FitBit, BeachBody, Body Fat... oh my.

indextwo

So I just had a birthday, and my mom got me a FitBit Zip activity tracker and some FitBit Aria scales. First thing I noticed is they look *slick*, and I'm easily swayed by impressive visuals. However, my first few measurements were weirdly deflating and surprising in equal measure.

For the past 3 years I've had a standard set of Salter electronic scales. They work on the same principle of bioelectrical impedance, but in addition to weight and body fat, they also reported basal metabolic rate & muscle mass; the latter being particularly handy as I did P90X last year, and it was satisfying to watch that number slowly (oh so slowly) creep up.

My weight and fat mass basically hasn't changed at all in the last 8 months, save for creeping up maybe 1-2lbs. Considering I've been doing absolutely no exercise and I sit at a desk for up to 11 hours a day, I considered that a win. They recorded me at around 153lbs and ~18.5% body fat. Based on that number, my aim has always been 15%. I started (way back in 2008) at 22.6%, so it's been a very slow downward curve, but it has always been heading in the right direction.

So, back to the Aria; it's connected, it's calibrated, so I jump on and... oh. 157.6lbs. Well, that's pretty depressing. But wait... 14.6% body fat?! WtheactualF? In a heartbeat I went from 3.5% over my goal to 0.4% under it! I tried again: 14.3%. And again. 14.9%. I figured that, clearly these scales just work different. I had been worried that getting another set of scales would produce very different results, but I'd honestly expected the numbers to be much higher, not way, way lower.

It's also worth noting at this point that, from a visual perspective, I *know* I'm not less than 15% body fat. I've seen pictures of guys with 15%. That is not what I have (yet!). But taking this into account, I figured I'd just readjust my target and aim for my Aria to tell me my body fat is at 10-11%.

So, a couple of days later, around the same time, I hop on the Aria. 17.9% body fat. Seriously? I try again. 16.6%. I try again. 16.3%. I go online and start searching around and there are a LOT of people talking about the same thing; apparently if the Aria is moved AT ALL (and I drag it 6 inches across the floor from under the sink), it basically needs to recalibrate itself. Unfortunately space is kind of at a premium here, so there's no a place where it can stay permanently without getting in the way.

So at the moment I'm kind of in a limbo of not having a single solitary clue what my weight or my body fat is. What's compounding my frustration is that I'm just about to finish week 4 of T25 and my weight hasn't budged AT ALL. I started at 153.8lbs (according to my Salter scales) and by the same measurement, I was 154.4lbs today. Again, I took a look at some forums and some people are reporting no changes until the 6-8 week mark; others saying they're getting amazing results after two weeks. It's also been suggested that, as I'm relatively close to my 'ideal weight' it's going to be harder and harder for me to shift, so I'm just curious - does anyone else have experience with this? After I've finished T25 I'm intending to graduate to Insanity, but staying motivated is going to be a challenge without seeing any progress (and personally, I'm all about the numbers).