Measuring body fat at home...

[Imafitnessfreak]

I know we talked about this somewhere, I have been searching all morning and cannot find the thread!

Someone here said when using the electrical impedence methods and you are super active, you ned to measure at "female" and "male" settings then do a calculation...subtract 2 then average these numbers then stand on your head, count the stars and divide by the barometric pressure:7 .

Seriously, can someone tell me what that little trick is?

 

[Joannafit]

i have the OMRON body fat analyzer..had mode for athelete vs non athelete..male vs female..ht.. wt..etc....it is a wonderful motivator..and it tracks fat lbs lost and body fat %..go to fitnesswholesale.com

 

[Dani53]

They have the same model at costco.com for nearly half the cost.....just in case you are a Costco member.

So you like it? I have toyed with the idea of getting it, but just haven't quite made the plunge. I thought the only true way to check body fat is with the whole dunking in the water deal.

 

[Snazzy]

With the Omron, you take your female reading + your male reading to get a sum; divide by 2 and subtract 1. Test first thing in the a.m., before increasing heart rate or eating/drinking. This method is usually within a % or so of what a properly done caliper reading measures. It DOES get thrown off by water retention around your monthly cycle. We just call it the O-moron at that time. LOL

 

[Mic]

How much do those costs and are they more reliable than the bodyfat scales that you can buy in the stores? Thanks.

 

[Imafitnessfreak]

I looked at Cosco.com and I think it was $34.99 or so. it was more at wholesale.com.

I would like to know how accurate as well. I have a Tanita Body Fat scale but I am unsure how accurate it is. I also have the pincher thingy (Caliper) and a great web site that tells where all to pinch, I just haven't had DH do it for me and neither one of us are "trained" so I am still left unsure.

 

[Mic]

It would be nice if someone who had both could give us some information on what they think? Thanks for the other information.

 

[Snazzy]

I have the Tanita scale that measures weight and body fat, and the Omron. The Tanita is more accurate than my other scale, as far as weight goes, and I use it for that. I gives me extremly strange readings for bodyfat. Like 28% for regular adult, and 14% for athlete. I didn't like that, so I bought the Omron.

With the Omron, I've tracked my bodyfat from 19.6 % down to 17.3% so far. I like it a lot. The Tanita would probably be closer, if I used the same averaging method on it.

With any testing method, there's going to be a margin of error. The great thing about having one of these at your disposal (whether the Tanita or Omron), is that you can use it as a tool to track consistency. You're looking for a downward trend. If you're getting an inaccurate reading of 23%, and you consistently use that method of measurement, and you drop to 20%, you still lost 3%. That's the important thing. Then you could compare, maybe every 6 months, or however often you wanted, to a more accurate testing method. In other words, if you live near a university that has a water tank and does hydrostatic testing, you could find out what your "real" bodyfat is. Kind of like going to the doctor and getting your "real weight" from his scale.