I wonder if anyone in the forum has experiences with equipment for doing body scans at home. Are they any good? And if so, are there any brands and services that provide better quality than others? I am grateful for feedback on this.
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I took a while to work out that the normal bathroom electronic scales lie to people. They are not that accurate and hence make guesses then stick to them.
I ended up spending money on scales that report accurately what their sensors say. These are scales that are used for martial arts contest participants.
I worry that any other domestic scanning system will have the same dishonesty baked in. Hence large changes can be relied on, but smaller changes are just noise.
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People have discussed their results comparing the two (scales vs. DEXA) in this thread: Amount of Central Fat Predicts Mortality Risk in Non-Obese Individuals - #28 by Alpha
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I have a Tanita scale that is pretty spot on with dexa scans between 15% and 22% body fat. As soon as I got below 15%, it became very very inaccurate. Currently ~12% dexa and it claims on average about 8%.
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I have the Withings. It’s wildly off VS a DEXA. But the discrepancy seems consistent. So I think if you do a DEXA once you can then rely on the scale to see your evolution.
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The big test with scales is whether if you wave your hands around the scales change the value. If they are honest they should change their values. Otherwise they are ignoring something. That something many be significant if you are working to say values of 50g.
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This might be the case with Withings scales, though I suspect it’s highly individual. Eg with my tanita I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s accurate in a different range for different individuals. It’s definitely not the case that the difference is consistent with a Tanita - going from 14% → 12% on dexa was 14% → 8% on the scale for me.
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With that said, it’s probably the case that if you calibrate your expectations with a dexa scan at each level then it’s probably consistent enough. Eg now I know that 8% corresponds to roughly 12%, and perhaps 11% corresponds to roughly 13% in reality. I guess we’ll see if that holds as I get leaner
I have a garmin scale and have always just thought of it as a random number to follow and was shocked when my dexa matched it’s reading. Previously I had a withing and it showed my body fat lower and I thought it was funny by switching scales my fat increased, For me the Garmin is surprisingly accurate but still use it more as a number to follow.
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I think the standard body fat scales are close to worthless. It’s random whether or not they will match a Dexa scan (you can get lucky). Also, the amount that it’s off by changes as you gain or lose weight. For example suppose you measure 20% body fat and your true body fat is 15%. Now suppose you lose 10 pounds. Your true body fat might change to 10% but the scale might now tell you that you have 18% body fat.
However I think there is value in the scales that do segmental analysis by sending multi-frequency electrical signals through both the hands and feet. The ones you would find in a doctors office are usually made by InBody and are extremely expensive. (https://inbodyusa.com/) I own a similar one made by Tanita that goes for about $500. It is the RD-545 InnerScan PRO (RD-545 InnerScan PRO Heart Rate, Body Fat & Segmental Composition Scale | Tanita) and I think it’s pretty accurate.
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This is the Tanita that I own. See my comments above about its accuracy (or rather, inaccuracy) for me. The latest Withings scales also offer segmental analysis.
I’m in the 15%-20% range where I feel like it’s mostly correct. I have no experience getting below that level of body fat but from your experience it sounds like it doesn’t work very well there. Good to know if I ever get there. I’ve seen the Withings and it looks pretty cool, but I have no idea how accurate it is. From the InBody studies I’ve seen, it seems like the more frequencies you use, the more accurate you can get. But those machines can get crazy expensive.
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