Body Composition Analyzer
Your weight in pounds/kg and Body Mass Index (BMI) are ways to measure “healthiness,” but both are flawed. Your weight does not take into account your height:
- If you are 6 ft and 120 lbs, that’s pretty darn thin!
- If you are 5 ft and 120 lbs, that’s probably part with average.
The BMI takes into account weight and height, but it does not take into account body fat. So what can you do? Professional athletes use Body Composition Analyzers and underwater weighting to measure their weight and body fat percentage.
In a gym I went to I got to try the Tanita TBF-300A Body Composition Analyzer which lists your weight, BMI, fat %, and “desirable” fat% range. It’s an expensive machine listed at $1,995 from Amazon 3/21/2010! If you are interested in purchasing a body composition analyzer, you can get cheaper versions for a price range of $50 – $120 though. The Tanita BC533 Glass Innerscan Body Composition Monitor is selling for $69.99 at Amazon for example and gets a 4 star rating. There are links at the bottom of the page to Amazon’s Tanita products.
Here’s an example of my body composition:
Body Composition Analyzer 1/11/10
My body fat % is on the low side… I need to build up some muscle! Does anyone here use body composition analyzers? How do you interpret the results?
