I bought a set of scales, yesterday, from Aldi. £15ish and they calculate water, muscle and fat content.

I admit that they are cheap, but seem to be well made etc…

I set it up last night, 37 yrs old, 182cm height, Male, not an athlete…

It calculated my weight as 14st 7 which is exactly what the old scales weighed too, but i’m a bit confused by the results of the rest of it..

It claims that i’m 32.5% fat, which i’m surprised at.

My legs and arms are fairly well toned. I am carrying some extra weight around my waist, but i’m surprised that it accounts for 32.5% of my weight.. Muscle percentage was 37% IIRC and water was 49.5%.

My main objective is to lose the weight around my middle, so i’m not overly bothered by how accurate they are.

Has anyone else used scales like this and do they work?

I had thought they were meant ot be reasonably accurate – measures conductivity or something?

It wouldn’t surprise me if someone who is “carrying some extra weight around my waist” was 32%. I was 15% at last measure and am pretty slim.

My legs are pretty solid, but not overly muscular as are my arms. But if I put the scales to athlete mode, the fat level drops to 19%..

This was the issue that I was having last night with it… I certanly don’t look like Jonny Vegas, nor am I Lance Armstrong.. I’m probably average, but the Athlete mode is probably closer to being accurate..

Mrs M was p*ssing her sides laughing at me last night when I was trying to rationalise the athlete setting! 🙁

You’re about the same height as me, but weigh 26% more. I’m pretty lean, with the beginning of a visible ‘six pack’, which apparently indicates I’m about 14% body fat.

If all the extra weight you are carrying over me is fat, that would put you at 40% body fat, I think. Some of it’s likely to be muscle, so 30% seems pretty resonable to me.

A bit more positive way of looking at it: I’m dead skinny, so you only need to lose the fat that I have to be as skinny as me.

I think most people would have a higher % body fat than they think.

Well i’m not losing sleep over it, but i’m surprised it’s so high!

its not just the fat you can see – its the fat around your heart etc. so you could have a really skinny person with a really high body fat percentage.

My scales tell me I am 31% fat, and I’m 6cm taller and 2 stone heavier than yourself. But I can believe it, I am fairly toned in the arms and legs (I cant really pinch any fat on them, I look a decent shape but I have a fair size waist.
Me Currently, certainly looking larger than you in your photo!:

Doctor pointed out that a large percentage of your fat goes on internally, around your organs making you generally larger, before any goes on the outside showing up as a spare tyre. He estimated my scales were right. I’m now trying to work it off!

My friend has a set of these, and i use them all the time lol.

Facts:
Height = 6ft 3.5″
Weight = 11.4 stone
Age = 20
Body Fat = 9%
Water = 60% (average, sometimes higher by 1% or lower by 1%)

Lowest i ever got was 8% body fat weighing 11 stone lol, that was silly though, so i ate a pie 😉

Now this thing is rather expensive i think, and works by sending some current through your body, he did explain once but i was to busy not listening.

I might go and buy a set of these, be interesting to compare.

interesting points, hadn’t really thought about internally!

I’m going to just get out and ride as much as I can and burn it off..

My target is to lose about 2 stone, so it will be interesting to see what the figures are once i’ve done it!

I find the US army calculation based on waist measurements to be accurate for me:

Like this spreadsheet

Google will turn up online calculator versions.

When i Tested these body fat scales for a national magazine; we concluded that they were pants. Wen’t from being obese to malnourished on different sets of scales one after the other!

I believe that they use resistance as a measure, sweat, heat, dehydration and salt levels will all play a part in effecting the measurement.

5thElefant – That’s interesting,it says i’m 22.77%.. I can go fight in the US Army! 😀

25%+ is obese…

My target is to lose about 2 stone

2 stone is about 14% of your current weight. That would leave you with 18% body fat, which is probably about right. Looks like the scales weren’t wrong after all 🙂

25%+ is obese…

Wouldnt say I was obese though, so I’d say 25% being obese was wrong!

I think these scales can get confuddled by fat/muscle, which is why they have this athlete mode as the resistance is different. On mine there is a difference of 14% between normal and athlete.

Wouldnt say I was obese though, so I’d say 25% being obese was wrong!

Best tell all those doctors.

the instructions on my body fat scales say lots of things can affect the reading – how hot/cold you are, if you have just eaten or drank anything etc etc. you will also get inconsistency in readings using different body fat scales. with that in mind, i’m not sure any of it is accurate, except for the pinch test!

i used the set at my gym for ages, consistently every week and was coming in at 17% body fat and 54kg (women’s body fat is higher than men’s anyway, and i’m 5′ 2″) but got a set of scales for the flat, which says my body fat is 24% and weight is 53kg. i don’t know which one is accurate, but i’m not happy thinking it could be 24%.

I think these scales can get confuddled by fat/muscle, which is why they have this athlete mode as the resistance is different. On mine there is a difference of 14% between normal and athlete.

I’m sure these scales are pretty rubbish. In fact, if they can’t tell the difference between muscle and fat are they not just using how much water you have in your body and then guessing?

But if you think you need to lose 2 stone of fat…

yup… Well i’ve started… Lost 1lb this week! 🙁

I’ve recently acquired some callipers designed for home body fat measurement, and I’ve come out at about 15% – I’ve shed quite a lot of fat , with only a little bit of belly fat left to go (168cm, 68kg), so your result is probably ballpark right.

I thought they were supposed to be pants and a good old fashioned caliper was the way to go.

I think calipers are more accurate. I’ve been measured three times in the last year with those electric scales and the figures have varied from 20.7% to 34%. I’m 5’7″ and weigh 10 stone. Two of the measurements were at the local sports centre, they had a machine that measured your height, weight, and calulated your BMI and fat perentage for a quid. First time it said 27%. I called up the owner opf the machine to tell him it was innaccurate, and he said it could be dirty contact plates where you grip the handles, or possibly I was dehydrated. They were going to service it in a couple of days, so I went back for another go. Had been drinking loads of water all morning, and was almost wetting myself by the time I got to the centre. This time it said 34%. Now I can pinch an inch (or two) around the waistline, but I can’t believe a third of me is fat!