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Tanita Body Analyzer

M

msummers26

Guest
Is anyone familiar with this? It seems great to be able to easily get your body fat%, weight, and everything in one go.

However, I find that I tend to be 6 lbs less on this machine than a normal weight scale. Is this normal?

-Mike
 
I have a tanita BF% scale and no they are supposed to be more accurate than the other type as they are digital. Id say you have something wrong with it.
 
Those things are even less accurate than your typical gym instructor doing a four-point test with the calipers.

Just use a plain old tape measure. If you're a bloke and your waist gets smaller, or a woman and one or more of your waist, bust or hips are getting smaller, you're losing fat. If they're getting bigger you're gaining fat.

If you're a bloke and your chest, arms and thighs are getting bigger, or a woman and your arms and thighs are getting bigger, then you're gaining muscle.

The exact bodyfat percentage, not so important.
 
I was talking about weight btw. As all those scales are digital. Your right about the BF% is off due to too many variables.
 
Zarkov said:
Not familiar with that one but a lot of gyms here use Inbody720
I`ve used one on 3 occasions at two different gyms and they were spot on every time.Even down to waist,arm etc measurements.
Click to expand...

fcuk, i wish a hobart based gym would have one of those babies...look sweet as. I've only used calipers to measure my bf%, I used it in my last cut. Leanest I got was about 7%, so say's the calipers. Somethin' like that would take out the human error!
 


They are good.You get a two page comprehensive readout of total body fat,
sub-cutaneous fat,cutaneous fat,organ age,bone and muscle density,all kinds of measurements and even a body muscle balance type graph.
 
Zarkov- is that machine like a DEXA scan? I looked at getting one a couple of years ago and a scan was close to $1000! Now down to $70. Spot on in terms of accuracy, measure bone density, water weight, the lot.
 
breebreerocks said:
Zarkov- is that machine like a DEXA scan? I looked at getting one a couple of years ago and a scan was close to $1000! Now down to $70. Spot on in terms of accuracy, measure bone density, water weight, the lot.
Click to expand...


These ones are way more advanced (and expensive!).A lot of the cheaper ones are not so accurate apparently.
When I did my Cert. III I had to do a bit of research on them because the gym didn`t do fat pinch tests at all.I wanted to make sure it was acceptable to the school so had to have all the figures to back it up.
From what I read (on the net admittedly so take it with a grain of salt) they are really the biz.

I`ll try to dig up all the printouts to give you a bit more detail.
 
Zarkov said:
They are good.You get a two page comprehensive readout of total body fat,
sub-cutaneous fat,cutaneous fat,organ age,bone and muscle density,all kinds of measurements and even a body muscle balance type graph.
Click to expand...
but will it buy me a drink on a Saturday night & tell me how great I look? haha


surely that level of infomation isn't needed, or at least understood by the layman gym go'er, or perhaps serious bodybuilders / powerlifters
 
Depends.A serious body builder or athlete would find it golden.
Rehabilitation patients where small gains couldn`t be seen with the eye.
And for the average Joe,it just looks damn good on paper and that few %
increase could spur them on.
 
Zarkov said:
And for the average Joe,it just looks damn good on paper and that few %
increase could spur them on.
Click to expand...

Yes I've been thinking about buying a scale that analyses BF % for this reason. But they are notoriously unreliable due to fluctuations in water weight etc.

Kyle posted this link in another thread
Body Fat (US Navy) Calculator - Fitness.BizCalcs.com

Apparently it's accurate to within 1-3%. Have people tried using it? I'm going to try tonight - problem is I don't know what my actual BF is - so I have no way of comparing the accuracy!
 
Unless you are under 10% or over 30%, in health terms your bodyfat % is not a big issue.

What matters is your progress. If you're a guy and your waist is getting smaller/bigger, or a woman and your waist/hips are getting smaller/bigger, then you know your bodyfat is changing. It's the change that matters, as the change affects your health and appearance.

In that respect, exactly how accurate a particular way of measuring it is doesn't matter, so long as it's consistent. That's the problem with calipers and many of the machines - they could measure you as (say) 18.54% now and 20.21% in an hour. Which makes the numbers after the decimal point a bit of a joke.

So I say pick any method you like, just stick to it so you can see if the trend is up or down, and adjust your diet/exercise to keep the trend in the direction you want it.
 
Will knowing what your exact body fat % is make you leaner????

I understand people want to know if a certain nutrition plan is working, but a mirror and your eyes are best I believe.

One of the problems I have with body fat % is that it doesnt tell the whole story.

Lets take woman for example. Most of you should know that female fat deposits are different to male. I have clients that have tiny waists and upper bodys, yet large thighs and bum, a typical female problem area.

Getting her % lower is going to diddly squat for her appearance unless the fat has come off her problem areas, which is seldom the case.

Trust your mirror, eyes and measuring tape. If your thigh measures 23" @ 70kg bodyweight, and now its 22" @ 70kg bodyweight, and you have been disciplined in the gym and dinner table, its a safe bet your going the right way.

Build muscle as you burn fat through proper diet and training, do it for 12 months and you wont care what your % is, neither will your boyfriend.
 
OK - back to the humble tape measure. I might post up some measurements on my training log to keep me accountable and on track.

I follow a lot of figure competitor's blogs and they use calipers and/or body fat scales to make sure that they are dropping their BF% during their comp prep. But I'm not so hard core so the tape measure should do me fine.
 
PTC said:
Trust your mirror, eyes and measuring tape. [...]

Build muscle as you burn fat through proper diet and training, do it for 12 months and you wont care what your % is, neither will your boyfriend.
Click to expand...
Exactly.

This is the image (from verti-gal I always post when a woman says, "but I don't want to bulk up."



Did she improve? Someone better get some calipers to make sure!
 
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