Buy some calipers and pinch yourself every week. After a while, you will get good at it. The BIA scales aren't dependable. They fluctuate too much. If you choose to use the BIA scales, follow the directions and do it and the same time every day.

Those in store bioelectrical impedence scales aren't all that accurate, but they can be useful. I'm a PT and I use calipers with my clients, and even those have a slight margin of error. With most methods of bodyfat measurement, you should be looking for averages over several different readings. While the scales won't be all that accurate, they can be used to assess progress over several readings. If you take a few readings every couple weeks and notice that most of your last few weeks readings are lower than the first few weeks, then that would be an indicator of a lower body fat percentage.

the scales with fat readers on them are a form of a bioelectric impedence test done during fitness assessments, etc. they can be about 5% over or under in terms of body fat. the readings are affected by how much water you have had during the day, what you have eaten, if you have worked out, etc. this is due to the fact that the metal grips i has you grab or step on send a weak electrical current through your body that you cannot feel that judged the density of the fat and muscle mass in your body to give an estimated body fat reading. if you are dehydrated or just worked out etc, these readings can be inaccurate to what your actual body percent can reead. Also, when doing this you cannot have any jewlery on your body as metal interferes with the current. it is also a requirement that your legs and other appendages cannot be touching eachother during the reading. a jackson pollock (fat pinch) test or water displacement test are more accurate regarding fat percentage and the reading on your scale should be taken with a grain of salt.

Whitney Denise

hi mike!

i've never heard of the scale that does the body fat measurement and can't imagine that it could be that accurate. the one time i've had mine measured was a bioanalysis done at people's pharmacy that gave me measurements not just for body fat, but also for the amount of water that was in and outside of my cells along with other indicators for true health. the south location of people's pharmacy offers this and i believe it's about $50 to have it done. sorry i can't refer you to a good scale. i've thrown mine away long ago because when i began focusing on eating for optimal health versus simply to lose weight, i've found that my excess weight comes off on its own.

best,

deirdre earls, rd, ld
www.yourhealingdiet.com