Today, we are going to take a look at my new toy, TANITA RD-545 12 in 1, 8 electrodes, bluetooth body composition monitor.
TANITA RD-545 Body Composition Monitor Review—Brand Intro
TANITA is a Japanese body analysis brand and was the first in the world to create BIA body fat analyzers back in 1992. Its body analysis technology is spread across 120 countries and 30 million researchers around the world.
The scale that I originally had was also from TANITA, even my kitchen scale is of the same band. So I entrust both my own body composition and the weight of the chicken breast I eat in the hands of TANITA. The body composition monitor I got this time, TANITA RD-545, is completed manufactured in Japan.
TANITA RD-545 Body Composition Monitor Review—How do body fat monitors work?
I have been using my old body scale for over 10 years. Even though it's still working perfectly fine, we got a pretty basic model back them. I did a thorough scan 2 years ago at a gym and I had a horrendously high body fat of 22.5% back then. So during the past couple of years, losing body fat has been my main goal. Though I lost 8 kilos, my old scale kept showing that my body fat was around 19–21%. Not only was I extremely frustrated in the lack of improvement, but I was also very skeptical judging from what I see in the mirror. I later on learned that body fat monitors with 4 electrodes instead of 8 (those with handle bars), only pass electrical current through the lower half of your body. I personally lose fat first in my upper body and retain more fat on my thighs. Which makes the number inaccurate for me.
Also, cheaper home scales that claim they also measure body fat actually simply measure your weight, then use the height and age you enter to calculate an average based on the big data they've collected. So if your body composition is in anyway different from the average person, regular body fat monitors for home users would be far from accurate. Ares has a home scale from XiaoMi. We once tried changing nothing but the age in settings and the body fat percentage that the scale "measured" had a 17% difference.
TANITA RD-545 Body Composition Monitor Review—Accurate Measurements
In order to reach my fitness goals, understanding my body composition is vital. So I started searching for a body composition monitor for home users. I was hoping that I could understand my own body more, and also force my parents to pay attention to their health. I also wanted Ares to try it since he's in his bulking stage and is dying to know the results of his constant leg days and five-meal-a-day regime.
I came across RD-545 and its spokesperson, Taiwanese badminton queen, Tsu-Ying Tai. First of all, she's basically a national hero since the Tokyo Olympics okay? We are all half way convinced at this point. She said that this machine helps her fully grasp her physique through scientific means. But most importantly, I was interested because RD-545 uses 8 electrodes and dual frequency technology, which offers the most accurate and comprehensive data.
TANITA RD-545 Body Composition Monitor Review—First Dual Frequency Home Scale
Dual frequency, sounds bad-ass, but what is it, really?
There are many ways that one could manage their body fat. The easiest and most basic way is to use a body fat caliper. It pinches some skin and fat, then your subcutaneous fat (fat under your skin) is calculated based on the thickness. Naturally, this leads to a higher error range of 5%. Then it's hydrostatic weighing. Experts can accurately calculate your body fat by comparing your weight on land and when you are fully submerged in water, using the difference in density of muscle and fat. This is the most accurate way of body fat measurement that we have right now.
But obviously, neither of the above methods can measure visceral fat or tell you about your muscle distribution. Which brings us to the last method, the commonly mentioned BIA (bioelectrical impedance analysis). As its name implies, it uses a low-electrical current that passes through your body, then based on the rate that it travels through your body, it determines the fat-free mass in your body. Just like hydrostatic weighing, it can produce errors as low as under 2%. However, many body fat monitors on the market have error margins as high as 40%! So do your research before buying anything. TANITA's dual frequency tech uses both high and low-frequency electrical current to conduct its analysis to produce more comprehensive findings. Not only does RD-545 measure your weight, body fat, visceral fat, and muscle mass, it accurately measures your muscle quality and analyzes the muscle mass, fat percentage, and muscle quality in your limbs and trunk. Muscle quality means that you can now pay attention to both the quantity and quality of your muscles, the evaluation by part also helps determine what areas you should focus your training, allowing you to adjust your workout menu accordingly.
TANITA RD-545 Body Composition Monitor Review— Smart app
TANITA RD-545 can connect to your smartphone through bluetooth. Every measurement will automatically be synced to your app so that you can slowly analyze it on your phone and not worry about the data disappearing once the body composition monitor turns off. If you forget your phone when you measure yourself, the body composition monitor will also store up to 10 sets of data, which will automatically be synced next time you open the app near it based on your user profile. Each body monitor allows 4 user profiles so that you don't have to enter your information each time. If your friend wants to test it out, they can also use the guest setting and take measurements after entering their basic information.
Go to App Store or Google Play to download healthplanet (no space in between. I couldn't find it otherwise.) Register an account and enter your basic information, then pair your smartphone with your device. After words, just tap on input data and your body monitor will automatically power on and display your user profile and age. Step on the scale once the scale reads "0.00kg", once your measurements are taken, the data will immediately show up in your app. It shows a comparison with your last measurement, and there are also line charts that show how each data has changed and radar charts that show the evaluation by part.
TANITA RD-545 Body Composition Monitor Review—Stat Analysis
TANITA RD-545 provides you with 26 measurements that are extremely detailed and can help you better understand your body. But keep in mind that these numbers are also affected by many other factors such as being on an empty or full stomach, how much water you drank, even what time you are measuring. Most doctors agree that the best time to take your measurements is when you are on an empty stomach but not dehydrated. For most people this means after going to the bathroom in the morning. It's different for each person though, if you don't usually drink enough water the night before, you'd be dehydrated in the morning and may appear to be light but have a higher body fat percentage. Basically, just find a good time for yourself based on your habits and measure around the same time under similar conditions every day.
