Body Composition Scales - what does it all mean?

JAT74
JAT74 Posts: 1,081 Member
edited November 2024 in Fitness and Exercise
A week and a half ago I got some body composition scales (Tanita) after doing a lot of research into them.

For the last week, I've been keeping track of various stats including weight, water %, body fat %, muscle mass, bone density, visceral fat and metabolic age.

In the last week my weight has gone from 141lbs to 142.2lbs and the reading of 142 has been pretty consistent and it hasn't gone back down.

On the other hand my water weight has gone up from 46.8-47.5 (a consistent daily increase) and my muscle mass has increased from 7 st 4 lbs-7 st 8 lbs, again a consistent increase. My physique rating has gone from 'Standard' to 'Standard Muscular' and my my metabolic age has gone from 40 to 39 (I am 40!).

Obviously I'll keep monitoring these stats but I was wondering if anyone else measures these things and what it all means? It seems that I'm retaining a little more water and that my body fat is going down and muscle mass increasing and maybe that's why my weight has gone up, though not sure if these kind of numbers are normal in terms of a week to week increase/decrease? If that's correct then that's great in such a short period of time and if things continue in that way I'll be really happy, though I'd be happier if the scale started to show a lighter weight too.

Replies

  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    If you use them first thing in the morning and then later in the same day - evening perhaps - you may see how much these readings change over the course of the day. That may dent your confidence in their accuracy and consistency.

    All BIA scales are affected markedly by changes in hydration levels.

    I had some some that although they swung around markedly short term did give a reasonable and believable trend over time. I've also tried some that seemed to think I've got 30% body fat!

    If you use them at a consistent time of day and track over weeks your may see a trend - just don't put absolute belief in their accuracy for any one particular reading.
    Your apparent gain in muscle over the course of a week is completly impossible of course!
  • zipa78
    zipa78 Posts: 354 Member
    Yea... I have a hard time believing that you would've gained 4 lbs of muscle in a week. I do however still hold on to my belief that bodycomp scales range from completely worthless to rubbish. The water weight figure is probably somewhat correct. Have you recently started working out?
  • JAT74
    JAT74 Posts: 1,081 Member
    Firstly I have been weighing myself at exactly the same time in the morning, before eating and after going to the bathroom etc. I did a lot of research into these scales first and looked at reviews of people who had been using them for some time and who thought they were quite accurate otherwise I wouldn't have bought them. As the results in a week have been consistently going in the same direction that's why I thought they were probably correct but I wasn't sure what it all means.

    To the second poster, of course I've been working out! That's why I got the scales, because I'm training 6-7 days a week, doing weights for 4 days out of 7 and either walking or doing high or low intensity cardio for 7 days out of 7 and I've been doing that for the last 6 weeks. I've also been counting calories and eating at a 500 calorie per day deficit.

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