CliftonGK1

I've read mixed reviews about impedence style bodyfat meters, whether they're the kind built into a scale, or the handheld type of meter.
I'm aware of the multitude of factors which can influence the reading, in particular with the handheld models: Hydration levels, body position, etc.; but I'm not looking for a minute by minute accurate reading to 3 decimal places. I just want a reasonable daily number to plug in next to my morning weigh-in number for long-term tracking and trending.

I got a good deal on the Omron handheld bodyfat meter, so I'm going to give it a go and see how it measures up (literally) against the readings I've been getting from a 7-point body measurement fat analysis. If the readings match up fairly well over a couple weeks, then I'll ditch the tape measure and stick with the impedence meter.

Anyone else use an impedence style meter (scale or handheld)?
Any specific thoughts on the Omron meter?

IAmCosmo

Body fat meters? Yeah, right. The scale makes me feel bad enough...

grimace308

yeah, i was going to say something to that effect.

bautieri

I don't need the body fat monitor built into my scale...I own a full length mirror.

Actually the impedence reader in my scale isn't too far off. Not bad for a relativly cheap scale from Bed Bath and Beyond. Like you mentioned, you can really mess with the readings if you change your foot possition, drink a ton of water, dehydrate yourself, or have wet feet. All in all, messing the scale is not a bad way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

CliftonGK1

I'm down to the last 20 pounds or so that I'm wanting to lose, and with the strength training I'm doing it's not always easy to tell if my weight is static over the course of 2 - 3 weeks because I'm slacking on my dietary/training regimen, or if it's because I'm putting on lean mass. That's really the metric I'm trying to track. What's tough in doing that is when body measurements don't change by a significant amount, the 7-point tape measure method is ineffective, also.
I'd be fine with only losing 10 more pounds if at the same time I put on 10 pounds of lean mass. It's less about the weight and more about a 10 - 12% bodyfat I'm aiming for.

cod.peace

I have a Tanita bodyfat scale. Dunno about the overall accuracy, but it seems to be pretty consistent in its measurements if done under the same conditions. Consistency is enough for me.

Askel

I have a health-o-meter scale I picked up at walmart. It does hydration percentage too.

I used to use it religiously and track all the numbers every day until I noticed something.

Body fat % + hydration % would always, always come out to 80% +/- 1%.

That always made me wonder. I assume there's some formula in these things that takes the impedence number to derive the results- I'd love to know what it is.

That and the wild fluctuations I would see in the numbers sometimes and I just gave up on it. These days, it seems waist size is all I really need to track. If I'm going to pack on pounds, it'll be my beer gut. If I'm going to get lean, 90% of that will be my core.

CliftonGK1

Askel,
Here's a site that explains the calculations for total body water based on impedence and stated height/weight/age/gender, and how that is used to calculate %bf.

https://www.brianmac.co.uk/fatbia.htm

Askel

Cool, thanks!

As I suspected, the relation between body fat and hydration is a constant.

One thing I did find helpful in using this was to enter all the numbers in a spreadsheet and compute my non-fat/non-water body mass in pounds. I found the resulting number a lot more meaningful than the body fat percentage number I got from the scale.

theetruscan

I have used 3 Omron Body fat monitors. They are all within 1% of each other. They all report about 12-13% higher body fat than a caliper test for me. They all report 6-7% higher than the navy and YMCA tests. I'm getting an immersion test done in a few weeks, and will report back on how accurate the Omron BFMs are. Immersion tests are super accurate, and relatively cheap ($50-75/pop). It's not, for me, at least, that I need a daily update, I just need to know accurately where I am, so I know accurately where I should be. If you're in the same situation, I'd find proper testing rather than buy some crappy system.

CliftonGK1

With me it's less about super accurate measurement, and more about consistent, rapid measurement for tracking purposes. Even if it's off by 10% from an immersion test (which, since I'm already below 20% by 7-point tape measure calculation, I can't imagine there will be that much error) if it's consistent I will get an accurate tracking of my weekly progress.

I'm interested to hear the differential between your immersion and the Omron meter.

Greg_R

I use the Omron meter and it is consistent (different than accurate!) if you measure yourself in the morning before eating. Since you are concerned about losing X% fat then this is fine. If you want to achieve a specific fat % (racing, etc.) then getting a bone scan or submersion test may be worth the expense. Is there a reason that you want to take your weight and BF% measurements each morning? IMO this is too often for making any kind adjustment to food or an exercise regimen (kind of like steering a bike by staring down at the front wheel... you will keep overcompensating in each direction).

CliftonGK1

I just got my Omron meter, and the reading was within a +/- 3% range of my calculation by the tape measure method. I'll continue to track the meter vs measure rating trend over time.

I don't do any alterations in routine based on a daily weight/bf% reading. I'm a numbers guy at work, and I watch trending patterns; while I record a crapton of data, it's only the big picture I'm interested in. Point variability does let me go back and look at things like, if the tape method is on a consistent downward for a week but the meter method shows a spike anomaly, can I pin it down based on other similar days to something dietary affecting the BEI readings? (overhydrated, dehydrated, ton of salty snacks, etc?)

I know it's a far from perfect tool, but it amuses me. I'm not doing anything so serious as to warrant a super-accurate immersion or bone scan test.

CPFITNESS

I'm a personal trainer, the omron unit is a solid unit for comparison purposes. So few places around to get hydrostatic weighing done so there really isn't much for people to compare it to. Regarding skinfold tests, people think those are some sort of gold standard just because a nice set of calipers look like (and really are) a preceision instrument. but if I pinch the folds one way and you do it another way it's going to cause a LOT of variance while anyone can properly execute a test with the omron. For new clients that are totally sedentary, I measure them with the std setting as well as the athlete mode and average the two. Generally speaking, the more morbidly obese or extremely muscular you are, the more they seem to be out of wack. I'm pretty muscular and I feel like mine doesn't give me the most accurate reading, I'd love to get weighed if I knew somewhere that did it, I'm surprised that here in NYC we don't have places doing it.