Yep, Tanita was the one I had! I know hydration levels would throw it off. It would suck to be 18% body fat in the morning, eat well all day, train hard, then be 20% at night.
I mainly worry that someone who’s doing everything right – diet and training – might get demotivated based on a device’s readings, when it reality they’re making good, sustainable progress. Or maybe they drop their calories unnecessarily low.
But if the tech has improved and it keeps you on track, I’m all for it.
This is could be a risk with the Renpho. I recall that Bill Campbell (Professor of Exercise Science at U. of South Florida for folks who don’t know the name) tested the Renpho compared to a DEXA and found that it underreported fat loss compared to the DEXA. So someone using it will probably see smaller changes in body comp than are actually happening.
If you have 30 lbs of fat on you and weigh 190 lbs in the morning, you would be 15.8% BF. If you proceeded to hydrate aggressively and gained 10 lbs of water weight throughout the day, you would still have 30 lbs of fat but now weigh 200 lbs. You would be 15.0% BF. So your BF should be highest in the morning and lowest as you gain weight throughout the day, correct?
This was usually my experience with my Tanita.
Eh, math is hard. 
I just remember having a Tanita and jumping on it multiple times a day just to test it. Readings were all over the place. The handheld ones are even less accurate.
Is there any way to preferentially target the “kill ya fast” fat vs the subcutaneous fat when cutting, or is each person’s ratio just their genetic lottery winnings?
Processed foods and inactivity will lead to visceral fat. I did a DEXA scan and have another scheduled next week, which will tell you how much visceral fat you have. It should be 0.0 lbs, which mine was. It’s worth the 50 bucks to get one done, as it gives you lots of health markers in addition to your overall BF%.
Well, the overall good news is that visceral fat is metabolized faster than sub-Q, so whatever training and dietary interventions you use will “target” it, so to speak.
I’ve seen a few studies pointing to the effectiveness of longer duration cardio, but they don’t seem to have a control group with people just lifting, doing HIIT, etc. And other studies show short duration cardio and resistance training work too.
See this: How to Lose Your Gut Without Dieting - Bigger Stronger Leaner - COMMUNITY - T NATION
Some research shows that trans fats are preferentially stored as visceral, but we know to avoid those anyway. Likewise, booze may contribute but that seems to only be true with frequent binge drinking.
I’ve also heard good things about the mediterranian diet, but idk if that’s just some Cosmo cover thing… I thought this one had enough legs to stand on it’s own but I haven’t done that much research on it specifically.
This is cheap! I’ve been paying quite a bit more for mine but just noticed that I might be able to get it done through Groupon for a lot less.
I was looking at Phil Maffetone’s (the researcher who developed the waist to height ratio mentioned in the article) website for information on cardio training and came across the following:
“The science of body fat percentage is based on an association between normal, healthy percentages, and abnormal — too much or too little body fat. The cutoffs for these ranges are summarized below.
I don’t have a good sense of what 28% bodyfat looks like on a woman, but a man who measures 14% on a DEXA scan is going to be considered quite lean. He says elsewhere on his website that the adverse health effects of having too much fat start at 15% for men. I can’t find that article at the moment but that seems crazy to me.
Where’d you get this done at? Looking to get one done in the future and by my estimate - this would save me about $250 lol.
If this is only available in some local shop, no need to out your community - but if there’s a franchise/chain for this, it wouldn’t surprise me if they have one down here as well.
You’re in SoCal right? There’s a DexaFit in OC and a Bodyspec in Culver City. Either of those should be way cheaper than $250.
Edit: Also check Groupon – I was paying $129 per test at DexaFit but found a Groupon for $50.
Maybe it’s because of the Crossfit gym that I get that price. I hadn’t done one before joining, so perhaps I misrepresented the usual price. Sorry about that! I agree that 250 vs $50 changes the landscape a bit.
