Aria body fat percentage questions

[CarrieV]

Hi, I have a question on whether it is really possible I'm made up of 33% body fat (according to the aria scale).  Here are my stats:

51 year old woman

5' 6"

132 lbs.

currently wearing a size 6

33% body fat according to the charts means I'm obese.  I don't feel obese.  I know I need to lose 8 more lbs. to be at my ideal weight that I feel best at, but this 33% body fat has been pretty consistent the whole time I've been dieting.  Even after I lose 8 more lbs., I do not think it will be much less than 33% body fat on the aria scale.  I'm definitely not lean, so I know selecting the "lean" category in the settings would not apply to me.

I'm fine with just ignoring this and feeling good about the lbs. I've already lost, but every morning it's still a little depressing to weigh yourself and think how is it possible that 33% of my body is pure fat.

I weigh myself bare foot, dry feet every morning before I shower.  I do not move the scale.  It is sitting on the floor in my bedroom, same spot as always.

Moderator edit: updated subject for clarity

[SteveO64]

I've read a substantial amount of this thread but haven't come across anyone that has noticed a situation similar to mine.  I'm 54, 5'8" and have seen a slow progression from 198 to 182 lbs over the last 3 months.  My body fat reading has similarly declined from 29% to 24%.  Great right? Well, I also have a 20 yr old son that uses the scale from time to time.  I've always been 15 lbs heavier, so Aria defaults to me each time I get on the scale.  Then a few weeks back I progressed to within 5 lbs of my son weight - now each time I get off the scale, I have to select who the reading data point is for; my son or me. If I chose me it's 24% BF if I choose my son it's 17% BF.  Hmmm.  One week ago, my wife miraculously dropped 10% BF overnight.  She loves it - but I'm skeptical.  So, this morning I weigh myself and select my son on the scale and it says 17.9% BF.  Then I go to the Fitbit app and under the Aria Account look under 'recent weight-in' and change the data point from my son to me....presto 24.2% BF!   Now, come on.  There has to be some data bias here.  I find it hard to believe that Aria is taking an unadjusted  discrete reading every time.  Which data do we trust? 

[JuanJoFitbit]

@obeseone It's great to see you in the Fitbit forums and welcome aboard @dali137! I'm happy to follow up on your cases and find a solution for the inconsistent readings you've received from your Aria scales. Please try resetting your scales by taking out the batteries for 15 seconds and place them back in. After resetting the scale, weigh yourselves 5 times in a row and see if the accuracy gets fixed. Also, please check out this help article, at the bottom, which explains how to get the most accurate readings from your scales.

@jdc115 I want to follow up on your case as well. Are you getting more accurate readings from your scale after monitoring its behavior?

@LoriBee I'm sorry to hear that your Aria is still experiencing accuracy issues. I was able to get in touch with our Support team and was told that they contacted you via email in order to follow up with your case. Please check out your email inbox. If you can't find their email, check out your spam or trash folders.

@SteveO64 It's great to see new faces in the Community. Welcome aboard! Seems odd that your Aria is confusing your and your family members' data. Please make sure that each of your accounts have your weight, height, and gender updated according to each member. If your bodies details (weight, height and gender) are correct, please re-calibrate your scale by taking out the batteries for 15 seconds and weigh yourselves (you, your wife and son) each, 5 times in a row. This will refresh the scales internally. Finally, monitor your scale during the next 48 hours and let me know how it goes.

Keep me posted guys! 

[LottieD]

Fitbit have tried to help me and I’ve tried everything suggested, but their calculations are just incorrect. Where one member of the community highlighted how changing his age impacted on the percentage body fat illustrates how the different variables impact the calculations. Fitbit just don’t have them right, which should be an easy fix you’d think?!

Sent from my iPhone

[JuanJoFitbit]

@LottieD Thank you for getting back! I got in touch with our Customer Service team and told me that they were assisting you via email. I want to follow up and would like to know what they told you since based on this, I'll be happy to proceed accordingly.

I look forward to your response! 

[jdc115]

@JuanJoFitbit wrote:

"@jdc115 I want to follow up on your case as well. Are you getting more accurate readings from your scale after monitoring its behavior?"

Hi JuanJo,

I don't have a baseline to say what is accurate, but the scale has changed to give me drastically different readings that I don't trust it to be accurate. I have had the scale for years, when I originally set it up

From 2014 to 2016 my body fat readings were in the 17-21% range.  

This was from:

Dec 2016 - 79.38KG  17.1%

Then I moved:

Jan 2017: 79.3KG 34.6%

After many times setting it up over and over again, it changed:

Jan 2017: 78.2KG, 22.6%

April 2017: 70.9KG  17.1%

Just before moving:

June 2017: 73.5kg 17.4%

I moved again:

July 2017: 73.3KG 25.4%

I moved again: in Oct 2017 but the scale didn't change

Current reading today:

72KG, 22%

I suspect the scale is wrong and I should be closer to the 18% range that I was getting in April to June 2017. But the readings change drastically everytime I moved and joined to a new WIFI. Quite possible the scale is just damaged from the moves, it was usually in my carry on luggage and went from Singapore to UK to Germany and then back to Singapore.

I now use it for the scale and at least I assume that if the body fat reading is wrong, it will at least accurately reflect a trend. But that is just an assumption.

Thanks

[LottieD]

Hi,

No.

The impact of the variables Fitbit uses means that it just doesn’t give credible results. The age variable is one such variable, as one man and his son proved this point clearly. Get them right and change the set up and this community would be happy.

Regards

Charlotte

Sent from my iPhone

[HybridByNature]

I had the same issue. Log into your profile and reset your gender to male. You may have to change it to female, save it and then report the prices for male. Each uses a different calculation which is why it's skewed so badly.

