body fat scale, any good?

**gotjuice?** · 05-01-2005, 08:13 PM

i just bought a body fat scale at the sporting goods store. it says my body fat is at 17%. can this be right if i can see all my abs and my veins are noticably out and big on both arms. i see guys on here that say they are 12 % BF and cant see any abs. and guys on here that say that are less than 10% BF and my body looks the same as theirs does.... so is the scale wrong.......im 5' 10" 170.......i eat pretty clean and do 30 min cardio 4x a week in the am

**AandF6969** · 05-01-2005, 08:16 PM

I read somewhere that those scales are precise but not accurate.

**dr.shred** · 05-01-2005, 08:18 PM

very very inaccurate bro.

**gino_slayer** · 05-01-2005, 08:41 PM

those scales depend on a many factors, one of which is hydration. They send a current through your body and depending on how well it flows it calculates you bf%, so you were probably really hydrated when you stepped on the scale. For that reason they are not really good for calculating actual bodyfat but what they are good for is if you want to track progress over a period of time... say you measure you bf% tomorrow morning right after you ****, shower, and shave and measure it a couple of weeks later in the morning at the same time and under the same conditions it will give you a consistent reading regarding if youve gained or lost fat, it just wont be accurate in the number it gives you.

**beenie** · 05-01-2005, 10:09 PM

Originally Posted by gotjuice?

i just bought a body fat scale at the sporting goods store. it says my body fat is at 17%. can this be right if i can see all my abs and my veins are noticably out and big on both arms. i see guys on here that say they are 12 % BF and cant see any abs. and guys on here that say that are less than 10% BF and my body looks the same as theirs does.... so is the scale wrong.......im 5' 10" 170.......i eat pretty clean and do 30 min cardio 4x a week in the am

They are 100% accurate. They NEVER lie. Guess you are not in as good shape as you thought.

**gino_slayer** · 05-01-2005, 11:00 PM

Originally Posted by beenie

They are 100% accurate. They NEVER lie. Guess you are not in as good shape as you thought.

actually they ARE NOT 100% accurate... most of the time its off. If you want to test it out then drink as little water as you can one day and test yourself, then the next day take back 5 - 6 litres of water and test yourself... you cant tell me that youve gained that much bf% in one day! It's a major flaw of those scales. Use fat calipers to measure and either the Yuhasz or Durnin technique to calculate your bodyfat... that is your most reliable method.

**AandF6969** · 05-01-2005, 11:00 PM

Originally Posted by beenie

They are 100% accurate. They NEVER lie. Guess you are not in as good shape as you thought.

Are you being sarcastic? Those scales suck ass

**gotjuice?** · 05-02-2005, 12:03 AM

My body is close to AandF6969.......do u know your BF ???......

**AandF6969** · 05-02-2005, 12:26 AM

Originally Posted by gotjuice?

My body is close to AandF6969.......do u know your BF ???......

About 8%

**gotjuice?** · 05-02-2005, 12:35 AM

you might be a little leaner than me. so maybe im at about 10%...so the scale can be off by that much huh???.....thanks for your replies

**diesel85** · 05-02-2005, 03:14 PM

actually, Tanita has one out that measures water composition as well, and according to them, it has a 5% error, meaning, you could be 16.15% to 17.85%, HOWEVER, like someone mentioned, it depends on a variety of factors, i.e., you're supposed to measure yourself later on in the day, say around 4 or 5pm, and do so each time you measure (you need to have eaten a few meals)...this of course was all passed on to me by a Tanita rep, sooooo....

**beenie** · 05-03-2005, 05:09 AM

Originally Posted by AandF6969

Are you being sarcastic? Those scales suck ass

Yep, I was being sarcastic. It you see something that OBVIOUSLY isn't true, I don't even understand why the question is being posed.

The scales are reasonble accurate for me. Last summer I was cutting. The guy at the gym used callibers and put me at 12%. My tanita put me at 11%. Did the water dispacement at Rutgers and the had me at 8.6% I suppose its all within the 5% margin of error, but the difference between 9 and 14% is a pretty big deal.

**alphaman** · 05-03-2005, 08:22 AM

they suck azz, period. especially for those in our category.

**alphaman** · 05-03-2005, 08:25 AM

Originally Posted by gotjuice?

i just bought a body fat scale at the sporting goods store. it says my body fat is at 17%. can this be right if i can see all my abs and my veins are noticably out and big on both arms. i see guys on here that say they are 12 % BF and cant see any abs. and guys on here that say that are less than 10% BF and my body looks the same as theirs does.... so is the scale wrong.......im 5' 10" 170.......i eat pretty clean and do 30 min cardio 4x a week in the am

Perfect example.

**diesel85** · 05-03-2005, 05:17 PM

I suppose its all within the 5% margin of error, but the difference between 9 and 14% is a pretty big deal.[/QUOTE]

Beenie, it's not like that, it's 5% of the total, meaning, if it reads 10%, then you take 5% of that, and add/subtract from the 10, so you be between 9.5% and 10.5%...