We have used the Tanita body fat scale for many years to help us watch our weight and keep track of our body fat. While I loved its usefulness and low price, in the long run we moved on to a new scale.

First, the good things about this scale. It's relatively cheap when you compare it against other body fat scales. It's also easy to use just for weight. You simply kick a button with your toe to turn it on, step on it, and it shows you your weight to within .5 pounds.

Doing the body fat percentage is more annoying though. You have to press a button to get it going, choose adult or child, then choose male or female, and then sit there and scroll through the numbers to find your height. If you miss it, start all over again.

Then you stand on the scale in bare feet. In essence the scale sends a mild electrical signal through your body - you can't feel it at all. By knowing your height and watching how fast the signal takes to get through your system, the scale can determine how much of you is made up of fat. That number is displayed for you after around 5 seconds.

I really liked the scale but found that sequence to get to the body fat REALLY annoying after a while. We moved up to a Taylor system that had a memory so you input your values once and then just "recalled" them later with one button. We also discovered when we did this that our Tanita was about a pound off, and that its body fat measurement was a full 3.5%. So while the Tanita had been good at general ranges, apparently it wasn't extremely accurate.

I'd recommend this Tanita as a great way to get into body fat scales if you don't have one yet. But if you are actually going to start paying attention to it, I'd really recommend going with a unit that has a memory in it. They aren't that much more money and they are VERY worth it.

Max weight: 300lb
Increment: .5lb
Body Fat Increment: 1%

Healthy Body Fat Measurements

Buy Tanita Body Fat Scale from Amazon.com

500 Low Carb Recipes Buy from Amazon.com

Lisa Shea's Library of Low Carb Books