Mellerware BODYMAX 20550 - Manual (Page 2)

Dear customer,
Many thanks for purchasing a MELLERWARE product. Thanks to its technology, design and operation
and the fact that it goes through strict quality controls - we feel sure you will be entirely satisfied.
How Body Fat Scales Work and Why It’s Important
Body fat scales are one of the most convenient ways to measure your body fat percentage.
The Mellerware BodyMax Health scale uses a technique called Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (or BIA
for short). Very simply, a small and completely harmless electrical current is passed through your body.
The electrical current passes more quickly through fat free tissue, like muscle, than it does through fat
or bone tissue. So the amount of resistance to the electrical current relates to how much fat-free mass a
person has and their body density.
Like all body fat tests, BodyMax Health scale does not actually measure your body fat percentage. They
determine your body density. The examiner (or the BodyMax Health) then uses a formula to calculate
body fat percentage based on body density.
These formulas just predict your body fat. Unfortunately there is no one formula that accurately predicts
body fat for the whole population. Differences in age, gender, ethnicity, body size, and fitness level all
have a significant effect on the results.
Whether body fat scales measure your “true” body fat percentage or not doesn’t matter! As long as they
can accurately monitor changes in your body composition over time, that’s all you need. Your body
position, the amount of water in your body, your food intake, skin temperature and recent physical
activity can all adversely affect the results of body fat scales.
To achieve accurate, consistent results, you must standardise the way you perform each test. That
simply means making each test with your BodyMax Health scale as similar as possible.
The great thing about BodyMax Health scale is that standardising each test is easy to do. Check out the
Top Tips to get the most from your BodyMax Health scale.
Is the BodyMax Health scale any better than plain old weighing scales?
One of the biggest mistakes people on a weight management program make is gauging their progress
by weight alone. For all the reasons you should calculate body fat.
The Top Tips when using your BodyMax Health Scale
1. Use the BodyMax Health to measure your progress only. Don’t compare your body fat percentage to
anyone else’s score.
2. Measure out some water one hour before you test yourself. Make sure you always drink the same
amount of water one hour before you test yourself.
3. Measure yourself at the same time of day for each test.
4. Your skin temperature affects the electrical current used by the BodyMax Health scale. It’s difficult but
try to test yourself in a similar room temperature each time.
5. Don’t test yourself after exercising. When you exercise you sweat and when you sweat you lose water.
This affects your hydration levels and therefore the results.
6. Thoroughly clean the foot pads, preferably with alcohol and then dry them off each time you test.
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