Sudden drop in bodyfat... 😂

[Shortstuff]

I decided to replace my roughly ten year old Tanita body composition scales with some I saw recommended online. They’re about a third of what my Tanitas cost me back then and appear vastly superior, I especially like the app that goes with them… but the best bit is the 11% drop in bodyfat they’ve reported! I know they’re not accurate but as my focus of muscle growth and fat loss rather than physical weight, I like to have some numbers to look at.

[Shortstuff]

No I think the other ones were inaccurate as the readings they’ve been giving recently have been off.

[Vladaar_Malane]

Oh I see it’s
https://www.tanita.com/en/body-water-monitors-fat-scales/

I wouldn’t trust a scale for body fat composition, as it has nothing to go on but your weight and probably height, age if you add that. It’s just like a typical body height weight table that the Army uses.

I have been using the old mirror in the mornings. That is probably my problem maybe I should use something else so I don’t scare myself so badly in the mornings. LoL. Sometimes I think I look pretty good in mirror, other times spare tire looks quite obtrusive.

[Shortstuff]

It’s the mirror and measurements that were telling me the old ones needed to go as they were telling me I’d gained 5% fat in the last few months when I can clearly see I haven’t.

[Shortstuff]

It’s a numbers thing, at least for me.

My old Tanita used to report I had lost 2% fat every time I had a bath so I decided to test these out the same way, exactly the same % reported so I can’t help having more faith in these ones.

[collaroygal]

Allie, what scale did you go with, I’m thinking of replacing my older Tanita as well. Heck the manual for it clearly stated it was not accurate for women. And bathing and having a bit more moisture on your feet did seem to give a better reading everytime. Lately I just use the weight no. as my dr.s office has a high end scale that mine agrees with for the weight, but the fat % at the dr.s’ office is different from my home scale. I’d love a model that has bluetooth and registers your weight in an app so I wouldn’t have to keep track on paper anymore.

[57da1864057add858d6f]

I’m a personal trainer and use an InBody to do body comp tests. I’m in the US, so I’m not sure if everyone here is in the States, but it’s a bio electrical impedance based device. I have a body fat scale at home as well and I will sometimes calibrate the two on the same day to gauge how close the numbers are. Body fat % can definitely change rather drastically on these machines- since they operate using the water in your body there are many factors that can affect the outcome day to day. And while these scales obviously aren’t as accurate as a Dexa, I tell clients they are helpful for giving a general range for BF%, meaning the actual number could be slightly higher or lower but it will be within the range of the readout. Sometimes my scale at home will go as low as 5%, and the lowest I’ve had on the InBody is 6%. But in general, I stay around 7 to 9 % on the InBody, which is not too far from my at home scale. I hope that helps!

[Shortstuff]

@collaroygal this is the ones I bought. Really good price and so much better than the Tanita ones. The BF% readings are consistent at different times of the day rather than varying by anything up to 3 or 4% like the Tanitas.