Tanita Question

[jstar]

Hi I just bought a Tanita scale the other day - the adult mode only version (really wanted the adult/athlete one but they don't seem to sell them in the stores for some reason).
Anyways the past 4 mornings I have gotten up and taken the reading and it has me at 30% when in fact I am not. The night I bought I came home and tested it out and it said 26%...the next day around 6pm I was 27%...

About 2 mos ago I was tested by a different Bio-Impedance machine which had me at 24%, my trainer says that it read me a bit high and I'm probably closer to 22%...and I have pretty much maintained since then.

After reading the instructions that came with the scale it says the best time of day to weigh yourself on it is in the early evening and it should be 3 hours after you've eaten and not right after a workout. Does anyone have a tanita and what time of day/under what circumstances do you use it? Or is it totally useless and should I return it? Or should I return it and order the athlete mode online? I don't really care if the actual number is off a little as long as I can see that the % is going down week to week then I know I am on the right track. For me I need this motivation.

 

[starfish]

I've heard those scales are junk and not accurate.

 

[SteelWeaver]

They appear to be wildly inaccurate depending on what you've eaten, state of hydration (this is a big one), time of day, phase of menstrual cycle, etc, etc, etc. Also, if you have more muscle mass than the average woman, they'll read you wrong.

That said, you could always try measuring yourself at the same time, after the same food, drink, at the same phase of menstrual cycle - basically, standardise everything, and the reading should be consistent ....

 

[VeggieLifterChick]

I have a Tanita scale. Its turned out to be wildly inaccurate, reading me as high as 30% when a trainer did a 9 point calliper measurement that put me at 22%. I find it useless in terms of measuring progress too, because it can read you at 27% one minute and 26% or even 30% an hour later. One thing I can say for the scale is that its extremely accurate at weighing. Down to the .5. My friend weighed himself on it at 165.5 and then the next day got weighed at a hospital at 165.6. So that's pretty damn good. Bioimpedence tests that I've had done at the gym have been close to calliper measurements though. I guess the Tanita scale works differently or something. The bodyfat is definitely not accurate.

 

[BlackCherri]

If you still have your receipt then take that thing back. The bf readings are all the fuck over the place. Wildly variable, and very untrustworthy. There's a bodpod here at Emory university that I have used and it is wonderful. I've found that a trained professional with a high dollar skin caliper very closely simulates the bodpod in accuracy. Stick to the caliper.

 

[circusgirl]

my tanita is great for weighing things but the bf% measure is crappy. It's still telling me I'm 35% bf and I KNOW that's way too high from looking in the mirror. I would estimate I'm more like 25%.

It is an accurate regular scale though, the 10-dollar scales from walmart/argos/whoever are crap.