Hola!
I've been thinking about getting a body fat scale to routinely track progress. From what I understand, some of the variation that occurs from the BIA (bioelectric impedance analysis) type monitors is from hydration levels. While browsing I see Tanita has a new scale that measures the %body water as well.
Will seeing the %water help with understanding the differences in the readings or just simply give you another number to report?
Here's a picture and brief specs:
UM026 Scale plus Body Fat Monitor with Body Water %
• Elegant contemporary styling
• Large 2-line LCD display
• New Body Water feature
Capacity Weight Increments Body Fat Increments Modes Memory Power Supply
330 lb
(149 kg) 0.2 lb
(0.1 kg) 0.1%
Adult
Child
Athlete 4 People AA batteries x 4 (included)
Also, any advice on a generally accepted chart of acceptable body fat ranges? I've seen numbers all across the board. I'm 33 and female with bf right at or just below 20%, according to a hand-held BIA. Trying to figure out if I should set a lower BF goal, maybe 18% or with my age, does that put me in the underfat range, as I've seen on these charts. I don't want to go to any "extreme" measures to reach a BF goal, but am curious to know if it would be healthy for me, an "average athletic" person (with a mirror test that indicates room for improvement
), to shoot for a lower %age.
Here are pictures of some of the charts & tables I've seen:
FEMALE
Age RISKY EXCELLENT GOOD FAIR POOR VERY
POOR
19-24 <9% 18.9% 22.1% 25.0% 29.6% >29.6%
25-29 18.9% 22.0% 25.4% 29.8%
30-34 19.7% 22.7% 26.4% 30.5%
35-39 21.0% 24.0% 27.7% 31.5%
40-44 22.6% 25.6% 29.3% 32.8%
45-49 24.3% 27.3% 30.9% 34.1%
50-54 26.6% 29.7% 33.1% 36.2%
55-59 27.4% 30.7% 34.0% 37.3%
60+ 27.6% 31.0% 34.4% 38.0%
*American Council on Exercise
Classification Women (% fat) Men (% fat)
Essential Fat 10-12% 2-4%
Athletes 14-20% 6-13%
Fitness 21-24% 14-17%
Acceptable 25-31% 18-25%
Obese 32% plus 25% plus
Any & all advice appreciated! The last one shows 14% is ok for female athletes, but it leaves out the age
