My Bod Pod Results

I've been very confused over my Body Fat percentages. My home scale is one of those Weigh****chers scales. This scale not only shows weight but it also shows, Body Fat in lbs, Body Fat Percentage, Water Weight, Bone Density and BMI.

I'm a numbers person, so I also enjoyed keeping track of my numbers. But it has always bothered me that the Body Fat % on my scale Vs. My Bariatric Doctor's very fancy and expensive Tantia body composition analyzer differs so much. My Scale showed my body fat at 26.5% where my doctors scale showed a fat % of 16.9 during my annual appointment last week.

I asked the Nut how accurate their scale is and she said very accurate. I figured they must have the thing calibrated. So I figured my scale must not be that accurate. 

Yesterday I had the opportunity to get a Bod Pod test. Before going in the technician warned me Every single person that has gone in was disappointed with the results. I have to say that I didn't disappoint him.

My Reading Body Mass 195.473 Lbs with Fat % - 26.4

I had a nice long talk with the technician who is also a personal trainer. He was very intrigued with my story and why I was getting tested.

He told me that the scale is meaning less. It's about how you look and feel. We talked about what I have been doing from an exercise perspective. He suggested that I concentrate less on cardio and more on interval strength training. He also said that I was too consistent with my routine. I need to change it up. Confuse my body so it doesn't get accustomed to my work out routine. He said the goal would be to build more lean body mass. He said my weight may increase or stay the same but encouraged me to come back now that I'm in the system and compare my results as I work on building muscle.

I asked him if the excess skin that I have on my thighs and on my chest would skew the results. He said good question and told me that he would contact the manufacturer. He got back to me this afternoon. I included the response below.

Loose Skin after Bariatric Surgery

 

It has been found that the loose skin does not affect the accuracy of the BOD POD results. Body Fat percentage and Fat Free Mass percentage should all be within the correct range.

The makeup of the extra skin can only be broken down via chemical analysis, so we can't say the loose skin is only in the fat free mass category. But a study done with patients before and after gastric bypass surgery showed that excess skin did not skew the results obtained from the BOD POD.

 

Clinical Research Manager

Mikey
Thanks for posting this. I am not sure what your fat % goal is but I had mine determined with the weighing under water test when I reached my initial goal and I was 30% fat. (must have been about 98% fat before wls). But my surgeon said that for my age and gender that was ok and pretty normal.

And thanks for telling about the loose skin thing as its an important question.

We have a bod pod at our local university and I think I will get hubby Shrinking Nerd to go with me and get tested.

Anyway, even if the 26% is accurate I think its still pretty good.

Diane

The print out that they gave me shows Excess fat range is between 20 - 30%. Moderately Lean is 12 - 20%.

I'm OK with my 26%. I feel great and I look good. I agree with my Nut. I wouldn't look good if I lost anymore weight. I am going to try to focus on building more muscle as I feel as if I'm a weakling.

Even though I'm a numbers person...I'm also a realist. I don't think those charts where printed with me in mind. Same as BMI. I wouldn't look good at a normal BMI...therefore why go for something that I wouldn't look good at.

I am going to let my nut know that they need to have their scale re-calibrated

yeah my brother roundater just hit wonderland. I saw him not long ago and even though the weight charts say he should lose 40 more, I don't think he has it to lose. I think he looks great now. One of these days will post it. People are all different in so many ways and having seen some of your pix i don't think you would look as good any skinnier.  You done good!!!    Diane

Thanks

Hey, thanks a lot for posting this!  My gym is supposed to have one of these - I'm going to see how much it costs and do it myself.  I also have a home scale that is supposed to measure my fat percent, but my body fat swings throughout the week, and drives me crazy.   This week, my scale would have me believe that I've lost a pound by increased my body fat by 3%.  Bah.

Good for you for having your body fat tested via BOD POD. To be quite honest, the scale measurements for body fat percentages are notoriously inaccurate. The most valid readings come from the BOD POD, Hydrostatic Weighing, or DEXA. Any other methods are just estimates. Even if your surgeon's scale was recalibrated, it wouldn't be much more accurate (have to have Mac chime in with this one). Your body's fluid balance even effects the reading.

When I had my body fat checked by Hydrostatic weighing, the technician said that the excess skin didn't skew the results.

Btw, I have been weight training for the past 15 months and it really does change your body composition. Your weight may be the same, but you will be solid muscle, if you keep on with it. Plus, the more lean muscle mass one has, the higher your metabolic rate is at rest, since muscle burns more calories than an equivalent amount of fat. It is a win-win situation.

Gail

Going on vacation next week. But when I come back I'm really going to motivate myself to step up the strength training.

I'm planning an off plan week that week. So I'm sure I'll be pretty motivated when I return to my scale

The technician talked to me about the higher metabolic rate with more lean muscle as well.

Thanks for the info.

From everything I've read- those impedance scales can be very inaccurate, depending on a lot of factors. I have one too, never used that feature though. The dunk tank and BodPod are the most accurate easy tests, DEXA is the best iirc?.. but not used for that purpose due to cost and such.. Your % sounds pretty darn good! I'm sure mine right now is in the 30's, prob mid-high 30's! I'll be seeing the numbers here in a few weeks, and am getting a RMR test run too just to see what my metabolic rate actually is (here's to hoping that's a nice high number!)

Thanks for posting about the skin, I was wondering that myself.

It came back with an Estimated RMR of 1779 and TEE of 3095.

Not sure what TEE is????