I recently bought the RENPHO Bluetooth Body Fat Scale from Amazon and wanted to share with you my experience so far.  I have been using it for over a month and so far I have been very happy with it.  Here are the reasons why.

Price

One of the best parts about this scale is the price. This scale costs under $30 on Amazon.

I am big on only buying quality stuff that will last so I was very concerned about spending anything on a scale that will break in a year. 

The quality on this scale is very nice and better then my other digital scale that I have been using for over 10 years.  Time will tell if this scale will last 10 years but if the construction is any indication, I bet it will.

There are lots of other scales available and most cost a lot more.  Some are complete junk and some are extremely expensive for what you are getting.  Some are actually both too expensive and junk.

Compared to the Fitbit scale that costs over $100, you are getting the same features and quality at 1/3 the price.  This was a key selling point for me.

Convenience

I use to measure my body fat the manual way.  I would weigh myself on a regular scale, then take out my tape measure and measure myself in several different parts of my body.  Then I would record that information in my MS OneNote.

After all the measuring, I would go to a website (www.calculator.net) and enter in my measurements and it will give me my results including my BMI, Body Fat %, and other things. 

I would then add that information to my fitness app which is MyFitnessPal.  The whole process took about 20 minutes several times a week.

If I were to do that 3 times a week, that would kill an hour of my time but it was producing accurate numbers. 

The real thing that I was most interested in was how my body fat changed over time and not really what it was at the present time. 

Using this new scale, I am able to quickly judge how my body fat and BMI change everyday and it takes less then a minute.

The process to sync the scale with my phone is really easy. 

I hop on the scale and weight about 10-15 seconds for it to complete.  I then go to my phone and open the RENPHO app and it will sync automatically in about 5 seconds.  That data is automatically sent to Fitbit and MyFitnessPal and is recorded along with my activity and food intake.

Accuracy

The way I checked the accuracy of the scale was pretty simple.  I would get on the scale and record the measurement.  Then I would pick up something that I knew the weight of and hop on the scale again.  If it recorded the correct weight, then I considered it accurate.

I was able to confirm that scale is accurate and weighing me correctly.  I know this is not the best approach to testing how accurate the scale is but for me it was good enough.

Measuring body fat is something different.  Lets understand the technology to get a better idea on how it works and why the numbers will never be accurate.

The scale will send an electric signal up one leg, through your mid section, and then down the other leg.  It will measure the amount of time it take and performs a ton of calculations to determine your statistics.

The scale can only measure your lower and mid section (where most of us tend to carry most of our fat).  This means the scale will report a slightly higher body fat percentage then you actually have.   I could range as much as 3-7 points difference between body parts and a combined average.

Since we all tend to carry our fat differently, the actual percentage doesn’t matter that much.  What really matters is how much you are losing each week.

Compatibility

It was critical that the scale synced with MyFitnessPal and my Fitbit.  This scale worked perfectly with both.  Here’s how it works.

You install the RENPHO Bluetooth Body Fat Scale app (just called RENPHO) and create an account.  You then log into your Fitbit account and setup syncing between RENPHO and Fitbit.  My Fitbit app already was syncing with MyFitnessPal so it just added extra data points to sync.

It could syncs with your favorite fitness apps too.  RENPHO app feeds data to Apple Health, Google Fit, or Fitbit App!

I am now syncing 3 new data points.  It is syncing weight, Body Fat %, and BMI every time I step on the scale with MyFitnessPal.  I wish it would sync more but I can life with just these 3.

Data Analysis

The scale will measure, record, and track several data points for me everyday.

  • Body Weight
  • BMI
  • Body Fat%
  • Water %
  • Skeletal Muscle
  • Fat-free Body Weight
  • Muscle Mass
  • Bone Mass
  • Protein
  • Basal Metabolism
  • Body Age

The trends section on the app will show you your reporting for the 11 data points it collects.  If you want to use your computer instead, I use MyFitnessPal and just look at the 3 items it syncs.

Why is this important?  Because you need to know if your exercise program is really reducing fat and not just water weight?  If you go out and have a salty meal, you need to understand that all that new weight you are putting on is water weight and not fat.

You cannot make good healthy decisions without good information and this scale will provide you with the information that is measurable and accurate.  The decision and action parts are now up to you.

Quality

I am always concerned about only buying quality stuff so the reviews people leave on products are very important to me. 

This scale have over 4400 reviews and over 73% are over 5 starts and 11% are 4 stars.  My goal before I consider buying a product is it should have over 500 reviews and needs to have over 75% over 4 stars.  This scale far exceeds those requirements and I can honestly say I agree with all those great reviews.

Conclusion

To be successful in life, you need to have S.M.A.R.T. goals.  These are:

  • Specific (simple, sensible, significant)
  • Measurable (meaningful, motivating)
  • Achievable (agreed, attainable)
  • Relevant (reasonable, realistic and resourced, results-based)
  • Time bound (time-based, time limited, time/cost limited, timely, time-sensitive)

If you are serious about your healthy habits, you need a way to measure accurately your success.  The RENPHO Bluetooth Body Fat Scale  scale does it for me, only cost $30, and saves me an hour every week to apply to other priorities in my life.

Do yourself a favor and invest in your health.  Let me know in the comment section below if you have this scale to and if you agree with my review.  If you have a different scale, share your experience with it and how it has make your journey to a more healthy lifestyle easier. 

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