Body fat analysis scales?
Hi all, I have just bought a new set of bathroom scales, they show you your body fat %, water % and muscle %. My stats are 162cm, 65.8cm, bodyfat 26.6%, water 50.4% and muscle 31.4%. Problem is, I dont know what is good and whats not! Can anyone help?? Sorry thats meant to be 65.8KG
Public Comments
- First recommendation--read the manual; mine was actually surprisingly helpful. Secondly, the main thing you want to look at is body fat percentage. 26% is in the normal range for a woman under 35. If you're a man, 26% is getting high. You can check out: http://www.csgnetwork.com/bodyfatcalc.html for a table of ranges. Good luck!
- Unfortunately, these scales aren't that accurate. The typically work by running a small electrical current through the body. In theory, the electrical current runs "differently" through different tissues, but unfortunately what happens is the currents take the shortest route through the body, so you end up getting faulty readings because of this. The only way to get true bodyfat and body composition readings is through total emersion and water. A bodyfat analysis taken by a professional using tape measures and calipers is the next closest thing, though it's got a much higher error margin that emersion. Unfortunately, emersion is kindof expensive. Weight scales are the worst actually, and so is BMI, where the only time they're any good is when a person is truly morbidly obese and bodyfat loss is the true goal.
- Well, I can tell you that your body fat percentage is fine. And I might be wrong, but I think your water should be slightly more, so you need to make sure you are hydrated. HTH : )
