I've noticed an interesting trend with my Tanita body fat scale. I know the body fat reading isn't really all that accurate but lately I've noticed that it is good for another purpose...tracking how much additional weight is water.

On days when I have been drinking a ton of water, the body fat reading is way way low on the scale and the weight is higher than where I expect it to be. On days when I've gotten rid of most of the water, the body fat reading is close to what it has been before and the weight is down.

So lately I've been using it in my estimation about my weight. The scale might read 223 one day and if the body fat is very low, I will just chalk the weight up to water retention (which makes sense because I ahdn't eaten anything weird that day). Sure enough when I weigh in next time the weight is down to 221 and the body fat is normal again.

Does anyone else use their scale like this or is it just a weird phenomenon with mine?

Cool, never thought about it that way! BTW, do you have the older Tanita or the newer one? I bought the older one not too long ago, but found out a new one is out

It's one of the newer ones. I saw it on Amazon while looking for another model for my friend. I think at the time I was buying it Amazon had the wrong price because the price has gone up since then.

I have noticed the same thing - and the body fat numbers (inaccurate as they may be) really save my sanity when I get a weight jump - I can confirm that I am just retaining water - without that I'm sure weighing myself would be a LOT more traumatic!

yup the scale does same for me, the body fat is pretty constant but weight can change 5lbs+ is one day....

I thank fat % may be a better mesure sometimes..

I've had my Tanita for about a year (it's a dual-user one which ran me about $75); my sister-in-law has had hers for over a year. Both of us wish we had saved the money and stuck with our old scales. Neither one of us are convinced that they're accurate - and she's in FAR better shape than me!
I've gotten to the point where I just regard it as an expensive, glamorous, bathroom fixture.
However, it does do a great job weighing luggage for airline travel....

I maintain that the best indicator for BFI is a full-length mirror!

For me, the best indicator of FAT loss is the measuring tape!