Can a single weighing machine knows my bone mass, ratio of mucle to weight etc.

So today I was hijacked by someone who is selling health product and volunteered to do a quick health test for me, one that could be done within 5 minutes. Of course I was skeptical, but I am also curious to see how he is going to do it, so I agree.

He basically took me to a weighing machine (it looks like one of the usual type) that looks kind of fanciful, and I was instructed to stand bare-foot on it. From that, the person tells me my:

  • Weight (okay, reasonable)
  • Bone Weight (…?)
  • Water intake ratio (…!?)
  • Metabolism rate (…???)
  • Amount of ‘bad’ fat that in my body (…)

Of course, he then offered to sell me some health products and I quickly said I am broke and poor, and took off.

But is it possible, within 5 minutes, from a machine that looks your standard weighing scale. Yeah, it looks high-tech and all that, but I am still very skeptical.

The readings are kind of accurate on the metabolism rate (I feel tired and sleeply all the time), the amount of fat (I am flabby but not shape-worthy) - however, I believe he gathered all these from ‘cold reading’ - I look tired, I didn’t shave and hey, I obviously don’t have a 6 pack and not muscular in build.

Any thoughts on this?

We have a scale at home that does this but it’s not as simple as just hoping on the thing. You have to feed it some data first such as height, age, sex, etc.

I think that device is just measuring your weight and then making estimates of all that other stuff. Consider your own suspicious reaction: how can they separate bone vs muscle vs fat on the weight, unless they’re just using a formula for what’s typical? Even Hampshire’s device is making estimates, but with the additional data entered, it is possible for the estimates it makes to be more accurate. If the maker isn’t telling you it’s an estimate and discussing methodology and margin of error, I’d say what you got there is just a big steaming bucketful of phlogiston.

I have a scale that claims to measure some of the stuff you mentioned, and it claims to do it by basing it off various statistics you enter about yourself (sex, age) and then it takes your weight and your body fat percentage via electrodes under your feet. No clue how accurate it is, but some of the things the device you mentioned seemed to be a little out-there…

Bone, water, fat and muscle are apparently identifiable with small electrical currents. Each one has a different resistance, and so the computer can run a small charge through you and figure out, based on the time it takes the current to run back into it, approximately how much of what is in you. But it’s an approximation only.

Oh, and you have to be on bare feet, positioned on two metal plates or discs on the scale. It doesn’t take a super fancy one anymore, I’ve got one at home that cost less than $50 at Linens and Things. The water measurement is pretty accurate, at least, comparing the changes to my level of visible water retention and other dehydration symptoms. I’m not sure how accurate the other numbers are.

I have no idea what “bad fat” means in this context. Abdominal fat, maybe? I don’t know of a machine you stand on that can measure that. Simple calipers could do it, but you don’t mention those.

In short, I don’t know for sure, but it smells scammy.

Hmm…so it seems that some of what the salesperson told me could be right, though I would visit a doctor if I really wish to change my diet and exchange solid food for milkshakes.

On the other hand, by ‘bad fat’, the salesperson say it’s “V fat”.

It measures the electrical impedance of your body, then makes some guesses from there. I regularly get a hydrostatic bodyfat test, so I now that these gadgets are consistently +11% off in my case. That’s a piss-poor margin of error, IMO, but it’s consistent so at least you can see if you’re getting better or worse.

I can’t speak for him, but I know that visceral fat is bad. It’s the less-visible sort that is packed around your internal organs and is strongly linked to Bad Things like insulin resistance, glucose intolerance, dyslipidemia, hypertension, and coronary artery disease (per Wikipedia).

Recent thread on a very similar subject. I’ve personally found that the electrical resistance scales are pretty much useless. Determining your bone or muscle mass would be a wild-assed guess based on total conjecture about your body fat. Taking height and sex into account could refine it a bit, but it would still be a very, very rough guess.