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We own a Tanita BF680W Duo Scale Plus Body Fat Monitor which is basically a fancy scale that measures weight, hydration level and body fat. As a part of my weekly routine, I weigh myself every Friday and I've been tracking my numbers since the beginning of the year. For me, it's not about my weight or fat percentage; it's just about keeping a baseline.
I've been told (by the people who tell me things) that the most accurate method for determining weight and body fat is the hydrostatic body fat test. My gym periodically offers said test so I decided to sign up to find out how fat I am. The price of the test is a whopping $49 which is a little less than what I paid for my Tanita scale but it's a small price to pay for another blog entry. :) And besides... it's the most accurate... right?
The instructions stated that I should not eat a large meal within two hours, to shower beforehand, and to bring a swimsuit. When I arrived at the gym, the truck was parked outside. I knocked on the door and was greeted by a pleasant fellow who took my money and pointed me to the dressing room. On the opposite side of the truck was a large metal tank about four feet high which contained about two feet of water. When I exited the dressing room, the fellow weighed me on a standard scale -- the type you would see at the doctor's office. I weighed in at 147 pounds which is a little light for me but I had a long run this morning and I hadn't eaten my breakfast yet.
When you enter the tank, you are face down on your elbows. At this point, I'm keeping my head above water because it's high enough to enter my mouth. He placed a large weight belt on my back which forced my stomach to the bottom of the tank. He then told me to take a deep breath in and to slowly release it. He repeated this again except this time he wanted me to exhale quickly and drop to the bottom of the tank. Once under the water, he was yelling at me to squeeze all of the remaining air out.
You're basically underwater and your natural instinct is to NOT release that remaining bit of air but you're also trying to get an accurate reading. I tried and tried and little bubbles of air squeezed out of my nose and mouth until he finally banged on the side of the tank which was his queue for me to come up. I don't know exactly how long I was under but I'd guess it was anywhere between 30-60 seconds. Not a huge amount of time but when I typically hold my breath underwater for that long, I start off with my lungs filled, not empty.
We repeated the test two more times and he said the second attempt was the best of the three. To be honest, on my third attempt, I was reminded of Navy Seals BUDS where you're basically commanded to drown. But that was TV, I’m not a Seal, and I was growing tired of mock drowning.
After drying off and changing back into my civilian clothes (Oh that's right, I'm not in the military... I’m so confused!), he went over the results. My dry weight was 147 pounds with a body fat percentage of 9.6%. According to his fancy chart, my body fat percentage puts me in the "Healthy Range" bordering on the "Essential Fat" range. My resting metabolic rate was 1806 calories which actually differs from the calculator on this site [but in either case I would starve to death if I only ate twice so I don't really pay much attention to those numbers.]. He then said that on a non-workout day, I should consume about 2600 calories and that I should add more based on the type of exercise. He provided yet another chart which listed various workouts, levels of intensity and associated calories.
For me, this was more about experiencing the test itself rather than the results or information. I think the test is worth the one time fee of $49 but I don't think I'd go back even with their discounted rate of $39.
Upon leaving the gym, I drove straight back to the house to do a comparison with my own scale. I stripped down, hopped on the scale and it showed I weighed 148.2 pounds with a body fat percentage of 9.4%. Although it has me 1.2 pounds heavier, their scale was in the back of a truck which gets driven around the country so I'm wondering how often it gets calibrated. The body fat percentage is off by a mere .2% which makes the Tanita the clear winner in a cost comparison.
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