Body fat monitors

r3nu4l

Hi all, I want to buy a body fat monitor/scales and see lots of different ones advertised online with different functions.

Can someone let me know what features I should be looking for? I do know I want one that measures weight and bodyfat and has memory for at least two people.

Any recommendations welcome.

The reason I ask is because I'm gearing up for some changes to my lifestyle and want to keep a record of where I'm starting from.

Any advice/help appreciated

rubadub

After much searching I found out they are crap! end of story, they vary far too much, on the same day you can get hugely different readings depending on hydration levels. You are MUCH better off getting a calipers, the best reasonable priced one I found recommended on many sites is the slim guide calipers. I got mine for about €25 delivered, you can get them new on ebay.

r3nu4l

rubadub wrote:

You are MUCH better off getting a calipers, the best reasonable priced one I found recommended on many sites is the slim guide calipers. I got mine for about €25 delivered, you can get them new on ebay.

Cheers rubadub I know that professionals use a calipers but I would be afraid that my own measurements, taken in the wrong place would leave me out by miles so that one week I may measure my body fat at 22% and after 1 week good diet and gym, measure again only to get 12% and think I was doing great

In other words, at least if the scale is out by 1 or 2% it will be out by the same margin of error each time and I can get a good idea of how I'm doing?

Is this a good assessment or not? I don't know that's why I'm here

Vegeta

ask g'em she recently lost a load of body fat (not that she had much to lose) but she will put you right

j@utis

true, true.
There 3 body fat monitors/scales in my gym. Once I tried them all the same time and readings varied from 22% to 30%!

rubadub wrote:

After much searching I found out they are crap! end of story, they vary far too much, on the same day you can get hugely different readings depending on hydration levels. You are MUCH better off getting a calipers, the best reasonable priced one I found recommended on many sites is the slim guide calipers. I got mine for about €25 delivered, you can get them new on ebay.

g'em

Vegeta wrote:

ask g'em she recently lost a load of body fat (not that she had much to lose) but she will put you right

aw shucks thanks!!!

those body fat scales are really quite crap. They use an electrical impulse to detect body fat using 'bioeletrical impedance' (measuring the resistance of the electrical current according to fat level present). But they tend to be wildly innacurate and readings will fluctuate for little or no apparent reason.

I used digital callipers which take three readings from different areas depending if you're a man or a woman and use those readings to give a bf %. It's not perfectly accurate (you can generally expect + or - 5% on every reading) but every time I did my measurements I did three readings and took the average. And because I did them at the same time each measurement day, and as I was the one doing the readings (and therefore retaining my own consistency in precision and accuracy) I'd consider it a better way to read your bf.

A combination of callipers and the mirror will give you a pretty decent idea of where your body fat levels stand. From what I can tell though, they tend to overestimate bf at high levels (I was getting readings of 30% when I was actually 22-23%) and underestimate at lower levels (on Saturday my callipers told me I had 10.2% bf when I'm actually about 12-13%). But they were very handy for the individual readings- with the tricep readings I could see how the individual mm readings were declining for example. You can see the measurements I took in my Fitness log actually if you want to see how readings are taken.

Hope that makes sense!! I used the AccuFintess Digital callipers btw, as seen (and ordered) here

r3nu4l

Cheers folks and thank you g'em I plan on making lifestyle changes soon and want to have a full medical before I set out, that way I have a baseline to measure success/failure against

On another note, is it a good idea to get a personal trainer for one or two sessions to work out a plan for me or can I rely on the person in the gym? What sort of qualifications should tI look for to see if they are suitably qualified to make a plan for me? I don't want to get some generic workout routine that won't suit my needs.

daveirl

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gymrabbit

how reliable are body fat tests done by professionals?

daveirl

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rubadub

r3nu4l wrote:

Cheers rubadub I know that professionals use a calipers but I would be afraid that my own measurements, taken in the wrong place would leave me out by miles so that one week I may measure my body fat at 22% and after 1 week good diet and gym, measure again only to get 12% and think I was doing great

You say you need it for 2 people, I presume your partner or gym partner. You can take measurements on each other in hard places (shoulder blades).
The slim guide comes with full instructions where to pinch and graphs for age and height and sex. There are also online calculators. Since it is spring loaded the force is always the same, some calipers are manually closed and a heavy handed person will close more giving a lower fat reading. Thats why the cheaper non spring ones are not much use.

r3nu4l wrote:

In other words, at least if the scale is out by 1 or 2% it will be out by the same margin of error each time and I can get a good idea of how I'm doing?

Is this a good assessment or not? I don't know that's why I'm here

The electric ones vary wildly, not out by 1 or 2% you could vary 10% in one hour as mentioned.

The calipers will not vary due to what you ate or drank that day, they are very consistent. BUT as mentioned the graphs/calculators may be wrong. I look at the charts the odd time and work with the one I think is right, I think I am about 14% BF, some calculators say as low as 8% (no way!).

As g'em says the best is the mirror and calipers. I take my readings and add them up, say 26mm, that is all, it is just a number, 26 "fat units", next time if I am down to 24 I am happy and know I am loosing fat.