posted Thu, 10/18/2012 - 16:59
2158
Body fat analyzer
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Ive been looking at scales that calculate your body fat percentage using bioelectrical impedance analysis. It claims it can calculate body fat percentage to within .1%. Does anyone have any experience with these? Im considering buying one. Thankyou very much for your help.
Heres a link from walmart's website showing the different models. http://www.walmart.com/search/search-ng.do?search_constraint=0&ic=48_0&F... fat
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Hope this can help out to get an understanding of DXA scan which the user @Greg in the below post recently assisted to.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dR2DvU6ukDE
Here are some links to sample reports similar to what I received.
http://washington-institute.com/sample-scans/
http://www.bodycomp.ca/sample.html
I have one, its pretty old but i believe they all act up on the same theory of electrical signals throughout the body. I'm 212 6'2 beefy dude, i want to say I'm 15% BF. I used my "BF scale" and it read I was 8% BF, immediately I laughed obviously that's not true, i don't even have abs -__- lol .. Anyways I've read on most accurate measuring devices/techniques and this thing called "BOD POD" has been critically acclaimed to be the most accurate. You get inside a pod, with controlled breathing and perfectly stable your BF will be measured, its 3% - 4% accurate and cost about $50-$100 per test.
Do not waste your money on them. I've tried them and they are inaccurate as hell.
You will get different readings if:
you are hydrated/dehydrated
Skin dry/callused, or wet/clammy
before or after taking a dump.
before or after working out.
They tend to be as far off as 5% to 15% at any given time.
The impedance will show me as being 24% fat
The calipers will have me at 14% fat
Hydrostatic (most accurate) has me at 13.1%
As you can see, the calipers (even with my inexperienced use of them) is within 1% of my actual BF; while the impedance is not even close.
Read on "BOD POD" it's supposed to be better than Hydrostatic testing.
Interesting, I haven't come across that before...
Reading on BOD POD I also found: DXA (DEXA as referred by some).
I found a place nearby that offers the test for $25 - $50 ($125 for the DXA).
I think I'll give it a try. Thanks Red!
Yes according to my nutrition teacher Bod Pod is the most accurate way of telling bodyfat %.
I know of many colleges and universities that have BOD Pods.
Oh wow that's pretty cool that you actually found a spot to get the test done. If you do end up doing it please tag me and tell us how it was. I live next to NYC so if it's worth it I would definitely give that a try, there should be plenty of places to do it there.
Scheduled a DXA scan for 1pm today... yeah, I'm impulsive ;-)
Only $200 for 2 full body scans (second scan can be taken upto 1 year later).
The DXA scan Rocks! It's almost like an MRI you get a breakdown of everything.
There is no scale on the table but it will analyze your mass and come up with your weight. It was within 1% of the floor scale (I suspect the difference is with the -2 lb guesstimate the operator deducted for my clothes).
It comes up with your bone mass... (mine is in the 99 percentile -healthier than a 30yr old)
total body weight
lean body weight
total fat weight & % (mine is within the 98th percentile for men my age - i.e., 98% better than others my age)
essential fat weight
core weight
stored fat weight & %
It will tell you how much muscle and fat mass you have in each limb, head and torso. I found out for example my right arm has .3 lbs less muscle mass than my left arm. And I
have a thick skull and fat head.
Summary: The accuracy is about the same as the hydrostatic if not slightly better but where it wins out is the detail you get. Hydrostatic only provided: weight, LBM lb, Fat lb, and BF%
HAHA very impulsive indeed, great job man as a personal experience with a "Body Fat Scan" or "DXA Scan" (in hopes) you clear some questions for most people that are reading this. I just posted a link to a video above to get further understanding and visuals as to what the scan looks like. If you can check it out and tell me if you did the same thing? Thanks.
That's it.
Bone and full body scan. You pass under the scanner 6 times; takes about 6 minutes.
The following 2 links are websites that have sample reports similar to the one I got.
http://washington-institute.com/sample-scans/
http://www.bodycomp.ca/sample.html
Thanks dawgs thats all I need to hear. I will get some calipers. I knew it sounded to good to be true.
some scales do give you BMI. BMI is useless. Here is how bioelectrical impedance works
" Simply explained, BIA measures the impedance or resistance to the signal as it travels through the water that is found in muscle and fat. The more muscle a person has, the more water their body can hold. The greater the amount of water in a person's body, the easier it is for the current to pass through it. "
They're garbage...lol, and I didn't even look at the link yet...sorry. But MOST of them base your BF on BMI..and if you are anything like me or MANY of us on here, our body mass(es) are much higher than what they should be for our height due to the added muscle we carry around..thus giving us skewed BMI's. We have high body mass and low bodyfat(s)..making the scales useless(even with bioelectrical mumbo-jumbo)...go get some calipers, better choice.