Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #964 in Health and Beauty
• Brand: Tanita
• Model: BC541
• Dimensions: 8.38 pounds

Features

• Tanita's body fat monitors and body composition monitors use bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) to help calculate results.
• The Innerscan range of monitors are covered by a 3-year guarantee and include batteries and full instructions.
• Toe tap memory keys for easy use; guest mode key; weight only; recall of 4 memories
• The Physique Rating on Tanita Body Composition Monitors offers the user the opportunity to track their Physique as they follow their health / fitness programme.
• The key features include athlete mode, basal metabolism rate, bone mineral mass, dual frequency technology, guest mode, healthy ranges, metabolism age, muscle mass, physique rating, recall and visceral fat rating

Manufacturer's Description

How do Tanita Monitors Work? Tanita's Body Fat Monitors and Body Composition Monitors use Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA) to help calculate results. BIA helps to calculate body composition by sending a low, safe electrical signal through the body. The signal passes freely through fluids contained in lean tissue, such as muscle and blood, but meets resistance passing through fat tissue. Tanita monitors accurately measure this resistance and use it to calculate elements of body composition. When set against gender, height, weight and body type, our monitors can calculate your body fat percentage.

Innerscan

Our revolutionary new InnerScan range provides information never before available from a consumer scale. Anyone who is serious about improving their total health and fitness will be able to see their personal progress. The monitors use Bioelectric Impedance Analysis (BIA) to monitor multiple components of overall health. The results are analysed along with gender, age, height and weight for the most accurate and comprehensive at-home reading ever available. Measurements include Weight, Body Fat %, Body Water %, Basal Metabolic Rate, Metabolic Age, Bone Mass, Muscle Mass, Physique Rating, and exclusive to Tanita Visceral Fat Rating.

Technical Features Body Fat Percentage:0,1 Color:Silver Electrodes: 4 Memories:4 Power Supply:4 x AA Size of Display:32 mm Total Body Water Percentage:0,1 Weight Capacity:150 kg Weight Increments:100 g Weight Only Mode: Yes Warranty: The Innerscan range of monitors is covered by a 3-year guarantee and includes batteries and full instructions.

How much body fat is healthy?

Your Tanita Monitor will automatically compare your personal body fat reading to the Healthy Body Fat Range chart below.

Why Measure the Tanita Way? Tanita is a pioneer in stand-on BIA technology, a fast, cost-effective method of measuring body composition.  Tanita invented the world’s first stand-on Body Fat Monitor in 1992 and now all Tanita Monitors use Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA technology) to send a low, safe signal through the body. The signal passes freely through blood, water and fluids within muscle tissue, but meets resistance when it comes into contact with body fat. With a perfect combination of innovative health technology and stylish design, Tanita brings you a range of products designed to help you lead a healthier and fitter life. Tanita products are created around your needs, whether you are trying to lose weight, improve your activity levels or just trying to feel healthier. They will help you understand how changes in your lifestyle are affecting your body. Tanita pride ourselves on quality and service. All our product come with full manufacturers warranties. Tanita monitors are universally recognized as being the most accurate monitors available on today’s market.  This reflects over 10 years of medical research into BIA and body composition at the renowned Tanita Health Research Centre in Japan. The technology used on the home use monitors is based on the same advance technology found in Tanita’s Professional Body Composition Analysers widely used by the medical and fitness professionals around the world.

Daily Calorie Intake (DCI)

The Daily Calorie Intake feature on selected Tanita Body Fat Monitors is able to automatically calculate the number of calories you need to consume within a 24-hour period in order to maintain your current weight, whenever you monitor your body fat. In order to calculate your daily energy requirement, we need to look at two aspects:
Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) - the energy your body needs to maintain basic bodily functions such as breathing, heart rate and temperature regulation.
Energy for Activity - the energy your body needs to move around, according to your physical activity level (PAL). The basic equation is: Your Total Energy Requirement = BMR + Energy for Activity

BMR accounts for approximately 60% of your daily energy needs. It is calculated according to body weight, although other factors such as age, gender, height and body composition need to be taken into account.

Your remaining energy needs are based on the amount of activity you perform each day. Your physical activity level will fall into one of the four categories outlined below:

Level 1:    Inactive lifestyle (you sit down most of the day and drive or ride wherever possible. You take little or no exercise.)
Level 2:    Moderately active lifestyle (you sit most of the day, but take occasional, low intensity exercise.)
Level 3:    Active lifestyle (you do some amount of regular exercise (4 to 5 times a week) and/or your job requires physical labour.)
Level 4:    Very active lifestyle/Athlete (you are involved in a programme of intense aerobic exercise of over 10 hours per week with a resting heartbeat of below 60bpm and/or your job requires heavy physical labour.)

The category you fall into will determine by what percentage your BMR will need to be increased by to give you your Total Energy Requirement. For example, if you lead a very active lifestyle you will need to multiply your BMR by a further 50% approximately.

Your Physique…

As a person increases their activity levels, their weight may not change but their balance of body fat and muscle may alter which will change the user's overall physique. The Physique Rating on Tanita Body Composition Monitors offers the user the opportunity to track their Physique as they follow their health / fitness programme.

Customer Reviews

Useful, but not accurate enough for sports use
This device works by passing a small current through one leg and receiving the current through the other leg.

Muscle is mainly water and conducts electricity, fat is a bad conductor of electricity, so based on the quantity/speed the current is passed through it predicts your overall bodyfat level.

Body hydration plays a part in this also. the % you get on a day can vary by up to 4%, I'm ususally 20% on the day if I measure myself as soon as I wake up, and I'm 17.5% when I measure myself right before bed. This is because we lose a lot of water from hydration whilst sleeping.

I think for the sake of keeping a record you should aim to measure yourself at certain time of the day, maybe once every week if you're on a diet to keep tabs. Whilst it won't give you a scientifically accurate bodyfat content of your body, it's OK for using to track your progress.

Also, I do weight training and work my legs once a week, the day after the leg workouts the readings are higher than usual, I don't know why, perhaps the workout has taxed the water out of the legs and it's afecting the readings or something. Just make a not of that.

really easy to work
tells you everything you need to know and stuff you didnt want to know! especially after over-eating at xmas.expensive but if your serious about your health a must!

easy to read
Tanita BC541 Family Fitness Innerscan

i found this product really easy to use - clear displays and it tells you all you need to know ( if you really want to !!).