Body Fat Monitor

Why You Need to Use a Body Fat Analyzer

When you use a body fat monitor to measure your body fat you will be able to optimize your work outs and diet to not just lose weight, but to look and feel your best. Since muscle weighs more then fat, trying to lose weight with an exercise program often seems frustrating, since you may gain weight. Measure body fat and you will be more motivated to use a healthy diet and proper exercise since you can see the results. A body fat monitor will also help you measure visceral fat, which some scientists believe can lead to high cholesterol, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

If you read the information on heart rate monitors you will learn that in order to lose body fat you must have your heart rate in the proper zone during exercise, otherwise, you will not lose fat. The main goal of any exercise program is to reduce your resting metabolism (your resting heart rate is the key measure of this). Dieting alone will often cause you to lose skeletal muscle. If you don't maintain your skeletal muscle, you won't reduce your resting heart rate. This could be one reason why dieters often regain any weight lost.

Of course, just measuring your heart rate or body fat won't make you healthy. It's important to develop a program involving cardiovascular and weight excercises. You might even want to find a personal fitness coach to help you achieve your targets for body fat and heart rate.

There are three major types of body fat monitors:

• Bioelectrical Impedence devices

Bioelectrical impedence devices measure how quickly a small electrical current passes through your body. Remember that water is an excellent conductor, so it transmits current faster then fat (this is also why you will get different results with this type of device depending on how hydrated your body is). There are two types of bioelectrical impedence devices. Many scales now include this function. There are also hand held devices which will do the same thing. The devices can report body fat or use mathematical calculations to report your body mass index. This can depend on you sex, age, weight, fitness and other factors. The more factors used, the better the calculation should be, though each manufacturer uses their own proprietray calculation. While body mass index is not exactly the same as body fat is is closely correlated and you can use it to track your progress.

• Skin Fold Calipars

Calipers are the cheapest body fat analyzers. However, you must take several measurements - often you need someone else to assist you with this. Accuracy is about 3.5% with these type of devices and you are measuring true body fat.

• Hydrostatic Weighing

The most accurate method of body fat analysis is use hydrostatic weighing. This method is simply immersing your body underwater and using Archimede's Principle figures your body fat. It is also the most expensive and troublesome method to measure body fat. Either a large health club, a medical university or some Doctors may be able to do this type of measurement.

• Air Displacement Measurments

The BodPod is an Air Displacement Plethysmograph which measures your whole body density to determine fat and fat-free body mass. It is similar to hydrostatic weighing and is usually done at a clinic, gym or doctors office. You can locate a BodPod Center here. The NFL combine uses the BodPod.

Body Fat Analyzers

From Scales to Calipers

Body Fat Monitor Brands

Learn whether you should by a scale, a hand held device or use calipers

Which brands are best?

• Accu-Measure Body Fat Caliper
• Omron Body Fat Monitor
• Health o Meter Body Fat Scales
• Weight Watchers Body Fat Scales
• Tanita Body Fat Analyzer