It's very hard to get a good estimate of your fat percentage. The scales tend to be pretty inaccurate (they can be off by as much as ten percentage points, so you could get a reading of 34% if you were 24% or if you were 44%). OTOH, they tend to be internally consistent - so if you had one & weighed yourself on it once a month, you could tell if your BF was going up or down.
Its sort of like scales. There are two scale in my gym & when I weigh 148 on one of them, I'm about 143 on the other. Interestingly, when I was over 150, they gave identical readings. They were the kind with the slidy thingies that can go in a 100 lb slot or a 150 slot. I think one of them had a mismatch - because there was a period of over a month where if I slid the thingie into the 150 slot, and had the other slider at 0, it said I was less than that - but if I slid the thingie into the 100 slot & had the other slider at 50, it said I was more than that. It was very disconcerting. It was like Schrodinger's obesity or something.
I generally get my BF measured by one of the trainers at the gym using calipers. Somewhat more accurate than the scale, but still pretty variable. But if you have the same person do it each time, you can notice a trend.
no subject
Its sort of like scales. There are two scale in my gym & when I weigh 148 on one of them, I'm about 143 on the other. Interestingly, when I was over 150, they gave identical readings. They were the kind with the slidy thingies that can go in a 100 lb slot or a 150 slot. I think one of them had a mismatch - because there was a period of over a month where if I slid the thingie into the 150 slot, and had the other slider at 0, it said I was less than that - but if I slid the thingie into the 100 slot & had the other slider at 50, it said I was more than that. It was very disconcerting. It was like Schrodinger's obesity or something.
I generally get my BF measured by one of the trainers at the gym using calipers. Somewhat more accurate than the scale, but still pretty variable. But if you have the same person do it each time, you can notice a trend.