Are all singing, all dancing scales worth it?

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Vonny

Vonny

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Hi, I'm after opinions as to whether or not buying a new set of scales is worth it. The ones that do your body fat, visceral fat, metabolic age and everything bar making you a cuppa! Also, because I'm a bit sceptical, does anyone know how they actually work? I mean how can they tell what my visceral fat is through my thin and bony feet? I would really like to know what all my measurements actually are but only if they are accurate. I don't really want to lose any more weight but if I've still got visceral fat I clearly need to.
Does anyone have any advice please? Thanks all x
 
Why not go into a high street chemist? Many of the larger ones have those swish scales that tell you your body fat? I think you pay 50p or a £1. At least you could then see if you like the info they give.
 
Inka said:
Why not go into a high street chemist? Many of the larger ones have those swish scales that tell you your body fat? I think you pay 50p or a £1. At least you could then see if you like the info they give.
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Ooh, that's a good idea, didn't realise they were available in such stores. Will take a trip into the centre and see. Cheers @Inka
 
Vonny said:
Hi, I'm after opinions as to whether or not buying a new set of scales is worth it. The ones that do your body fat, visceral fat, metabolic age and everything bar making you a cuppa! Also, because I'm a bit sceptical, does anyone know how they actually work? I mean how can they tell what my visceral fat is through my thin and bony feet? I would really like to know what all my measurements actually are but only if they are accurate. I don't really want to lose any more weight but if I've still got visceral fat I clearly need to.
Does anyone have any advice please? Thanks all x
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I use the BIA (ie "body impedance analysis") scales at a gymn occasionally. This does the fat composition analysis by trickling electric currents through you and seeing what happens to them. Same principal as fancy bathroom scales but presumably/hopefully more accurate, given it's a bigger & more expensive piece of kit.

From this & from reading I've come to the conclusion that they are probably more accurate than eg a fortune telling machine but really in the same category of thing - more a toy than a tool, if you're looking for real accuracy. But maybe better than nothing for monitoring trend over time.

Cetainly wouldn't invest in buying one for home, though.

PS: Also, with the amount of weight you've lost, fwiw I'd be amazed if you had significant visceral fat remaining, given that it's supposed to be the first to go. Congrats!
 
Looked them up and came to the same conclusion as Eddy - look impressive but the results are subject to massive errors which they sort of decline to mention in their blurb.
 
They had one in my GP surgery waiting room for years which also took your BP by sticking your hand through a hole which measured your wrist BP. Well it did, if you didn't have too small a wrist to detect that you'd inserted it. Hence it could never find my wrist let alone the ruddy pulse in it. I was too short for it to measure my height so the only thing it ever did was weigh me. Thank you, I've got a Salter glass top stones/kgs bathroom scale which runs on those little flat disc type batteries (?CR2032) we bought from B&M for approx a tenner which seems pretty accurate to us, at home we can step on at will, nekkid or not.
 
Well that was a real blow! Hopped onto the machine in Boots. Weight as expected (7st 11lb), BMI as expected (21.5) but my fat percentage was 42!!! And according to the results printed out, anything over 41% is poor!!! Now it doesn't say if it's subcutaneous or visceral fat, but it's still v disappointing and needs to be 31% for my height and age to be excellent.

I was going to stop at 7st 10lb on the basis I'd have lost 5 stone, and will then only be 8lb heavier than I was at 21, but looks like I may have to keep going. There aren't any places left for me to lose it from, just my pesky stomach!
 
Vonny said:
Well that was a real blow! Hopped onto the machine in Boots. Weight as expected (7st 11lb), BMI as expected (21.5) but my fat percentage was 42!!! And according to the results printed out, anything over 41% is poor!!! Now it doesn't say if it's subcutaneous or visceral fat, but it's still v disappointing and needs to be 31% for my height and age to be excellent.

