When was the last time you thought about getting enough fluids in your body to reach your health and fitness goals. While most of us are predominantly preoccupied with total body weight body fat percentage or even bmi total body water and hydration status are often overlooked.
Understanding Your Body Composition Measurements Fitness
Hydration and body fat measurement. This is especially significant after completing a vigorous workout routine. By using the impedance measurements along with a persons height and weight and body type gender age fitness level it is possible to calculate the percentage of body fat fat free mass hydration level and other body composition values. Such scales work with the help of sensors underneath. Body fat measurements are lower when measurements are taken shortly after consumption of a meal causing a variation. How does hydration affect the output on a body fat scale. I have noticed that if i have a few beers the next morning my body fat reading is higher than i suspect it should be.
You simply step on the scale and the tool measures both your body weight and your estimated fat percentage. So what is the right answer. When is the most accurate time of day to check your body fat. An overestimation of body fat. For example on the tanita website tanita is a brand of body fat scales it says under the faqs section that dehydration causes the body fat reading to come out higher than it actually is. With electroimpedance spectrometry capability powered by adi advanced solutions like body fat hydration and body composition analysis can be achieved at a lower power consumption and in a smaller form factor.
Body fat scales are easy to use. There seems to be a lot of mixed answers to how hydration affects the body fat readings. I have been told the best time is the first thing in the morning before any food intake. Staying well hydrated is not just important for survival. That means that your changing level of hydration can have a significant effect on the body fat reading that you get. Your body fat is pretty water dense so dense in fact that body fat is comprised of about 10 water.
Calculating body fat percentage isnt always completely accurate and there are many methods to try. If you are dehydrated the current will pass through at a slower rate and show an inflated body fat percentage. The most important factor when calculating body fat percentage is consistency. Well talk about the healthy range for men and women and the limitations. If you began your program by measuring your body fat in the morning then during your reassessments continue to measure your body fat in the morning. Dehydration is a recognized factor affecting bia measurements as it causes an increase in the bodys electrical resistance so has been measured to cause a 5 kg underestimation of fat free mass ie.