New scale aimed at helping individuals easily track body composition and fitness.
I am one of those unfortunate souls who has always battled with weight and weight loss. Several years ago, I got my act together and really pushed myself for better overall wellness. This ended up with me losing over 30 pounds and being in the best shape of my life. The transformation was due to a wonderful fitness program and eating plan. A big part of that plan included wellness tracking. At the time it involved weekly weigh-ins and measuring which were always somewhat mind-numbing and dull. Now, there are all kinds of smart devices to help people in the search for better health. One such device is the newly released Core: Wireless Body Composition Scale from iHealth.
How Does It Work
The iHealth Core: Wireless Body Composition Scale provides users with a comprehensive view of their body composition and how their fitness routine impacts their overall wellness over time. The solution also allows persons with chronic conditions such as obesity and hypertension to better manage their health and make more-informed lifestyle decisions.
The new scale uses electronic sensors and proprietary algorithms to accurately measure nine aspects of body composition including:
- Weight and body mass index
- Body fat
- Lean, muscle, and bone mass
- Water weight
- Daily calories
- Visceral fat rating
It then automatically sends the data over WiFi to the iHealth Cloud® where users can access and track their results using the new MyVitals app on both Apple and Android devices. When starting a new fitness routine or a new medication, this data can be very valuable in helping users to understand if they are gaining fat or muscle, so that they can make the appropriate adjustments. By observing changes in body composition over time, users can determine whether they are engaged in a program that will bring about positive/desired changes or has no impact.
The HIPPA-compliant scale solution supports up to 10 unique users and stores up to 200 readings offline, which can be synchronized with the MyVitals app and iHealth cloud at the user’s convenience. It also leverages state-of-the-art bioimpedance sensors and proprietary algorithms to ensure accurate results.
My Experience
I’ve been fortunate enough to have one of the Core scales to test out for about a week. Now, one of my best practices is to only weigh myself once a week. I found that personally, my weight fluctuates day-to-day and readings seem to be most accurate when I keep track on a weekly basis. So, the majority of my testing is based off of the set-up and couple of test readings I did.
First of all, the scale comes pre-assembled and includes batteries. There is a small guard strip that you have to remove in order for the scale to become active. The next thing you have to do is connect your smartphone through the iHealth MyVitals app. The set-up through the app was pretty painless. You do have to end up adding your wireless router information, where some wireless products will simply piggyback off of your phone’s wireless login. Once the scale is connected to your WiFi network, you are good to go. You simply step on the scale and let the device do the work.
The first time I stepped on the scale, my weight reading came up and I stepped off the scale. Don’t do that. It’s not a complete reading and won’t be saved. Stay on the scale until your BMI percentage comes up, then you can step off of it. Once I did that, I had a reading that was saved and was uploaded to my app.
Now what is really cool about this scale and the accompanying app is that you get so much more than just your weight. You get a much broader picture of your overall health. My particular favorite reading the the water weight. For example, as of today, 35.7% of my body’s weight is water or fluid. The ‘ideal’ percentage should be between 45-60%. It’s a piece of my health that I didn’t have knowledge of before using the iHealth Core scale.
Conclusions
I used to have a very simple scale that just showed me a number. But, what I’m finding out is that there is a lot more than that to your actual weight and how that contributes to your overall health. You have control over different parts of that number and you are also more than what it says about you. This scale is an awesome tool to help increase your health. It’s easy to use and while the price might scare some people off, I think it’s worth it if you truly want to make a change.
For more information, visit ihealthlabs.com
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