I do a 24-hour fast once a week and I would drink sufficient water during my fast. So the most accurate data I have is the one I took on 6/14 morning, right after my fast.
Let's take a look at how each of these numbers should be read!
Weight
In kilograms. I'm sure you all know what this is. TANITA RD-545 is accurate to the two decimal place.
BMI
BMI is your weight in kilos divided by the square of your height in meters. This is something that a lot of people are familiar; however, unless you are overweight or have a high body fat percentage, there's no need to pay much attention to it. The "healthy" standard of BMI has been changed at least 5 times since I was in elementary school because BMI only takes weight into account, but not quality. That means that if you take two people of the exact same size, one extremely muscular and the other has mainly fat, you might get the ridiculous result of the fat one being within healthy BMI levels while the fit one's BMI is too high. And this is because BMI is not a formula that someone with any medical background came up with, but something invented by a mathematician.
Full body/limb/trunk body fat percentage
Body fat percentage is naturally one of the most important numbers here! It tells you the percentage that fat takes up in your body.
Check out the age to ideal body fat percentage chart here on Medical News Now. My body fat percentage was 15.4% after my 24-hour fast. I was so happy! This also means that I can start thinking about building more muscle mass.
By the way, though we all want our body fat percentage to be as low as possible, women need to pay special attention to this. First of all, we got boobs, which are basically balls of fat, so our body fat percentage is naturally higher than men. Most importantly, estrogen is fat soluble. So if your body fat is too law, you might experience irregular periods, extreme period cramps, or even missing periods.
I also noticed that my body fat is the lowest in my trunk, around 9–11%, and it's the highest in my legs, 22–24%. This not only lines up with what I see in the mirror, combined with my history of metrorrhagia, I am now fully certain that I have an estrogen body type, which means I build up more fat in my lower body and can adjust my diet accordingly by introducing more cruciferous vegetables.
Full body/limb/trunk muscle mass + muscle score
This is your smooth muscle+skeletal muscle, which means your organs plus the muscle that you build. Most body builders just want to know about their skeletal muscle which is roughly 60% of your muscle mass. However, this is once again not an ideal formula for people who are not within the average range. Which is why I think muscle score is even more important. RD-545 determines whether you have enough muscle mass based on the information you enter，and gives you a score between -4 and +4. Between -1 to 1 is normal. Mine keeps wandering the line of -2 and -1, which means that almost do not have enough muscle mass and would benefit from extra training.
RD–545 is also the first home body composition monitor that analyzes your limbs and trunk by part. This helps you ensure that your muscle is balanced on your left and right as well as upper and lower body. I noticed that my trunk always has sufficient muscle mass but not in my limbs. And I'm not surprised because my first love was abs and I have been training my core ever since, but I never paid any attention to my limbs. I guess I have to stop skipping leg day and add some arm work outs.
Full body/trunk muscle quality
TANITA RD-545 is the world's first body composition monitor that measures muscle quality. The high and low-frequency electrical current determine the compactness of your muscle fibers and the amount of water, fat, and connective tissue between your muscle fibers. Having high quality muscles can help avoid sport injuries and increase your metabolism. Not only does it help you look fit, it can also help increase your sport performance if that's what you want.
I've noticed that though I do not have the most muscle in my legs, they have the highest muscle quality. I believe that biking 11 kilometers a day to and from Ares' place and my continuous glutes training play huge roles in this. My overall muscle quality is average and I plan on further improving it through more resistance training and weight training. Guess I'm getting more equipment.
Visceral fat
This is super super important! I cannot stress this enough. No you can't see it, and you might not even look overweight but this is hidden fat that is wrapped around your organs and could very well lead to serious and/or chronic diseases. This cannot be improved by simply exercising. The primary cause of high visceral fat is stress and a bad diet. So only relaxing and having a healthy diet can change this. Never believe that you can get away with eating a bunch of crap as long as you work out afterwards. Your body keeps score.
Bone mass
This number shows the weight of minerals such as calcium you have in your bones. It is NT how much your bone weighs, if my bones weight 2.4 kilos I would have literally collapsed.
Body water percentage
The title is pretty self explanatory, it's the percentage of water you have in your body. People with a higher body fat percentage tend to have less body water and people with a low body fat percentage have more body water. So when you are trying to cut, pay attention to this number and don't mistake losing water weight as losing body fat.
Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)
I'm sure you are familiar with this term. This is the amount of energy needed to keep you alive even when you are lying down and do nothing for 24 hours. Muscles require more energy than fat to simply exist, meaning that the more muscular someone is, the higher their basal metabolic rate. This is why muscular people don't get fat easily, while people with high body fat percentages often say that they "feel like they are gaining weight from breathing." (It's a common saying in Taiwan.)
Body age
This is your body's age based on all the above data. Of course, for it to be lower than your actual age is the best thing ever. It's like a 40-year-old hot mama being mistaken for a 20 year-old. My body age has constantly stayed at 18, so please with me a happy 18th birthday next month, thanks!
MBA score
There are 4 levels: beginner, amateur, semi athlete, pro athlete. They are pretty self explanatory and basically tells you what you are based on your muscle mass and muscle distribution. I got amateur, which according to the manual, applies to people who regularly exercise and are trying to stay fit but are far from athletes. Which is literally me, has my body composition monitor been watching my Instagram stories?
Hear rate BCM
You can choose to turn this on or off in settings. It's your heart beat per minute, pretty simple to understand.
TANITA RD-545 Body Composition Monitor Review—Product Info
Brand: TANITA
Price: NTD$19,800
Purchase link: https://shope.ee/9K4KBycQMK
Brand fan page: https://www.facebook.com/TanitaHealthyHabits
Brand Instagram： https://www.instagram.com/tanita_taiwan/
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