Body Fat Scale - How To Measure Body Fat

With the increasing levels of awareness regarding obesity and diseases related to this condition, more and more people are thronging the gyms or resorting to some other methods of weight loss. It is very easy to determine your body mass index and relate the findings to evaluate your weight. You have to just do some calculations based on a given formula and interpret the result as per the BMI chart. The four categories as per the BMI chart are: underweight, normal weight, overweight and obese. You can find out which category you belong to, as per your score, but with this method you cannot find out your percentage of body fat. Measuring body fat is very important, as it is the accumulation of body fat that is responsible for many diseases. Apart from the BMI, many other such conventional methods also cannot help you in determining the amount of fat in your body. Here is where the body fat scale comes to the rescue.

How to Measure Body Fat

Let us look at the different ways / methods used to measure body fat. The common bathroom scale used by many, tells us the weight but cannot tell the percentage of body fat. The BMI chart also fails in this task. There are some other tools which are useful in measuring the level of body fat. The most common among them are, Near Infrared Interactance (NIR), Dual Energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA / DXA), Calipers (Skinfold Measurements) and hydrostatic weighing. NIR is based on infrared spectroscopy and the percentage of body fat is calculated on the basis of resultant figures. DEXA is basically a scanning tool to determine the bone density, but it is also found to be useful in determining the level of body fat. Calipers measure body fat through measuring the skin fold thickness at various sites like abdomen and chest. Hydrostatic weighing is based on the principle that a person with less body fat will weigh more under water and vice-versa.

All these body fat monitoring tools have many disadvantages. While the results of NIR and calipers are not considered to be accurate, DEXA and underwater weighing are very much expensive and the facility may not be available everywhere. Nevertheless, DEXA and underwater weighing are considered as the most accurate methods of measuring of body fat. But despite being accurate, these tools are not commonly in use due to their high costs.

Body Fat Scale

They are commonly used nowadays as a tool for measuring and monitoring body fat percentage. These scales use a technique called bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA), which comprises the passage of a very small and harmless amount of electricity through the body of the user. The working of these scales are based on the fact that an electric current can pass easily through muscles rather than the fat tissues. More resistance to the electric current means the presence of more fat tissues and vice-versa. The speed of the passage of current through the body is calculated, to determine the density of the body, which is then interpreted in conjunction with other factors like weight and height, to evaluate the body fat percentage. Some scales can directly calculate the final figure, while others cannot and the examiner does that job.

Pros and Cons

One of the disadvantages associated with the body fat scale is that the speed of passage of electric current can be influenced by many factors like amount of water in the body, temperature of the body and recent physical activity. There are doubts regarding the accuracy of the results. Another drawback is that it does not take into account factors like age, gender and race, which can influence the amount of body fat. Even though some of the scales can automatically consider these factors, the results are only rough estimates.

However, the advantage of this tool is its easy availability, as compared to other methods like DEXA and hydrostatic weighing. They are cheaper too. All you have spend is an amount up to $100. Further, it is not just one-time usage, but can be used regularly. There is no need to go to some other place for finding out your body fat percentage.

Tips for Optimum Use

In order to get accurate results from the body fat scale, you must know how to use it in a proper way.

• Don't compare your results with that of your friends, but compare by your own standards and measure your progress regularly.
• Always remember to adjust the machine according to your profile.
• Try to use the scale at the same time everyday.
• Avoid drinking water and physical activity before the test.
• If possible, use the machine at the same room temperature everyday.
• Clean the footpads before using the scale.
• Always try to buy the best among those available in the market. The expensive ones are likely to be more efficient.
• If needed, you can purchase scales with multiple user memory. There are scales which can store the profiles of more than ten people.
• You can compare the results given by your scale with some other test like calipers.

In short, body fat scales are easily accessible devices to determine the body fat measure. If used in the proper way, it can be of great help in monitoring the fat content of your body regularly. You can act accordingly and adopt measures to control body fat level and the diseases it may cause.