Anyone had hold of one of those body fat counters?

[Remotew]

Went to an open day at a Gym today. Someone was advertising her weight loss classes. 12 weeks at £3.50 per week which apparently will re-educate you about food and how the body uses it so you can have a healthy life and lose weight.

She took my height and weight and my BMI is fine. Then I held a fat counter in my hands and it showed up that 38.1% of my body is fat. High and bordering on very high. OK even though I'm slim I know I'm not lean but how do they work. Are they true? She said that my body is storing fat. I suspect the classes may be trying to sell their balanced protein crap snacks. Anyone else had experience of this type of thing. I'm tempted now as I feel I look like a little pudding.

I have a body fat thingy....the instructions say to use it in the evening rather than first thing because you have more fluid in you in the morning which can give you a false reading...

I'm not so sure how accurate they are tbh as when I was actually losing body fat due to exercising, the values didn't change so....

evening

hand held ones are notoriously inaccurate, also hydration/dehydration can make a massive difference

bet you don't look like a little pudding, and you'd probably be better off eating a little pudding than their balanced protein rubbish nonsense......

waves at pussinjimmychoos how's it going?

go to john lewis and stand on a pair of the scales that measure body fat..

unfortunatly quite acurate apparently I am 45% fat

Hatcam.....I am BAD! I haven't 'done' Billy for ages....because...its Ramadan next week and I'm fasting from sunrise to sunset for a month and so I was all oh what's the point as I won't be doing it when I'm fasting....

How's Hatcam bump?

Thanks for your reply. I just cannot work out how it knows just by holding it. My fingers or arms aren't fat!

On the BMI I'm fine but on the fat scale, well it equates to seriously obese on a like for like chart. I'm not getting sucked into buying the products.

more fatcam than hatcam.....5 weeks to go, finish working this week PHEW, poor little boy is beginning to protest at me still jumping up and down in classes.

you won't have the strength to do ANYTHING to Billy if you're fasting, quite right. Be still until you can feast not fast.

Am ttc atm too and stressing that Billy will cause any implanted egg to 'drop off'....how crazy am I??!!!

awwwwwwwwwwww pussinjimmychoos try not to think about it (you know it won't really) it's so horrible all the waiting and worrying and time going so slowly. You know the rules, when you have slightly got cold feet about the whole idea or book up to do something wildly inappropriate for pregnant ladies ta dah there you go.

(sorry for thread hijack)

Body fat counters measure how an electronic current pass through body...because this one is only going hand to hand current is only passing through upper body, which makes it pretty inaccurate, plus reasons earlier can make it unreliable also forget to say that if the pads where you place fingers aren't cleaned properly it makes a difference also if the batteries in the unit are running low!

So, my Bodyfat counter could be wrong too??? cos it calls me fat....

Hatcam - I don't drink or smoke so think my lifestyle is okayish but my BMI is in obese range (even though I don't look obese!) so am a tad freaked that this will stop me getting pg...am 5ft2" and 12st 5lb btw...but seem to be very dense with it...people tell me I don't look that heavy...or maybe they are just being nice! ha ha!!

I'm starting to feel a bit thinking about this. We have just paid out to join the gym, as I wanted to help DD exercise. Then I'm told that I won't tone up because my body stores fat, so I should attend her class to learn how to eat the right food. Slimming aids I reckon.

Fair enough I've always had big boobs and a curvy figure, even when younger and a stone and a half lighter but I'm not bloody fat. Imagine someone with a serious weight problem getting sucked into this. Thank god she didn't assess DD (14), too young, who could do with a little help but certainley doesn't have a major weight problem.

Well, if its catching upper body then my generous norks will account for it!

I know I've never been lean but surely its down to genetic body shape as much as anything.

I'm going to give her classes a wide berth. Eat sensibly and go to the gym with DD twice a week to use up some energy.

better lifestyle than most! if it makes you feel better my BMI comes up high because I'm pretty muscly (or at least I was before fatcam pregnancy transformation). when I was kickboxing queen (I was nails, Billy would have run away squealing!) I was tiny but super-muscly and weighed more than I've ever done, which pushed my BMI right up.

freaking out/stressing more likely to stop you getting pg.....eat well (and almost everyone knows what that actually means), avoid the hidden calories (fruit juices/smoothies/squash/sugary rubbish/convenience foods), do some exercise, walk everywhere and don't stress it.

try alternative body fat measurement like bythepowerofgreyskull says? Or squeeze eyes tight say lalalalalalalala and ignore it and just concentrate on being healthy until you've got that baby on board!

abouteve you sound very sane and wise...

Hatcam...not to mention the calories that sex burns up....PVC outfits make you sweat too.....

Not that I dress up you understand....

saucy minx

Pussin enjoy ramadan.

Eve - I've hi jacked your thread...

the scales that measure body fat are quite good. in my clinic we used these. for me as an example, the NHS BMI calculator say I have a BMI or 29.1, overweight but not quite obese which I know is right but I am only just overweight, haven't got a beer belly or a belly that even remotely hangs over my trousers, but on the scales I am an average of 24.5, 0.5 under the overweight figure.
now the other day I was working in the garden and was quite dehydrated so I got on the scales to see and my BMI was 21.0, I drunk a couple of glasses of water and 30 mins later got back on and my BMI was up to 23.9.

the scales can be deceptive so if you are going to use these as part of a weight loss plan, weigh yourself 3 times a day if you can, am, pm and somewhere in between and keep a diary of the values, if you are serious about this too, along with the BMI figs, keep a diary of your food and fluid intake every day, you will soon see a pattern and work out what foods are suitable for you and which ones not (you may think this is obvious but you may well be suprised!!)

Pussin, thanks for Chad, he's brilliant. My mind is having a lovely workout.

Misi, gosh that sounds very complicated. I am just annoyed that for an old bird I'm fairly well preserved, yes a bit of exercise will be good, but then a casual enquiry and I feel I have a problem. I will work at it though but in my own way. Doctor did point out a slightly high colestoral count perhaps I should think.

Again thanks for the all the advice.