Body Fat monitor accuracy

sbarrett7171

I'm questioning the accuracy of the body fat monitor that is used by the fitness club that I go to. It is a digital hand held machine that you input weight, height and age and then hold it out from your body for a scan.

When I joined the club I weight 238 lbs. with an initial body fat percentage of 31.8%

I weighed in and was scanned after 30 days: 230 lbs. and 28.0% body fat

I weighed in yesterday (60 days) at 224 lbs. and 28.6% body fat. Scanned again today, just to test accuracy of yesterdays scan......28.0%


I weighed in and was scanned at the same time of day all three times, well hydrated and prior to working out.

Any info on accuracy of these things?

Danelectro83

im going to say not even close to being acurate. even the mesuring of waist and neck is way off most the time. the only way to be realy acurate is the calapers or a water diplacment. the problem with the mesureing waist and neck is not everyone is built the same. i have an avg waist but a skinny neck. at 193lb they read me at 28% body fat. and when i only do neck excersizes to make my neck bigger i go down in body fat. same weight and wame waist line just bigger neck. It is a good estimant but i wouldent throw all your money down on the house to win.

Egger29

Depending on the model you can get a varience of +/- 3% on several of the machines. As well, there are several variables which can skew results so it's rather difficult to find accuracy. Even low batteries can skew a result especially in the hand-held ones...and I've seen several which will be off if you have too dry a point of contact (I.E...step on a wet towel with your feet, before stepping on the scale).

Your results show good progress though if you break them down:

Starting Weight of 238 at 31.9% means you had 75.7 lbs of Fat and 162.3 lbs of lean mass.

On Day 30, you were 230 (an 8lb loss), but your results at 28% would indicate 64.4 lbs of fat, and 165.6 lbs of lean mass.

Your day 60 results of being 224 and 28.6, shows your fat mass has stayed the same at 64 lbs, but you've dropped Lean mass down to 159.9.

You're doing great on the measuring every 30 days or so as that's how you can see where you're going with what you're doing.

I would suggest upping your strength training for the next month to ensure you maintain your current lean mass, while continuing the burn you've been getting to help reduce your body fat.

Cheers!

sbarrett7171

"Your day 60 results of being 224 and 28.6, shows your fat mass has stayed the same at 64 lbs, but you've dropped Lean mass down to 159.9."



Not seeign this making much sense. I'm wokring out 4-5 days per week for 30-40 minutes. One of those days is with a trainer in which we are mixing cardio and strength training (example: sprints, followed by weight sets). THe other days I am generally mixing cardio workouts by walking and jogging (example: walk 1/4, run 1 mile, walk 1/4, run 1/2 mile, walk 1/4, run 1/4, walk 1/4, run 1/4).

My size is dropping (I can tell from my pants). I'm doing an "official" measure on Monday. I don't see how I hcould possibly have kept the same fat mass. Especially the past few weeks, where weight has only changed a couple of pounds, but my clothes are fitting noticeably looser.

I'm thinking that maybe the second body fat measurement was off and that maybe I didn't really shed 4% in one month. Maybe it is now reading correctly....not sure.

sbarrett7171

"Your day 60 results of being 224 and 28.6, shows your fat mass has stayed the same at 64 lbs, but you've dropped Lean mass down to 159.9."



Not seeign this making much sense. I'm wokring out 4-5 days per week for 30-40 minutes. One of those days is with a trainer in which we are mixing cardio and strength training (example: sprints, followed by weight sets). THe other days I am generally mixing cardio workouts by walking and jogging (example: walk 1/4, run 1 mile, walk 1/4, run 1/2 mile, walk 1/4, run 1/4, walk 1/4, run 1/4).

My size is dropping (I can tell from my pants). I'm doing an "official" measure on Monday. I don't see how I hcould possibly have kept the same fat mass. Especially the past few weeks, where weight has only changed a couple of pounds, but my clothes are fitting noticeably looser.

I'm thinking that maybe the second body fat measurement was off and that maybe I didn't really shed 4% in one month. Maybe it is now reading correctly....not sure.