Does anyone have one of the scales that measures your weight and your body fat and (in some cases) hydration?

I really want to buy one and I have no clue what a good one is. So, if you have one, what are your thoughts on them? Is there a good brand/model? A brand I should stay away from?

Thanks!

Personally, I have always been skeptical of those. How would they know what your body fat percentage is? Someone should be along soon to give you more information.

ComeBackGirl! I had to answer your post because my daughter lives in Albuquerque and I live in Pittsburgh, so I feel kinda connected to you.

I have a Tanita body fat scale. The scale part is very accurate for weight. I think the body fat% feature reads high (about 6% according to calipers at my gym). But it's consistent so I use it to track changes over time, even though I don't think I'm quite as fat as it says.

If you get a body fat scale, you want to use it at the same time and under the same conditions every day (like after you work out and before you eat or something like that) because the readings will vary quite a bit depending on the time of day and your hydration. My instructions suggested late afternoon as an accurate time to measure.

Welcome to 3FC and when are you moving to Pittsburgh?

Margaret - the scale uses bioelectrical impedance. It sends a weak electric signal through the soles of your feet to determine your body composition. Hope that helps!

Well hello there Meg and Margaret! Thank you for the welcome.

I'm moving to Pittsburgh sometime this winter but I don't have a date down yet.

Thank you so much for all the information Meg. I was looking into getting a Tanita, so yay. I'm not terribly worried about the accuracy of it at this point... just the consistency of it, so that's okay. I just want to be able to track it.

And I'd like to say that I read your story and looked at your pictures and wow... congratulations. That's amazing.

I've got one too, although I refuse to get on the scale until I lose some weight. It was pretty expensive for a scale, just short of $100 I believe.

Thanks Meg. That does clear up the confusion for me, although I'll still stick with my featureless digital scale.

I use a club model Tanita to measure clients' body fat at the gym. As Meg said, it's not accurate, but it is consistent. The biggest problem with the scale calculation is that the algorithm that it uses is an age based calculation, so that it uses a higher multiplier the older you are. If you are about 27-30 years old, the scale reading is usually very close to a 9 point caliper measure. For younger people, the scale gives a lower reading than the calipers. If you are older, the the scale skews the body fat number higher.

If you use it as another tool to watch the trend, it's fine Just make sure that you really are using it under the same conditions all the time. I can raise or lower the number by about 5% by having a bottle of water.

Mel