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

[jboyle1115]

Well I'm a personal trainer and tabata instructor so I know the scale was off by about 8%. And I'm using the most accurate dexa scan method to check it. And my body fat has dropped accordingly. I've also put on 6 lbs of muscle

Sent from my iPhone

[James7705]

I think the point is be missed that if the scales tell you that you have 22% body fat one day and 33% another there is something wrong as that a whole lot of pies

[SadH]

I realize you're trying to be helpful, but it's obvious you didn't read the
entire thread that describes the problem in detail. For the first 2 years
the scale told me I had ~20% body fat. After resetting the scale to a new
wifi network it now says I have 35% body fat. I haven't gained any
weight. I'm a 6'0" male that weighs 177 lbs. I'm an avid swimmer, so I do
get a fair amount of exercise. The scale is unreliable. Fitbit should
take try to hire a few Apple employees so they can learn to build a
reliable product. I got this as a gift. I would never spend my own money
on a Fitbit product after this experience.

[jdc115]

 johneric8,

I don't think you understand the complaints with the scale, it is not that people have cloudy views but there seems to be something not functioning properly with the scale after you change wireless networks.

For example, I am 5'10.  Last year in December I was 173 pounds and my scale gave me an 18.2% fat reading.  I then moved and connected to a new network, my next reading was 172 pounds and 34.6% fat.  Changing to lean mode didn't fix the reading.  AFter pulling the battery a number of times and resetting it and joining back to the network it went back to the 19% range.

I have since moved again, my last reading on July 1 was 162 pounds and 17.4% body fat. On 30 July when I joined the scale to a different WIFI network, I reading was 161 pounds and 25.4% fat.  Look at those reading and let me know if you think there is not something going wrong with the scale when changing networks:

Dec 2016: 173lbs 18.2% fat

Jan 2017: 172lbs 34.6% fat

1 July 2017: 162lbs 17.4% fat

30 July 2017: 161lbs 25.4% fat

My fat % had not jumped around like that

If you moved networks and now started getting a fat reading of 20% instead of 7-9% in 1 day, you then would be having the issue that many of us are having which is what comes up over and over again in this thread

[troomp]

I've had the Aria for coming up to 2 years.
I'm now very sceptical about the BF% after a family member used the scales and it thought it was someone else and obviously way out BF measurement for him.

I weighed myself this morning and instead of choosing myself, I choose my daughter. (The BF comes up after you choose the user). I weigh a few more lbs than her and definitely have more fat on me. She, however, is about 2 inches shorter. I then weighed myself a second time and logged it as me.

1st reading (as her): 9st 12lbs 19%
2nd reading (as me): 9st 12lbs 25%

So if it actually was properly measuring the BF through my feet this morning and I initially logged it as my shorter daughter (who was 9st 7lbs yesterday), why is it saying it thinks she has put on 5lbs and still has the same (19%) BF as yesterday???

[NickDeJesu]

I was seeing a similar issue where my body fat measurement was a bit higher than I thought it should be. I'm 59 yrs old, male and weigh 193 lbs at 5'9". Initially the Aria measured my body fat around 22-22.5%, which I believed to be about 5% over what I should be. I found a "lean mode" on the app and selected it. Now my body fat is between 9.2 - 10.2% depending on how hydrated I am. My thought is that my actual body fat is probably around 14-17%. What is important is that we see an improvement if we are working to reduce our body fat (i.e. 22% goes to 19%).

[Courtney14]

Mine is doing the same thing. It says my BF is 33%, however, I went to the doc last week and they said my BF% is actually 20%. I'm 5'5', 155 and just completed a marathon. 34% body fat is consider healthy and 20% is considered athletic. Women need at least 14% & men only need 5%.

[Susan56horse]

I'm 5.4 weigh 12.4 now but says I'm 44.4% body fat in all chats I check for my weight I'm about 30.8%.

I'm down to 71.8 kg now but scales say 44.4% that is way out x

I have posted on another thread 

I had mistakingly thought the bf was bmi 

Moderator edit: merged reply

[Susan56horse]

I have posted on another thread 

I had mistakingly thought the bf was bmi 

[TrimTrish]

My whole family seems to have 35% body fat yet my children have been measured at the gym with under 20% 

how do i ajust scales so they mease body fact accurately??

