Been going twice a day to gym to get my bodyfat down. I just had my lowest read ever on my Tanita: 7.3%. Now, you have to add 4-5% because I have it on athletic mode. I will get a pedometer again but not a fit bit - too expensive if you lose it.
most guys go once a day to decrease bodyfat, to be honest
as long as you keep hydration the same Tanitia/BIA MIGHT be accurate
try a bodpod
Bioelectrical impedance Analysis (BIA)
BIA is another popular method for measuring body composition; much of this has to do with it being fairly easy to measure. Unlike calipers, it doesn’t require training and since it’s high-tech (looking anyhow), people tend to put a lot of stock in the results.
Gyms will often use BIA methods, they can be found at all kinds of health fairs and, as I mentioned on Wednesday, there are now scales (such as the Tanita) that use BIA to give body fat estimates. BIA is used in some research studies as well. Basically, BIA is quick and easy.
But is it accurate?
Yes and no. If strict hydration protocols are adhered to, BIA is actually reasonably accurate. The problem I see is that, in the real world, these protocols aren’t followed and this will throw off the measurements completely. To understand why, I should probably actually explain how BIA is done and what it’s measuring.
A typical BIA machine will have an operator attach one electrode to the back of your hand and one to your foot, there are also hand-held models where you just hold onto two handles, the scales obviously run through your feet. Usually some data is entered such as age, height and weight (some will let you choose from athlete or non-athlete and give different results depending on which you pick) and then the machine runs a current from one electrode to the other (no, it doesn’t hurt).
BIA works by estimating total body water. Now, water is conductive, that is electricity can move through it (if there are minerals present) and different tissues such as bone, muscle and fat all contain different amounts of water. So by measuring how fast the current moves from one electrode to the other, BIA machines can estimate how much water is present in the body and use that to determine how much fat, muscle, etc. you have. Or at least that’s what it is trying to do.
And that brings in the problem I mentioned above: hydration state can throw off BIA tremendously. Both dehydration (as might occur when carbohydrates are lowered) or hyper-hydration can throw off BIA completely
. Even a large urination or a big glass of water can throw off a BIA measurement by a few percentage points.So unless you’re following those strict hydration protocols, BIA can be terribly misleading. If you’re slightly differently hydrated from the last measurement you took, what looks like an actual change in body fat percentage may actually just be a difference in water balance.
Now, in BIA’s defense, assuming someone kept their hydration state constant (i.e. measuring themselves every Monday after urinating but before breakfast), BIA may give at least comparative measurements. Just make sure you always measure under consistent conditions.http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/measuring-body-composition-part-2.html/
