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

[ElsaFrozen]

I'm glad I'm not the only one having issues. 

Got my Scales today:

5"6, 70kg 

i know I'm carrying some excess fat but I run 20-30 miles a week and do weights 3-4 times a week as well as swimming for my uni team so I definitely have muscle. It said my body fat was 34% which can't Be accurate can it? Was expecting around 30 (+/-1%). Tried resetting and taking measurements multiple times to get an average and tried lean mode but it is staying the same. Any advice? 

[Lisann02]

I do have the correct gender. I am glad to hear others have this problem. It was very discouraging to me. Now I know I should disregard the body fat part!

Thanks,

Lisa

[VegasFitness]

Guys, I don't think it's the scale or the software, it's the process.  Look it up, it's known for being wildly inaccurate.  I was hoping for a decent estimate but body fat is just something that takes very expensive equipment or fair degree of expertise to accomplish using the pinchers.  I love how it logs weight through wifi, and when it first came out it seemed to be one of the few that had that functionality...which was definitely a perk when I purchased it.  If you are hoping for an accurate body fat percentage though, this scale just won't get you there.  FitBit needs to drop the Marketing BS and drop the price into the 60 dollar range in an effort to not disappoint their customer.  Do the right thing Fitbit!

D

[Cheshyr]

Aria Bodyfat % calcs simply do not work.  Yesterday, it said I was 49.1%.  Today, it says I'm 29.3%.  I happen to know from a recent DEXA I'm about 36%.  If you care about somewhat accurate BF% readings, buy the Omron HBF-516.  If you want a fancy scale that auto-tracks your weight to your Fitbit dashboard, the Aria should suffice.  I'll be returning mine, however.

[Everett5_]

It's possible that the Fitbit scale uses an algorithm based on age in addition to weight height and gender and may be based on a population model that differs from your individual body type or fitness level.

[Cheshyr]

Possibly. But frankly, consistency is more important than accuracy.  I could care less if it said 10% or 60%, as long as it was repeatable.  You can track a trend if you have consistent measurements.  20% swing between measurements makes it worthless.

[Scipio9]

Exact same issue.  I jumped up 10 percent after changing wifi. I wonder what causes this? My firmware was the same version before and after. 

[jdc115]

Mine seems to have had a similar issue.  For over a year, my readings have been consistantly between 77-80KG and 17-20% fat.  Then I moved and connected to a new Wifi and now I am 78.8kg and 34.7% fat.  I certainly didn't stay the same weight and gain 15% points more fat.

These are my readings

• Wednesday, Jan 18 at 1:48PM
  Delete Measurement
  78.3 kg 34.7% fat
• Tuesday, Jan 17 at 11:14PM
  Delete Measurement
  77.5 kg 35.4% fat
• Tuesday, Jan 17 at 2:01PM
  Delete Measurement
  78.4 kg 34.8% fat
• Tuesday, Jan 17 at 1:15PM
  Delete Measurement
  78.3 kg 34.6% fat
• Sunday, Dec 11 at 9:27AM
  Delete Measurement
  78.8 kg 18.2% fat
• Sunday, Dec 11 at 1:35AM
  Delete Measurement
  79.3 kg 17.1% fat
• Sunday, Nov 6 at 10:27AM
  Delete Measurement
  77.4 kg 17.8% fat
• Wednesday, Aug 31 at 7:24AM
  Delete Measurement
  76.9 kg 20.5% fat

[Cheshyr]

It's possible changing the wifi changed your lean/normal setting.  I'm glad to see some people getting consistent daily readings at least.

[jdc115]

I'll check when I get back home later today

Sent from my iPhone

[obeseone]

Matthew - you may feel like you have answered the question BUT if the vast majority of inteligent users do not understand your answer you need to find a clearer and simpler explanation that actually means something to very frustrated users!

[MatthewFitbit]

@obeseone If you let me know which part of my post was unclear, I'll be happy to elaborate further.

[Scipio9]

For what it's worth, I put up a post consolidating some of the issues and some potential solutions here: 

https://community.fitbit.com/t5/Aria/Fitbit-Aria-Body-Fat-Issues-and-Workarounds/m-p/1776471#U177647...

[jdc115]

Anyway, I checked the settings and the scale is set to regular, not lean.  Something is wrong with it after having moved.   I have tried to go through the setup a couple of times but it still gives a very false reading

[obeseone]

Matthew. Thanks for taking time to reply. Trying not to be negative or condescending I must say it is all the explanation. Elaboration is not what is required but simplification. If you could have a go at presenting an idiots guide that would suit me perfectly. My cynical head still tells me that a 60 year old who weighs 70kilos and runs 8k every day cannot have a body fat %age of 39.5%.

Cynic mode also tells me that there is possibly an issue with this claim by Fitbit which it is struggling to avoid. I am totally deluded? 😜

[James7705]

I've just had exactly the same experience when connecting to new wifi with body fat increasing 13% !! Did you manage to rectify?

[obeseone]

                                      No improvement despite troubleshooting in every way described. Getting a bit bored now and will probably just use for weight as fitbit does seem to be fobbing it off and the hassle of customer service is a little off putting!

[SunsetRunner]

Frequently when we lose weight through dieting, the weight we lose is muscle mass. This is why it's common to lose weight and increase percent body fat. You are getting less heavy becasue you are losing muscle. As you ose muscle (which is very heavy) the overall percentage of your weight that is made of fat increases. To decrease percent body fat, try exercising more rather than eating less. I can change my percent body fat numbers fairly quickly by lifting weights or working out. 

[tall-guy]

Something to realize - as an engineer I can tell you that this method of measuring body fat is highly inaccurate without an initial baseline calibration (per person), mainly because resistance is measured through tissue on the bottom of your feet and that (plantar) tissue's resistance varies highly from person to person and with relative humidity of the tissue itself. In particular, in seasonal climes, plantar tissue varies widely from summer (where we often walk barefoot outside and develop thicker skin) and winter (when our feet are in protected boots).

Ideally, another more accurate method would be used (for example, a caliper survey) to establish your baseline (starting) body fat, at which point, assuming you took the aria measure with the same conditions each time (dry feet) the scale could likely establish whether your fat % is increasing or decreasing.  Occasional recalibration as above would then drammatically increase the accuracy of the readings.

Until then, this value is really not accurate for anything other than measuring the relative resistance of your plantar tissue.

UPDATE: Empircally, I should add that for me, my caliper-measured body fat sits around 11.5%.  My abs are visible, I do CrossFit 4-5 times a week, my resting heart-rate is in the 50's and I generally am quite fit.  Aria pegs me consistently at 17-19% body fat.

[Everett5_]

Body fat by skin impedance is a real challenge for any kind of accuracy.  Apart from this measurement, Fitbit uses a comparison to a reference population model, adjusting chiefly for age sex and maybe height.  An individual who is outside the norm, e.g. a bodybuilder, will not get an accurate absolute result, although it should be reproducible.  

I know that many forum members are skeptical but test this theory yourself: go to "account and change your age up or down 50%. By the following day Fitbit will recalibrate your %fat and you will see %'s several points higher or lower than before and these will be reproducible. Also, 

athletic websites will often illustrate diagrams of men and women by body type and % fat correlating to their physique and these are useful for a independent comparison.  I understand that body fat by Dexascan is the new gold standard.