The Fat Loss TroubleshootThis is your place to troubleshoot your fat loss problems from nutrition to training. This section is led by Leigh Peele, author of "The Fat Loss Troubleshoot," the ultimate fat loss manual. If your results have slowed or stalled this is the place to come for advice for all your fat loss needs.
Just curious if anyone here has any opinions about or experience with Biospace's bioelectrical impedance devices. I've heard that bioelctrical impedance devices that have hand grips (this one does) as well as foot rests are more accurate, but don't know to what extent that is true.
My local YWCA has the InBody230 model and it claims to individually measure 4 parts of your body (right arm, left arm, trunk, right leg, left leg) and give you the lean body mass for each segment.
I'm aware that no method used while I'm alive is 100% accurate, but I used the InBody in early June to give myself a benchmark.
(I measured 44.8% at that point. The segment measurement was kind of neat because it showed that my arms have more muscle than my trunk and my legs have the least of all. It generated more stats than that, but I'll only post them if someone has interest.)
I use the 4-point Ormon and it is very consistent for me with less than a 1% deviation for me from day to day and great trend results overall. Most likely it measures me about 2-3 percent lower than another measurement will report. I am currently at 13.4% per my Ormon and I am shooting for about 4% more loss based on what I want to look like ultimately.
If you measure anywhere near 40% bf using a tried method then being accurate is hardly very important. You know that you have fat loss work to do and the way you do that is the same if you are at 40% or 45% or 35%. The accuracy part is really only important for people who want to ride the line of or diet down to what is recommended healthy by some standard. ( Like if you believe some standard that says 20% bf is healthy in women and you don't want to go below that but still want to look as good as you can or just diet down to that and reassess) If that is your goal then you should use the method that organization uses to test their clients and come to their conclusions or numbers to be the MOST accurate.
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The BIGGER I get the smaller you look
If you measure anywhere near 40% bf using a tried method then being accurate is hardly very important. You know that you have fat loss work to do and the way you do that is the same if you are at 40% or 45% or 35%. The accuracy part is really only important for people who want to ride the line of or diet down to what is recommended healthy by some standard. .
I disagree with this. as someone who was well over 40% 9 years ago, I can tell you that it would have been exceptionally helpful for me to know that my body comp was moving in a positive direction even during those times when the scale seemed to be moving slowly if at all.
of course when I was over 40% I KNEW I was fat and I KNEW I needed to lose fat. that isn't the point. the point is that everyone deserves access to fat loss tools. body comp measurement is for everyone, whether you are 45% and seeking to get to 35% or 15% trying to get into contest shape.
I am 29.8% trying to get to 24%--and body comp has been unbelievably helpful to me in my journey.
FWIW, my brother-in-law that does obesity research has found that his Tanita scale correlates very highly w/ DEXA results. But he's got one of the good Tanitas.
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I disagree with this. as someone who was well over 40% 9 years ago, I can tell you that it would have been exceptionally helpful for me to know that my body comp was moving in a positive direction even during those times when the scale seemed to be moving slowly if at all.
of course when I was over 40% I KNEW I was fat and I KNEW I needed to lose fat. that isn't the point. the point is that everyone deserves access to fat loss tools. body comp measurement is for everyone, whether you are 45% and seeking to get to 35% or 15% trying to get into contest shape.
I am 29.8% trying to get to 24%--and body comp has been unbelievably helpful to me in my journey.
Let me articulate this again as I was misunderstood. It does matter that you know about what your bf% is in general. More importantly it is important that you can easily and quite often measure using this same method. What doesn't matter is the way that you measure it provided that way is consistent for you and within reasonable accurate measures. It doesn't matter for example if you are 40% bf or 42% bf (the diference between the Caliper or Bod-Pod for you Wendy if I remember) so long as you pick ONE method and stick with it and watch the trends. Which method is the MOST ACCURATE is really not important. So far I am seeing only a 5% or there about difference between the all the methods we are using so unless there is an argument for knowing within 5% it really doesn't matter. Of course it matters that you have an idea that is reasonable (not eye-balled or subjective) and that the way you measure is consistent enough for you to set goals and track or trend. All of the tools we use are good for that though... The Ormon, the Calipers (in the hands of a skilled user of course), the Dexa and the Bod-Pod will work equally as well for a goal of moving out of the 40% bf range.
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The BIGGER I get the smaller you look
Since we're talking about trending, can I ask a question? I've been using a Tanita BC-534 since late May. I see so much variance on a day to day basis that I ended up using a monthly average. So I would compare the average of June to the average of July. I just don't feel that I could trust a single data point (ie. like I do for Sunday's weight). The scale itself is pretty repeatable within a short period of time (ie. it doesn't vary at all if I take more than one reading within a short period of time). The day to day is just completely unpredictable. Do other people see this with bio-impedence methods or is this (perhaps) because of a higher body weight?
My ormon is the 4-point bio-impedence and I see less than a 1% difference from day to day. The trick is that you have to be hydrated the same each day. So I make sure to get more than 1 Gal of water a day and measure at the exact same time as soon as I eliminate in the morning every day.
