Yesterday I bought a new scale: Healthometer, body fat monitoring scale. You step on it, stand on some little metal plates, and it tells you your body fat percent.

How well does this work (it says it is measuring impedence, which I guess could be true). Has anyone used one of these and then confirmed its readings with a more accurate method of body fat measurement?

The scale was on sale at K-Mart for $34.00 (regular $69) so I got myself an early Christmas present.

Ann at Howcross Castle

Hi Ann,
My partner bought me some of these scales last Xmas. I love the digital scale as these say exactly the same as the ones at my health club and weight watchers. (haven' been to WW since last Feb). I know this cos I weighed myself on my scales then ran round to ww to compare.
The body fat measurer is not so good. Last Xmas I was 18lbs heavier than I am now and my body fat measured at 24%.
It now states that my body fat is 33%...huh, how can this be, since LCing I'm visibly so much leaner.....so I don't bother with it anymore.

Cheers
Ali

Thread moved. Subject matter is not specific to Atkin's.

I bought a Tanita body fat scale in August 2002 and I think that its % Fat measurement is high. When I got it my weight was 184 pounds and it typically read a % Fat of 43. Now, I'm at 172 pounds and it says that 40 % of that is fat. This would mean that I have a lean body mass of 103 pounds. No way! I'm an active 5 ft 9 inch medium-framed woman with size 10 feet! Calculators on the interenet based on various body measurements put me at 28-34 % fat. The body fat scale at my health center says I'm 34 % fat.

My body fat scale is a disappointment. I already had a good digital scale for measuring weight, so I spent a lot of money (about $70) for a scale that doesn't really tell me much.

Hi Ann (and everyone else )

Just as a reminder, all methods of body fat "measurement", even the highly-praised dunking-in-the-big-tank-of-water, are really just estimates. So just use it as a guideline. It can still be useful, you just have to be careful about when and how you take a reading. Your water intake will affect it greatly, for example.

If you have a Tanita that has both normal and athletic modes, use the athletic one. Athletic registers lower than the normal mode, and was in line with the measurements I had done at the health club.

Also, you need to do the measurements in the early evening when you are fully hydrated (just don't look at the weight...lol) and take it over a few days and average it out if it doesn't seem consistent. The inconsistencies have to do mostly with hydration I believe.

One of the things those scales tell you is if you are on any kind of extreme diet, that it will not measure you body fat % correctly.

I have had one for about three years and I believe it is pretty accurate. It may be reading me higher than I am (I would like to think), but it goes down at appropriate times. And other's who have used it, seem to have body fat comparisons that are consistent with mine. (Meaning if they should be less, they are...if they seem like they should be more...they are).

I have heard that home body fat scales aren't very accurate, but a good one will at least be consistent. I have a Tanita scale and I've been ignoring the number and paying attention to the change. It says that I've lost 3% body fat in the past month, which sounds reasonable to me.