

My Renpho scale also says my body fat is up .4% from 2018, at which point I was still about 65 pounds overweight and low activity. (I got no idea where the “47” lost is coming from. It’s considerably more, even though I bought the scale a month or two into the process of loss.)





The Volt scan has also somehow magically measured my abdomen circumference at 29.6. Ya’ll, I can (and do!) comfortably wear 26” waistbands.

People get so wrapped up in what their “smart” scale says. They are not as smart as you think. .

Moral: don’t beat yourself up over some stupid electronic scale measurement.




(caveat- there was a four hour flight between the two scale readings, weight was almost identical but may be a small water weight fluctuation there. )

springlering62

I’ve got a DEXA scan prepaid, but I’m still carrying water weight from an accident a couple months ago. Waiting for the last of the swelling and inflammation to go down before I go get it. Will post those numbers here whenever it does.

🤬flying bike!!!!

Lietchi

That bodyfat range is ginormous 😆

A smart scale at the gym actually derailed my getting in shape during college.
I exercised regularly for months (strength training), and when I weighed again, my muscle mass had supposedly gone down and my fat mass gone up, despite having lost a bit of weight.
So I thought I was doing more harm than good and quit.
I wish I could go back to my younger self and warn her - perhaps I would never have gotten obese if I had kept going with the exercise!

tomcustombuilder

All those things are a waste of time and money. The only people that benefit are the manufacturers

AnnPT77

Great post.

It's unfortunate that so many of us trust the magical technological black-box numbers, and mistrust rather obvious real-life perceptions (like the waistband thing you mention, @springlering62).

It makes me think of the Arthur C. Clarke quote “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”. We want magic; we like magic.

springlering62

Oh, another interesting thing, the Volt machine recommended 175-180gr a day of protein for me.

This has nothing to do with the fact that it also recommends 3 specific protein supplements right next to this recommendation. All three conveniently sold at the counter, mind you.

(I already shoot for 160-180. )