I have been using my tanita scales for several months now and they have provided 'accurate' results, but then towards the end of February i bought a set of fat track calipers. It was slightly strage at first, as the calipers read a few % lower than the tanita scales, but now the difference between them is crazy! For example, last friday's measurements were 186.75lbs, with a wasit measurement of 31", and an abdomen measurement of 34". My scales gave me a mean reading of 15.5% BF, wheras my calipers gave me a mean reading of 8.5%. Which gives a mean of 12% BF. I am 6' 2 1/2". Why do you think these results have such a large range? The tanita scales are the 2001 model, so may be slightly outdated, but just wondered. Any ideas?

Cheers,

Ben :d_eek:

I have yet to find a Tanita that can accurately assess a male's body fat who is < 15%. Most people I know (myself include) find it will report down to 16% and then get "stuck" on that number no matter how much more we lose - I was shredded for a photo shoot and my Tanita was still reporting me at 14%! Now, the scale is GREAT as far as "weight" accuracy but not so good with body fat. I think when you said it was accurate, a better term would have been "consistent." Also, calipers take some time to learn and be consistent with - even trainers don't get consistent measurements unless they've been properly trained and have some experience with them.

Look at yourself in the mirror. Can you see your abs clearly? If not, you are definitely not 8%.

Jeremy

I have a newer Tanita model that has both "normal" and "athlete" mode along with the calipers. In "normal" mode, the Tanita is quite a bit higher than the calipers. In "athlete" mode they're pretty close, usually the Tanita is slightly lower than the calipers. I'm around 10% BF and this has been my experience. I had my brother test it out and for him the "normal" mode was more accurate, but he's around 20% BF. So, it could be that once once you start to get down into the lower BF % the "normal" mode isn't quite as accurate.

Sterno

I have yet to find a Tanita that can accurately assess a male's body fat who is < 15%. Most people I know (myself include) find it will report down to 16% and then get "stuck" on that number no matter how much more we lose

Yeah!!!! It seems my scale does that also. I am vein so the mirror is more important to me anyway but it can really be discouraging. Also I can get as many fat measurements as times and ways I get measured so I have stopped putting to much faith in these things.

I posted almost the same thing yesterday. My tanita is way off. I do feel that the fat track calipers are a little low though. Make sure you are taking enough skin and not squeezing too hard.

I found the same thing, once I past 15% bf, the "athlete" mode was more accurate. However, it can be wildly innacurate. My friend weighed about 215 lbs. and was somewhere around 7-10% bf; it gave him a reading of 18%.... so go figure. There's more accurate methods out there.

Since I've gone below about 13% my Tanita seems to be losing accuracy.
1 month ago i was repoting me at 13%, 171lbs.
I have lost 6 lbs since then, but it still reported me at 13% yesterday morning even though I have lost weight, am looking noticably more defined and have lost over 1 inch of my waist in that time.

Thanks all!!! What i have been doing is taking two measurements a days with the tanita (one at 7am straight after waking up, which is when i also take 6 measurements with the Fat Track [which i calculate the mean from], i then repeat this at around 16.30). I usually get lower readings in the latter measurements, but the calipers do show my BF % to be going down steadily! It really doesn't matter whan the figure reads, as long as they are decreasing!

Cheers,

Ben :d_biggrin

It really doesn't matter whan the figure reads, as long as they are decreasing!


That's all that I look for as well.

Hmm, Im happy I read this post, pretty much my Tanita reads me at 16% BF almost everyday, and when I lose weight the stupid thing tends to go up, I was finding it hard to beleive that when my stomachs getting smaller (its acctually .. flat) that my BF was somehow going up.

Seems that other people have this problem also, :)

Hmm, I was almost ready to change my diet, Some people say im crazy eating 2700 calories in a day to cut and I find it rather annoying eating 1000 calories more then others but I tend to lose like 5 lbs a week if I go down to the average 2000 like most people and I dont think 5 lbs a week is a good thing :P.

my mom has a digital camera Im hoping to figure it out I want to put pictures up and try and get some people to give me a more accurate reading from looks since my stomachs flat but its still rather big (36 in aprox well I need to figure out where to measure though lol).

Hmm, I was almost ready to change my diet, Some people say im crazy eating 2700 calories in a day to cut and I find it rather annoying eating 1000 calories more then others but I tend to lose like 5 lbs a week if I go down to the average 2000 like most people and I dont think 5 lbs a week is a good thing :P.

Hey man, whatever works for you! I'm similar - with my calories set as per the guidelines, and with what seems to be a realistic BMR multiplier, I've been eating about 2300 calories a day - and lost 4 pounds last week! I've got to modify my spreadsheet to custom calculate my "real" BMR multiplier based on the last seven days of losing, rather than the guidelines. If you've got a more active metabolism, correct for it, and ignore the 2000 calorie people - and be thankful! ;)

Patrick