Training & Nutrition - Anyone use of these things?

Anyone have any feedback on those fat calculating weight scales? Do they work or are they just hype?

they sort of work. I have one that says I'm like 19.0% body fat when I have a six-pack. hmm...it wasn't until after I had opened it and effectivly destroyed the wrapping that I saw that it said it wouldn't work for people who do more then 10 hours of aerobic excercise per week. I suppose that eliminates me...

I suppose you could use it for comparison purposes, and the weight function is fairly precise and accurate. I have noticed, however that as my weight fluctuates from different levels of hydration throughout the day, my bodyfat also changes. I'm not sure whats up with that...I guess fat is mostly water? I dunno.

They are good for weight, but the body fat measurement is more of a realative measure. It seems to do a good job with the change in body fat, but I do not think the actual value is very accurate. Ex. 19%-18% change is probably a good est, but I know that I am less than 18% body fat right now.

Thanks for the input.

The scales are somewhat accurate so they can be used
as a rough guideline. When I had my body fat measured at
the gym, using the caliper pinch test, it came out as 12%,
and the scales said I was 11%.

But the scales do vary a lot during the day which is why
I don't think they are super accurate. I can get readings
anywhere from 9.8-11.5 if I take measurements every
few hours in a day.

My scale has an athletic mode, for thoes who excersize over 10hrs a week and / or have a resting heart rate under 60bpm.

My scale (http://www.healthchecksystems.com/tbf578.htm) shows between 13.2% and 14.4%
Calipers (http://www.heartratemonitorsusa.com/Pages/Calipers-pages-new/Accu-Measure-Fat-Calipers/Accu-fat-trackII-new.html) at the local gym showed 14%
Different online BFI calulators show between 13 (http://www.he.net/~zone/prothd2.html) and 21.9 (http://nhlbisupport.com/bmi/bmicalc.htm).

My scale has an athletic mode, for thoes who excersize over 10hrs a week and / or have a resting heart rate under 60bpm.

Mine has the athletic mode as well, do you know if that is any more accurate than non-athletic mode?

Maybe I'll switch to that mode and see what the results are like.

Mine has the athletic mode as well, do you know if that is any more accurate than non-athletic mode?

Maybe I'll switch to that mode and see what the results are like.

Don't know if it's more accurate or not, but it always displays a lower number. Therefore, that's the setting I use! ;)

I just bought one on line with the thought that if I take the BF daily at the same time each day it will be a basis for comparison over time.

Let you know. It is still in the mail! Got it at Drugstore.com on sale for $29.99 (supposedly regularly 39.99 (or was it $49.99??)) It is a Tanita.

I just bought one on line with the thought that if I take the BF daily at the same time each day it will be a basis for comparison over time.

Let you know. It is still in the mail! Got it at Drugstore.com on sale for $29.99 (supposedly regularly 39.99 (or was it $49.99??)) It is a Tanita.

I've been taking mine daily, with only a few days missing since October. I'm still trying to figure out what freaks it out, cause some days it will read 5% higher. The other discoraging thing is that it claims my weight hasn't changed since October, and that my body fat has only gone down approx 5%. The strange thing is that I can *see* the differences on my legs and arms.

I plan to get a proffesional BF done so I can see if it is anywhere close to accurate.

P.S. I check both athletic mode and couch mode. Only diff is that althletic is about 7% lower.