help menu

Join us on the Community Forums!

  • Community Guidelines

    The Fitbit Community is a gathering place for real people who wish to exchange ideas, solutions, tips, techniques, and insight about the Fitbit products and services they love. By joining our Community, you agree to uphold these guidelines, so please take a moment to look them over.

  • Learn the Basics

    Check out our Frequently Asked Questions page for information on Community features, and tips to make the most of your time here.

  • Join the Community!

    Join an existing conversation, or start a new thread to ask your question. Creating your account is completely free, and takes about a minute.

Not finding your answer on the Community Forums?

Cancel
Turn on suggestions
Auto-suggest helps you quickly narrow down your search results by suggesting possible matches as you type.
Showing results for 
Show  only  | Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Aria provides inaccurate body fat percentage

Replies are disabled for this topic. Start a new one or visit our Help Center.

‎12-09-2020 12:06 - last edited on ‎04-12-2021 06:12 by Fitbit Moderator

‎12-09-2020 12:06 - last edited on ‎04-12-2021 06:12 by Fitbit Moderator

I purchased the Aria Scales a number of years ago, and have used them frequently (often daily) ever since.

 

I feel that the body fat percentage is significantly inaccurate. In the years since I’ve owned the scales, my body fat percentage hasn’t really ever changed, despite large amounts of weight loss following two pregnancies and visible changes in my body composition more recently due to training.

 

The scales have me sitting around 30% body fat, which is apparently classed as obese. I’ve lost weight recently and this has remained at 30%. I understand it is possible to lose muscle and body fat in equal amounts but I have now been strength training for over two years, and can visually see that I am currently holding more muscle than I did at the same weight in the past. Why do the scales not recognise any changes? Also why does the percentage seem inaccurate in the first place? I am 62.5kg and 169cm.

 

 

Moderator edit: updated subject for clarity

Best Answer
Labels:
0 Votes
1 REPLY 1

‎12-12-2020 06:47

‎12-12-2020 06:47

BIA bodyfat measurement technology is +/- 11% as per many medical journal article studies. Unless you have a commercial unit that uses newer multi-frequency algorithms, the technology probably wouldn't be precise enough to reliably detect smaller changes.

 

Have you considered checking your bodyfat with DEXA or Hydrostatic Weighing instead? There is a reason why medical studies never use BIA and always go towards the "gold standard" of DEXA or Hydrostatic.

 

There's literally thousands of studies documenting the limitations. Here's an example of the detail if you're interested:

 

https://edepot.wur.nl/155745

Best Answer
0 Votes