Do the body fat scales work?

gretchygirl32
gretchygirl32 Posts: 48 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi! I'm trying to decide whether or not to invest in a scale that calculates body fat percentage. When I try to do online calculators with measurements, there is actually about a 20% difference between them. Obviously I'm not getting anywhere with that! Who has one of these, and how accurate are they? Is there a more accurate brand? Thanks for your help! :-)

Replies

  • ateamtrainer
    ateamtrainer Posts: 12
    They can be wrong by several percent so they are one of the more inaccurate ways to measure body fat, the reason being that they measure how easily electricity passes through your body and this is influenced significantly by hydrated your body is. However, they will be adequate if you just want to track changes in your body fat and ensure that you use them at the same time of day and at about the same approximate state of hydration. Don't get into the habit of using them every day, that would be pointless. If you need an accurate measurement, pay for underwater weighing or even a body caliper test. If you just want to track changes in your body fat over time, weeks and months, not days, then by all means buy a cheap one.
  • robdel302
    robdel302 Posts: 292 Member
    They can be wrong by several percent so they are one of the more inaccurate ways to measure body fat, the reason being that they measure how easily electricity passes through your body and this is influenced significantly by hydrated your body is. However, they will be adequate if you just want to track changes in your body fat and ensure that you use them at the same time of day and at about the same approximate state of hydration. Don't get into the habit of using them every day, that would be pointless. If you need an accurate measurement, pay for underwater weighing or even a body caliper test. If you just want to track changes in your body fat over time, weeks and months, not days, then by all means buy a cheap one.

    I second the above. If you decide to buy one, then use it the same time under the same conditions all the time. If you use it in the morning with no water, then use it again at night, you will see a big difference. The percentage will probably deviated by several points, ie 14% in the morning 17% at night.

    The calipers are a great idea but ensure it is done by a trained individual. Someone who doesn't know the exact spots to test can give false readings.
  • jennifershoo
    jennifershoo Posts: 3,198 Member
    Good to know. Thanks OP for asking and thanks to the ones who replied.
  • gretchygirl32
    gretchygirl32 Posts: 48 Member
    Thanks for the input! I need to find out where to get weighed underwater. That sounds cool!
  • grimendale
    grimendale Posts: 2,153 Member
    They're not great for getting an absolute number, but they're fairly good for tracking changes in body fat. Mine's about 1% conservative, compared to the caliper test at my old dietician, but it is consistently 1% conservative.
  • Hezzietiger1
    Hezzietiger1 Posts: 1,256 Member
    Its not all that accurate.. but it will show u progress. If u start at 30 and drop to 29.. u know u lost 2%.
  • Vonwarr
    Vonwarr Posts: 390 Member
    No they are terrible.

    When I started my scale my said I had 33% BF at about 235-240 lbs. It still says I have 30% BF at 207... I don't believe that.
  • sewingdiscontent
    sewingdiscontent Posts: 112
    I wondered this last week and researched it. Your best bet is bodpod.com to find a location near you for BodPod measurement, which is one of the most accurate tests. It is really cool, but too expensive for me ($75).
  • gretchygirl32
    gretchygirl32 Posts: 48 Member
    Thanks for the tip! I'll look into it!
  • froeschli
    froeschli Posts: 1,293 Member
    I don't think mine works at all. :ohwell:
    It knows my gender, height and age, measures my weight, then gives me a percentage. Whether I am retaining water, or dehydrated, it is always the same percentage with the same weight, proportional to the weight added/lost. As if all my weight fluctuations were 100% fat.... I guess it was too cheap a purchase. :eyeroll:
  • elaineirene84
    elaineirene84 Posts: 65 Member
    My scale has shown the same body fat percentage number even after losing almost 30 lbs. I would think I should be down atleast 1 or 2% by now. All the other stats seems to change but not body fat so I doubt it is accurate at all. It might just be my scale though, maybe different brands are better.
  • scrapjen
    scrapjen Posts: 387 Member
    I bought the Fitbit Aria scale (I wanted it for the wireless linking) and it has a body fat reading, which I hadn't had on any previous scale. It seems to be pretty consistent (I do weigh first thing each morning) and as I've lost 10 pounds,BF has gone down slightly. I'll continue watching it as I hopefully continue losing weight and hopefully I'll see a continued change in BF as we go.

    Hubby did try the bodpod thing once several years ago ...
  • LearnFromTheRed
    LearnFromTheRed Posts: 294 Member
    I'm fairly certain that mine talks absolute rubbish!
  • Duck_Puddle
    Duck_Puddle Posts: 3,237 Member
    I have one. It's certainly not accurate to the millionth decimal place, but I get fairly consistent readings from it day over day (plus or minus a percent or so). If you're trying to get from 9% to 8% bf, I don't think the scale will be nearly as accurate as what you need. I started at 57%ish and now it tells me 32%ish. No matter if it's off a couple %, it's plenty close enough to measure the kind of change I'm looking to measure.
  • goragon
    goragon Posts: 50 Member
    I have an Aria scale, love the scale it works well and the body fat % is pretty stable at the moment.

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    Created by MyFitnessPal.com
  • Legs_McGee
    Legs_McGee Posts: 845 Member
    I don't have a lot of faith in them; the scale we used for our office weight loss contest has one and yesterday it said I'm at 16% body fat. Sounds nice but I just don't think that's the case....
  • gretchygirl32
    gretchygirl32 Posts: 48 Member
    Since posting this, I found out that our Kroger scale offers body fat. It was not consistent when I tried it. I did find out that a local gym does have one of the Bodpods, and they charge $20 for non-members. I'm going to schedule an appointment soon to see how different the readings are from my own calculations.

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