I just found that my scale measures Body Fat Percentage. I don't know how acurate it is, but it measured 20.5% for me. The scale keeps track of age, height and of course weight. How important is it to know about body fat percentage and how does it affect weight loss and goals?

Sorry if I sound confusing, but I don't really know anything about body fat percentage and how its measured and all.

BIA scales are not accurate but the margin or error is about 8% so your range is 12-28%.

Even for measuring progress over time BIA is pretty much worthless because the margin of error is so high.

You could be 26% right now - lose some fat - and drop to 24%. You jump on the scale and it says 30%.

So the scale would show you went from 20% to 30% and you would say WTF?

JohnP -- Do you happen to know which way is more accurate? I've always read that the scale ones aren't very accurate and that got me to thinking... which way IS more accurate? My treadmill has the one where you have to stand still and hold this sensors with your arms straight. Every time I've used it, it's said the same or gone down some. Would the hand ones be more accurate than the stand on ones? From what I understand, they work by using a low voltage current that measures the resistance in your body. So like the OP, I'm confused!

Thanks for clearing this up for me. Since the scales aren't very accurate I'll just go about like I did before and just keep track of the pounds, and ignore the BIA reading