I recently purchased an
Omron HBF-500 scale for $65 from Amazon.com. In addition to telling you your weight, it also uses electrical sensors and a heart rate monitor to determine your levels of visceral fat, skeletal muscle, body fat percentage, BMI, and resting metabolism. So far, I"m thrilled. Here's why:
- Measures Body Fat %. Body fat percentage is a more important indicator of health than your BMI. BMI is based on your height and weight whereas body fat percentage takes into account muscle.
- Measures Skeletal Muscle. This is the muscle around your bones. It's great to run every day and watch the percentage of muscles go up!
- Measures Resting Metabolism. Do you ever wonder how many calories a day your body burns if you just sit around doing nothing? Mine burns about 1730.
- Stores History of Measurements. You can look back to see what your weight was 1, 7, 30, and 365 days before. This can be a good motivating factor if it's going up or down.
My love of the scale is somewhat unusual. I have been an active advocate AGAINST scales for quite some time. As my weight has crept up a few pounds here and there, I've come to see the benefit. After 10 days of working out, it's good to see that I've dropped three pounds and increased my skeletal muscle by a few percentage points. When I look at my waist, I don't see a difference. But knowing I'm improving makes it all worth it. And with an accuracy to .2 lbs, even slight changes are noted.
Caution: This scale is complicated and requires about 15 minutes with the manual to understand the best way to use it. Taking just your weight is easy, but the other measurements require a quick tutorial.
Rating: Five Full Stars! The Amazon reviews give
great feedback.
