weight-loss

Body Fat with a Weight Scale

The Heta AkiraLeave a comment

In the last post we decided that to monitor our progress we will concentrate on Fat.
And while we also said that BMI (Body Mass Index) could be a way to measure, I don’t think that BMI should be the method of choice nowadays.  BMI is good when you don’t have a smart scale around and you are not very muscular. 

If you want my opinion, I would skip BMI altogether and go right into BFP (Body Fat Percentage) as for us in this Blog, fat is the name of the game.

So, let us focus in getting a good Weight Scale (Smart Weight Scale). One that can compute Body Fat Percentage for us.

A Smart Weight Scale is not too different in appearance to any digital scale that only compute weight. Of course, after getting the results, the similarity ends. 

Here is a photo of the one that I am using now.  I believe it was like 25 dollars at Amazon. So is not like getting a proper device will break the bank for you. 

Now, in any modern digital weight scale, you will expect at least the following:
1) More than just Weight and BMI, again we won’t settle for less than a weight scale with Body Fat readings. Some scales can even split Fat in subcutaneous (under the skin) and the visceral fat (around the organs). In case you are wondering, having excess of visceral fat is worst. 
2) Phone (and sometimes smartwatch) App to track your data. You will pair your scale with your phone and every time you step into your scale, your data will be transferred automatically. 
3) Profiles is a desired feature if the weight scale is shared and there are other family members following your new healthy trend of tracking your weight and fat percentage. 

As I am not recommending any brand or model of weight scale, go online and see a couple of showdown videos to help your selection. Use a prompt like “Best Smart Scales of 2025” or something similar and start reviewing! 

Maybe some of you are asking yourself, what is the deal with this BFP?  I already got a good scale that measures weigh and BMI, why should I change to BFP?  After all most of doctors still rely on BMI on patients’ assessments. 

Yes, that is true. There are a lot of physicians that still use BMI for weight diagnostic, but this number is going down each year. Specially, after 2023 that the American Medical Association (AMA) redefined the limitations of BMI as a sole indicator for assessing weight and obesity risks. 

Ok, now to close this post, I will give you a practical example that will let you see why “BFP > BMI”.  

Here I got a photo (very old photo) that we will use to show our point. 
Look at the two subjects in the photo.

comparing

Although the one on the right is 4″ taller than me, consider the following data:

AGE:              53   –     52
WEIGHT:       274   – 229
HEIGHT:       5′ 9″   – 6′ 1″
BODY FAT:    49.6  –   19
WAISTLINE:  52”  –    34″
PANTS SIZE:  42  –    34″

BMI values =   40.5 – 30.2     to BMI, BOTH SUBJECTS ARE OBESE!!!

 

BUT if we go the BFP route, we see that in my case, half of my body is fat and in the subject of the right is less than 20% and that is why these two are so different at plain sight. 

Again, remember that the reason for this lack of precision on BMI is because it disregards entirely muscle mass. 

So let us get a good Smart Weight Scale that calculates BFP!

Just how fat are we?

The Heta AkiraLeave a comment

If someone asks you this question: How Fat are you?  What would be your answer?
I am a few pounds overweight or slightly over my average weight or you dodge the question entirely and you answer with “I will start a diet next week”?

There is a problem giving sidestep replies like those above. They are all related to a value that is unknown and unclassified, except for the last one that is not even an answer. Now, here at THB (The Heta Blog) we will user something that works for everybody and I am not talking just about pounds. 

The thing is, when you see an overweight or obese person, what you are looking at is Fat or Excess Fat to be more specific. If you don’t understand, let me show you something

fat-v-muscle

Here you see five pounds of Fat and Muscle. Maybe by just looking at this picture you understand my point. Fat takes a lot more space than Muscle. That’s why sometimes you can see two men with the same weight but with distinct size of clothes.

Again, the important indicator for us to measure our fitness level is going to be BFP (Body Fat Percentage). In other words, how much of our body is fat.

Now the Big Question… How do we measure our BFP?

To measure BFP we have the following options:

1) DEXA Scan: A big machine that uses small emissions of X-ray to give us our body composition. This is the most accurate method but is also the most expensive. A session to determine your BFP would cost around $300.

2) Hydrostatic Weighing: In this method you are submerged into a water tank and the machine will measure your body fat. The logic behind this method is that being bone and muscle denser than water, a body with substantial amounts of body fat will be lighter. Hydrostatic Weighing is accurate and not so expensive as Dexa Scan but is not as available.

3) Skin Fold Caliper: This is a very popular method in gyms but since the device is not expensive you can get your own. Results are as accurate as your measuring skills. The idea is to pinch the skin at certain spots and measure with the tool. After that you will check the values with a conversion table that will give you the resulting BFP.

4) Bioelectric Impedance Analysis: This is the method used by many Weight Scales. Using a small electric current flow and measuring the electrical impedance (resistance) on the body you can get a relatively accurate value of your BFP.

 5) BMI (Body Mass Index): Well, this is not really a true method to measure BF, but in overweight and obese people it can sometimes be as accurate as the Bioelectric Impedance Analysis. The parameters needed for the formula are Height and Weight. Strangely enough, BMI is still the number one method for assessing body composition and there are scales that only have BMI.

Out of all five methods, we will be using 4 and 5.

Now, to end today’s post, let’s get our BMI right now!
I know that my current weight is 320 pounds and that I am 5′ 9″.

For our test, we will use a BMI calculator from The US Department of Health & Human Services 

https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/calculate-your-bmi

I went to the site, and using “Standard” System, I entered height and weight and clicked on “Calculate Your BMI”.

Well, there you have it folks! According to the resulting table, having a BMI above 30 will place you in the obese category. In my case, with a BMI of 47.3 that is way over plain obese. So just doing the effort to get out of this category will be a big task for me.

On our next post, we will learn how to use a Bioelectric Impedance Analysis Weight Scale and compare results.

See you in the next Post!    🙂