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Can You Trust a Body Fat Calculator?

By: Dave Jackson. I had no idea when I drove to the nearest home improvement store that I'd spend 20 minutes eyeing the new bathroom scales with the amazing body fat calculator built right in. Yes, I have one already, but these were new and had more features! Seems if you buy anything electronic nowadays, it's obsolete by the time you get it home.

Still, I wondered if the technology had improved to the point that would make this gem any more accurate than my scale. If you own one of these, you've probably seen the body fat calculator change from day to day. And there's a reason for that. We just don't want to take the time to read that book that comes with the unit.

If you're like me, you want to kick the thing with your toe - hear that familiar beep and then jump on and wait for the four beeps. Naturally, we don't want to look down. That's the painful part. Yet there are a few factors I've learned that cause the thing to be all over the map.

Burning fat is probably the quickest way to lower your weight. And yes, we all need a certain amount of fat, but you know there's a limit on that, too. It's that point of excess you need to concentrate on. If you want to lose weight and get healthier, you need to work on lowering your body fat.

To find out why the bathroom scale body fat calculators were off, I compared them to the caliper method of pinching a fold of fat, and the tape measure method. The scale was higher many times. Both caliper and tape are known to be pretty accurate methods of calculating body fat. The reason the scale was off was because I wasn't using it right.

Compared to any other electronic method of measuring body fat, this calculator in the scale is the least expensive. Still, by sending a small electric current through the feet, it can tell with some accuracy what the body fat percentage is. Lean tissue transmit better than fat, so a calculation is made and displayed on the unit. Why did my percentage differ throughout the day?

If you read the manual (and who does nowadays?) you find that factors to figure in your readings are the time of day you use the unit, amount of water intake, body temperature, if you've exercised, and these all affect that current level. This in turn, affects the body fat calculation. What should you do? I recommend using the scale at the same time each day - I use it each morning.

If you buy one of these units, yes - they can be pretty accurate, but... you need to use them at the same time of day, each day. I suggest using the scale the first thing when you get up. This way, you can chart or as with my unit, it memorizes the readings and shows if you've gained or lost. It's important to discover that by losing weight, if you need to, you will not only look better - you'll feel fantastic too. Most people say their mental clarity increases dramtically. So get your body fat calculator and start using it!

Article Source: http://www.lifeweightloss.com

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