I was going to stop at 7st 10lb on the basis I'd have lost 5 stone, and will then only be 8lb heavier than I was at 21, but looks like I may have to keep going. There aren't any places left for me to lose it from, just my pesky stomach!
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WOW! You are an inspiration, you have done so well to lose that much. I am in need to lose a similar amount although not sure what my final goal is as it seems so odd that you have 42% fat whilst so little. I am 5ft 4 and a healthy weight and BMI for me would be between 8 stone and 10 stone 4, I weighed 7 stone 10 when I was 19 and people told me I was too skinny, so its hard to imagine anyone carrying 42% fat when they weigh so little.

How accurate are those scales, and do you have high cholesterol or any other indicators of having to much visceral fat. The thing that confuses me is all the books I have read on this say the first weight you lose is the visceral fat so you would think if there is no visible fat on you and you have lost 5 stone then you must have lost the internal fat as well, this is so hard to grapple with isnt it.

Please dont let this detract from the amazing achievement you have done in losing all that weight. I weigh 13 stone 9 down from 14 stone 4 2 weeks ago but still a long long way to go, but you have motivated me 🙂
 
Oh and I have just purchased some of these scales to replace my mechanical ones that seem to dart around depending on what mood they are in, I can weigh 2 pounds up or down within the same 5 minute period. I have bad eye sight so seeing the dial is hard for me to determine but to have the digital screen show me the exact amount will be easier for me.
 
Thank you for your kind and encouraging words @Jenny65 🙂 You are doing very well yourself...keep on at it, it is worth it!
 
There is a similar device at our gym and it costs £1 to use. I think that the print out that it provides is useful but I don't take the numbers too seriously. The BMI scale needs to be viewed with a certain amount of scepticism partly because it fails to distinguish between fat and muscle and also because the lines drawn between overweight, underweight and normal weight are arbitrary and lean very heavily toward the skinny side. My weight is now down to 69 kilos, my waist is down to 73cm, that's thirty inches in old money, so I'm looking very trim and, of course, I'm in the ideal weight range. However, the lower limit on the ideal range is 56 kilos, if I lost another 13 kilos I would look positively emaciated. My body fat reading is 12.3%, according to the print out 23% is excellent, I have no idea what that means in practice.
 
Vonny said:
Well that was a real blow! Hopped onto the machine in Boots. Weight as expected (7st 11lb), BMI as expected (21.5) but my fat percentage was 42!!! And according to the results printed out, anything over 41% is poor!!! Now it doesn't say if it's subcutaneous or visceral fat, but it's still v disappointing and needs to be 31% for my height and age to be excellent.

I was going to stop at 7st 10lb on the basis I'd have lost 5 stone, and will then only be 8lb heavier than I was at 21, but looks like I may have to keep going. There aren't any places left for me to lose it from, just my pesky stomach!
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I'd try it again, to see if it's giving consistent readings. Like I said before, I think these things are probably more toys than tools.

I'd also think about building up muscle mass as well as (or maybe instead of) losing weight. In any case, if you do go for more weght loss, be careful you're not actually losing muscle mass - keep yr protein consumption up, do some strength training, maybe talk to a professional etc.
 
But in your forum pic you look amazing @Vonny - really healthy. Congrats on the amazing weight loss, btw. Does the fat % really matter?
 
I don't know @Bloden, just worried in case there is any visceral fat in there. I'm heartened by people's thoughts that visceral is the first to go. If so, I'm not too bothered.
 
Vonny said:
I don't know @Bloden, just worried in case there is any visceral fat in there. I'm heartened by people's thoughts that visceral is the first to go. If so, I'm not too bothered.
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Oh, I see. How do the scales tell the difference? :confused:
 
I have an Omron set I like a lot.


They aren't bluetooth, nor do they connect with a fancy app, but they do everything I need and more.

Impedence scales work by weak currents through the body - often just the feet, but these scales (and others like them) also measure via the hand grasps.

I weigh myself each day due to my personal variability, but just step-on-step off. Roughly fortnightly I do the full scan, so have the additional data. I take particular note of my visceral fat score.

Like all scales or monitors they have their accuracy tolerances, but like bloods, I look at trends. I also like to keep my visceral fat levels stable, bearing in mind how important that area is for those of us with T2.

