Regularly measuring body weight is an essential part of life for overweight people trying to lose weight. Conventional weighing scales only measure weight. However, instead of weight, checking the body fat percentage is considered to be a better way of evaluating the effect of exercise and diet on the health of an overweight person. Body fat percentage is a measure of the amount of fat in the body as compared to other components. For men, more than 20% of body fat is considered unhealthy while for women it is 25%. One of the common devices used to measure body fat percentage is body fat scales.
How do body fat scales work? Body fat scales use bioelectrical impedance technology to calculate body fat percentage. The scale sends a current up through one leg which passes through the body and comes down through the other leg. Fat is a poor conductor of electricity as compared to muscles, water and other components present in the body. Thus, the resistance offered by the body to the flow of electric current is directly proportional to the fat percentage. The degree of impedance or resistance in the path of electric current is used by the scale to determine the fat percentage. Height, weight, age and gender are also taken into consideration for calculating the fat percentage. Many models of fat scales also transfer information in the form of graphs and charts to computers and other devices. The accuracy of body fat scales Body fat scales are not highly accurate in calculating body percentage. Factors such as level of hydration of the body, time elapsed since meals or exercise, the degree of cleanliness of the feet, etc. also affect the results of a body fat scale. It has also been pointed out that since the current goes up through one foot and returns through the other foot, only the fat present in the lower body is measured. Body fat scales also fail to recognise muscle gain. Thus, even if you have lost fat and gained muscles, the body fat scale will return an increased fat body percentage figure. The fact that electric current follows the path of least resistance implies that many tissues are missed entirely by the scale. Thus, all the tissues are not checked for fat content by the scale. This anomaly also has a negative impact on the accuracy of body fat scales. The saving grace for body fat scales is that even though the measured body fat percentages are not entirely accurate, you can still track the progress of your exercise and diet regime by identifying a trend. For example, if your initial body fat percentage as determined by the machine was 23% which changed to 21% in two months, it means that you did lose fat despite the numbers being inaccurate.
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