Feedback about the Body Fat Scale has ranged from "why bother" to "wow, didn’t know about that". There was also constructive feedback from Tony, who endorsed the need to monitor both weight and body-fat. "I’m 46, with a family history of heart disease. I have mild hypertension, Type II diabetes and I’m slightly overweight and over-fat", he said. Tony cautioned that one thing to be aware of is the reliability of body fat impedance measurements.
The Tanita scale attempts to deal with the variables by using a setup procedure that captures your weight, gender, height and “typical” versus the “athletic”. This latter factor is based on the number of times a week a person works out. It is not a precise calibration but it is based on a large database of samples.
Tony further points out that the other reliability factor is how well hydrated you are when you step on the scale. Low levels of hydration typically result in higher body fat measurements, so probably the best thing to do is to make sure you are well hydrated when you take the measurements. If you want to gain confidence in the measurements, you can periodically have caliper testing done (“with the same person doing the measurement”) as a means of calibrating your readings.