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The BIGGER I get the smaller you look
I think it's all about bodyweight though. FWIW I do drink more than a gallon of water and I do measure at the same time each day (same as you). It's rare for me to see more than a 1% change, however, for me that's a bigger change.
If you measure anywhere near 40% bf using a tried method then being accurate is hardly very important. You know that you have fat loss work to do and the way you do that is the same if you are at 40% or 45% or 35%.
Oh, I'll cheerfully admit that some of my attachment to an accuracy that goes beyond trend-accuracy is illogical.
Still, illogical or not, having an idea how close I am to that magical mythical "accurate" number does matter to me.
(I'm on the edge of crossing a measurement line that matters to me, and that I intend to celebrate when I've decided to my satisfaction that I'm definitely on the other side.)
Also, some of the information biospace's InBody claims to give you goes into way more detail than a flat fat percentage and only seems useful if it's fairly accurate. So I was curious whether the extended data was worth paying any attention at all to or was just a sales gimmick for them.
Yes for all the other data that goes with these things (the bod-pod too) it is well worth the money spent. That said it is pretty inconvienent to do on a regular basis so my suggestion is to figur out the delta between that and the way you can measure on your own and use that measurement with the delta added to it to celebrate your milestone.
I hadn't considered that there would be a milestone as a reason to know. That is valid isn't it? I hope you share it with us when you reach it and also share with us your experience with this method if you decide to go for it.
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The BIGGER I get the smaller you look
FWIW, my brother-in-law that does obesity research has found that his Tanita scale correlates very highly w/ DEXA results. But he's got one of the good Tanitas.
I would imagine he is speaking of the ones that gauge both body fat and water levels that is upwards in the mid 1000's. The quality of bio-impedance is important. Some commercial gym level ones that cost 2000+ dollars where you stand and grip the machine are pretty much running even with DEXA scan estimates.
I would imagine he is speaking of the ones that gauge both body fat and water levels that is upwards in the mid 100's. The quality of bio-impedance is important. Some commercial gym level ones that cost 2000+ dollars where you stand and grip the machine are pretty much running even with DEXA scan estimates.
Hey, my gym just got one of those....I'll have to give it a whirl!
Years ago, I did a body fat assessment that placed electrode pads on several limbs and then ran and produced a printout. That was about 20 years ago now. I'm guessing technology has improved as well as the instrumentation available?
I disagree with this. as someone who was well over 40% 9 years ago, I can tell you that it would have been exceptionally helpful for me to know that my body comp was moving in a positive direction even during those times when the scale seemed to be moving slowly if at all.
Boy do I understand this. Even just knowing that it is possible for body comp to be changing positively when the scale is frozen or going backwards is helpful. I get way too obsessed with the scale's fluctuations some times.
Yes for all the other data that goes with these things (the bod-pod too) it is well worth the money spent. That said it is pretty inconvienent to do on a regular basis so my suggestion is to figur out the delta between that and the way you can measure on your own and use that measurement with the delta added to it to celebrate your milestone.
That's a really good suggestion. I haven't been doing any home measurement other than the scale, but I'm going to think about what masurement I could do.
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Originally Posted by kfisherx
I hadn't considered that there would be a milestone as a reason to know. That is valid isn't it? I hope you share it with us when you reach it and also share with us your experience with this method if you decide to go for it.
Definitely! I believe I'm near to crossing the line out of the land of the "morbidly obese" and I plan to do an ecstatic Snoopy dance when I'm sure I've hit that mark.
I've used the InBody once, and it was pretty interesting. It gave me a one page printout of data and info. I'm not sure how accurate it was as a baseline since I didn't know to pay attention to hydration (next time), but I definitely plan to use it again.
I would imagine he is speaking of the ones that gauge both body fat and water levels that is upwards in the mid 1000's. The quality of bio-impedance is important. Some commercial gym level ones that cost 2000+ dollars where you stand and grip the machine are pretty much running even with DEXA scan estimates.
Neat-o
The company web page for the Biospace one I used claimed that, but I don't really trust company's self-descriptions much , so it's nice to get some confirmation.
Since we're talking about trending, can I ask a question? I've been using a Tanita BC-534 since late May. I see so much variance on a day to day basis that I ended up using a monthly average. So I would compare the average of June to the average of July. I just don't feel that I could trust a single data point (ie. like I do for Sunday's weight). The scale itself is pretty repeatable within a short period of time (ie. it doesn't vary at all if I take more than one reading within a short period of time). The day to day is just completely unpredictable. Do other people see this with bio-impedence methods or is this (perhaps) because of a higher body weight?
My cheapo Tanita varies a lot from day to day. So, I went week to week (Tuesday morning), instead. For about a year, it tracked pretty accurately compared to the higher end devices at the gyms, but then it stopped working correctly. Unfortunately, it's now always wrong and rarely predictable. It read 17% when I could see four abs and 14% when I had none showing.
So, be careful to rely on that part of the cheapo scales.
I now step off the scale before it has a chance to read my body fat %.
body fat % accuracy of Biospace (InBody230)
, so it's nice to get some confirmation.
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