[LottieD]

Thanks for that. Following FitBit’s advice I had tried switching it back and forth from male and female before and it gave me different readings briefly but the reverted to the old percentages when back on female permanently.

In my Doctor’s report I’m in a healthy zone for weight/fat, however, I’ve just tried it now and gone from an obese 35% body fat woman to under fat 19% man. Of course neither is right, but it shows how FitBit has its variables set incorrectly!

Sent from my iPhone

[Pindyloo]

Hi - what I'm noticing, though, which I don't think is explained here, is that it is not only the *percentage* of fat that increases, it is also the *amount* of fat that increases proportionately; so I lose 1lb overall, yet the amount of fat goes up from 36lb to 37lb (when it is far more likely that if I have lost 1lb overall, that it is 1lb of fat rather than 1lb of lean that I have lost). 

My boyfriend and I are both using the scale and it does seem to measure very high. My boyfriend has zero fat on arms and legs and a tiny bit around his middle; he's 6'5", weighs 210 pounds and it's saying he has 18/19% fat. 

[laknott]

Same issue here. There is no way I am obese.. I work out 4 days a week and have never had a weight issue. I have a lot of muscle verses fat. Some fat in belly area based on age. But I am 5'7 and weight 148 and they say I have 42.8 percentage body fat?  This must be wrong! It just displayed today- I have had this scale since March and it was never displayed before (only the bmi- 23.2.) until now. Please advise. Thanks

[dali137]

Right... looking at dashboard, despite making HUGE physical ability gains, having tons more tone and losing 13lbs in 2 months the scale/formula seems to split losses between fat and lean. So that I now, according to the dashboard, have less muscle than I did during a sedentary phase where I was actively gaining fat last year.

[rbroome]

Sadly, many traditional diet/exercise plans that employ calorie deficits and lots of cardio will often cause you to lose a lot of muscle mass. Let's say for instance that you have 20% body fat and you lose 20 pounds. 16 pounds of the loss was fat and 4 pounds was muscle. You're a smaller size, but you would have the same body fat percentage. This is how so many people end up as skinny-fat. 

Your BF at 6'5" and 210 with 18% BF is in pretty good shape. Lots of fit people have 15% BF and have visible 6 packs.

Moderator edit: format

[HybridByNature]

My Aria has consistently showed around 18% for the last couple months. I figured it was wrong but was finally able to confirm it at a Gold's gym. They have a professional body fat scale, as well as a handheld you can pick up at Amazon. Both machines said 10.5% which is closer to what I was expecting.

https://www.amazon.com/Omron-HBF-306C-Handheld-Body-Monitor/dp/B000FYZMYK/ref=sr_1_3_a_it?ie=UTF8&qi...

$35 on Amazon and considered to be very accurate.

[laknott]

I just purchase your suggestion via Amazon . Let's see if it's more accurate for me. Thanks.

This is definitely not my problem- skinny fat I mean. My legs are solid muscle and the only place i may have fat would be on my stomach... today it was 44 percent body fat!??... Back 10 yrs ago, I was around the same weight and size and my body fat was 24 percent and way back it was 16 pecent.... waiting for the new device from Amazon to verify was the difference is from the fitbit scale.

Just got the device from Amazon and my percentage of body fat was 26 percent and bmi at 22. So the Fit bit scale is extremely wrong - today it said 44.8 percent... For the price of the scale what a waste of money not to have this function working properly and freaking people out... I am still under warranty so I will contact fit bit for a new scale. Thank you.

Moderator edit: format

[Susan56horse]

This worried me too but then realized body fat and BMI are not the same 

My hand held device says 44% body fat

Bmi 22%

[LynnMoz0616]

I've tried this fix 5 times. Doesn't work. Too bad this expensive scale doesn't to what it's supposed to. Anyway to get my $$$ back?. 

[JuanJoFitbit]

Hi everyone! I'm sorry to hear about the body fat issues you've experienced with your Aria scales. Thank you for taking the time to troubleshoot this issue by resetting and re-calibrating the scales. I'd like you to try one more troubleshooting step that will help me to determine how to proceed. If you guys haven't done so, please set up your Aria scales from scratch. This will refresh your scales internally and once your scales are set up, weigh yourselves 5 consecutive times again and see if the your body fat is more accurate.

I'll be around if you have any doubts! 

[HybridByNature]

I've done this multiple times. It's tedious and ineffective.

[LottieD]

Me too.

Sent from my iPhone

[laknott]

an hour ago

I've refreshed/ reinstalled this multiple times. It's tedious and ineffective. BTW- I bought the scale in March 2018 and it didnt show the fat percentage until June 2018.. It just popped up on the display a week ago(before there was nothing but the BMI even though I had it configured to display both features) .When it displayed the first time It was 43 percent and now it is 45 percent. I dont think my scale works properly. As noted earlier, I used another device(handheld) that had me at 26 percent body fat. Maybe I am still under the yr warranty!?? i will call Fit bit to see. Something isnt right with my Fit Bit scale!!

[laknott]

I've refreshed/ reinstalled this multiple times. It's tedious and ineffective. BTW- I bought the scale in March 2018 and it didnt show the fat percentage until June 2018.. It just popped up on the display a week ago(before there was nothing but the BMI even though I had it configured to display both features) .When it displayed the first time It was 43 percent and now it is 45 percent. I dont think my scale works properly. As noted earlier, I used another device(handheld) that had me at 26 percent body fat. Maybe I am still under the yr warranty!?? i will call Fit bit to see. Something isnt right with my Fit Bit scale!!