I bought them early in 2014, so they have kept going. They have memories for up to 4 people, plus a couple of guests. The memories hold basic personal data - gender, age, height. If my scales broke, I would buy them again.
 
Vonny said:
I don't know @Bloden, just worried in case there is any visceral fat in there. I'm heartened by people's thoughts that visceral is the first to go. If so, I'm not too bothered.
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The more sophisticated units with handgrips etc give this kind of read out:
1657659954124.jpeg

You'll see that it said my visceral fat "level" was 6, on some arbitrary scale where 1-9 = "good".

But there are a bunch of studies showing only mediocre correlation between what these types of machine say and actual visceral fat levels, so it's really only useful IMO for looking at trends over time.

Probably not much more useful than a simple waist-hip ratio measurement. That will do a good job of measuring central adiposity - doesn't correspond absolutely to visceral fat, but a pretty good yardstick.

So eg on this report my WHR was 0.78, which is pretty low for a male, giving some comfort that the low rating for visceral fat wasn't too far off the mark.

The conclusion from this report ws that I didn't need to lose any fat but would benefit from building upper-body muscle mass. I'm sure I'll geta round to that one of these days ....
 
Eddy Edson said:
The more sophisticated units with handgrips etc give this kind of read out:
View attachment 21485

You'll see that it said my visceral fat "level" was 6, on some arbitrary scale where 1-9 = "good".

But there are a bunch of studies showing only mediocre correlation between what these types of machine say and actual visceral fat levels, so it's really only useful IMO for looking at trends over time.

Probably not much more useful than a simple waist-hip ratio measurement. That will do a good job of measuring central adiposity - doesn't correspond absolutely to visceral fat, but a pretty good yardstick.

So eg on this report my WHR was 0.78, which is pretty low for a male, giving some comfort that the low rating for visceral fat wasn't too far off the mark.

The conclusion from this report ws that I didn't need to lose any fat but would benefit from building upper-body muscle mass. I'm sure I'll geta round to that one of these days ....
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Thats a very in depth report, the ones I have ordered (hopefully coming tomorrow) are

Slimpal Scale for Body Weight Smart Body Fat Scale WiFi and Bluetooth Digital Bathroom Weight Scale Larger Display for Heart Rate, Body Fat, Weight Trend, 15 Body Composition, Zero-Current Mode​

  • [2.4Ghz WiFi Bluetooth Auto Switch] Slimpal smart scale supports 2.4Ghz WiFi connections, more stable and convenient. After weighing, your data will be automatically store to Slimpal App without opening your phone.Hand free from opening APP every time before weighing. Both WiFi and Bluetooth can auto switch,maximum guarantee of data transmission.
  • [Body Fat on TFT LCD Screen Directly ] Upgraded design with premium TFT LCD screen display, Slimpal body fat scale built in algorithm can automatically calculate your body composition directly and shows 4 essential metrics including Weight, Heart Rate, Body Fat and weight trend on TFT LCD screen directly. An up or down arrow stands next to the weight data to visually display your weight change from the last weighing.
  • [Heart Rate on TFT LCD Screen Directly] Not only body fat and body weight ,you can also check Heart Rate on the scale now! This smart scale with body fat measures a whopping 15 key metrics, establish a whole picture for your body health.
  • [Automatically Recognized & Unlimited Users] Slimpal smart scale is coated with conductive glass ITO,much larger sensor area than the metal electrodes sensor, which ensures precise measurement. Also, It is smart enough to automatically recognize who steps on in WiFi mode, each user will receive the data on their own devices conveniently. One scale for whole family, sports teams, or people living in college dorms.
  • [Work with fitness App] Download Slimpal App (iOS App Store or Play Store for Android), compatible with Apple Health, Google Fit and Fitbit. Plus, it also supports circumference tracking, record your body measurement data, it will automatically calculate the waist-to-hip ratio, offering you a complete picture of health.
Not sure if its a decent one or not but had good reviews.
 

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