<p>Get a tape measure and track your progress by the shrinkage of your waistline measured at navel level. This measurement is more specific to body fat than weight is, since you can gain weight by gaining muscle through exercise, which is healthy.</p>
<p>The scales which measure body fat use electrical resistance with the assumption that fat is more resistive than muscle. Accuracy is not great on an absolute scale, but the measurements can be used to track trends over time. However, bone is also more resistive, so if your bone density increases through weight bearing exercise, the scale may believe that you got “fatter” even if you did not (some scales have an “athlete” mode to compensate for that, but that is typically just an on-off setting – the scale cannot really tell how dense your bones are).</p>
<p>The Tanita scales guess at body fat primarily by looking up tables based on your height, age, sex, activity level, and weight – with a slight adjustment based on the measured electrical impedance. The athlete mode way underestimates my body fat. If I recall, it says I’m under 10%, which is not even close to accurate. On the other hand, I’m probably a bit too muscular for the standard tables to work. The regular table for my age and the highest of the three activity levels pegs me at 19% to 20%. If I tell the scale I’m 25 instead of 58, it says 15% to 16% body fat, which is probably a reasonable guess.</p>
<p>I could see the impact of adding muscle mass/bone density from strength training. After a year and half of declining body fat readings, the scale says that my body fat has increased over the last six months, despite the fact that I’ve lost another two inches from my waist.</p>
<p>I’d go with the wrestler’s recommendations if you’re insisting on a digital model. They know more about weight control and measurement than anyone else. </p>
<p>But I think the best solution is to go to craigs list and buy a “detecto” or other brand. Our local area has several available for $99 or less. These weight balance scales seldom have anything go wrong with them and they are accurate.</p>