[jdc115]

I am not sure you will ever be able to. There doesn't seem to be able real troubleshooting from Fitbit on the issue or response that they will investigate the issue further. I did talk to their service department but the only response I got was that I could buy a new scale as mine was out of warranty. 

If your scale is still under warranty, ask to exchange it with them until you get one that is relatively accurate. 

[Susan56horse]

Many thanks for your reply I was thinking that was my BMI which gave me a scare lol I'm not so worried about body fat out of 100% rest must be muscle and water x

[CourtneyB81]

I've had my scale for almost 3 years now. It used to record my BF% accurately but over the last 6 months or so, it decided that I was 32% BF and no idea why. I didn't even know that there was a lean mode. I'm just found how to change to that mode and am looking forward to not having my scale tell me I'm obese anymore, when I'm not even overweight!

[johneric8]

I'm not at all going to accuse anyone of being overweight or obese,  but it does seem odd to me that the majority of everyone complaining about the Aria's accuracy are saying that it's saying there body fat is too high?   Mine,  in lean mode puts me anywhere between 6 and 10 % depending on how hydrated I am.  This is very close to what the calipers and the dunk method have shown me.   I sometimes wonder if many of us are in denial in how much fat we truly carry.    I guess,  the people that are happy with their readings aren't going to post about it,  so I'm going to be one of those whom does that...    The Aria isn't perfect,   but it gives you a good baseline I believe.    My wife uses it as well and has does body fat test with camp gladiator as well and the aria is within a couple of percentage points if not almost spot on...       I know there are people that post on here that the aria seems to lie to them,  I'm not going to argue that,  but man,  I've been very happy with my readings and they seem to match up with reality.

[Susan56horse]

I realised it was body fat not bmi after asking the question
I'm down from 19 stone 11 and a half to 12.1
Body fat is now 39% whereas my bmi is 29
I wonder how many like me didn't realise to start with xx

[jboyle1115]

Well like I said I’ve used more accurate body scan method of doing body fat and it is off 10%. It’s already in lean mode so it’s fine just frustrating

Sent from my iPhone

[Courtney14]

That's great that you're is working. Mine reads 32% and I thought that was correct until I went to the dr and was told I'm actually down to 20% body fat.

I did not know there was a lean mode. How do you adjust that?

Moderator edit: merged reply

[James7705]

Maybe if you get on the scales tomorrow and your body fat has gone from 6% to 30% your realise what everyone is complaining about and maybe they are not just in denial!

Sent from my iPhone

[johneric8]

I find it odd that everyone says their scale is off by 10% or more!  Why does it not go the other way and give people -10 percent,  I mean,  you never hear that complaint...       I wonder why I've never seen 1% since these scales are off one way or the other?    I'm starting to wonder if the more body fat you carry the more it is off? 

If your body fat is extremely low like mine and in lean mode,  maybe that is why it's so accurate?   My wife is of normal body fat and she gets very similar readings from the aria to other traditional methods...     It's very strange,  it must have something to do with hydration levels,  and the more fat you carry the less accurate it is.

I'm not disputing that people are getting weird results,  I guess since it works very accurately for my wife and I don't know what to make of it...  

Are there really actually people out there with very low body fat (athelete levels)  getting 30% readings?   Not once have I ever had a reading like that,  like I said,   mine has varied from 6% to 10% depending on what I've ate and water retention..   I don't think it's perfect by any means,  but like I said it lines up with calipers for my particular case.

[tall-guy]

The variance has to do with the conductivity of the bottom of your foot at the time you take the reading far more than anything else. The issue is that the error (plus OR minus) is larger than the range a particular person would track across.  In the summer, when I get leaner, my feet get tougher (more walking outside in sandals or bare foot, increasing the thickness and dryness of my plantar tissue) yet my body fat percentage increases according to the scale (but not the calipers, which track what I would expect).

Just saw your earlier comment re: denial. Six pack is clear as day, 6'6", 208lbs, crossfit several times a week, running on hands, handstand pushups, other day was 100 x 250lb deadlifts with interleaved 1K runs. Unless I'm a miracle of physics and science, I'm not up around 20% body fat.