Scale and Scanner

After seeing myself in a bathing suit for the first time in about 18 months, I decided to buy a bathroom scale to monitor the progress of my thighs.

I've never owned a scale though my parents had one in their bathroom when I was growing up. Scales in Japan in 2006 are stunningly complex. At Bic Camera yesterday, there were three scale-only models and nearly 30 scales that also scanned your body for signs of life. Prices ranged from 1,000 yen for a classic non-digital scale to 20,000 yen for the Cadillac of body monitoring technology.

We decided to splurge and get a mid-range device one that measures more than weight. We now are the befuddled owners of a Tanita InnerScan. If you enter your age and height then step on the scale, it measures not only your weight, but your:

• Body fat %
• Visceral fat
• Muscle mass and "body type score"
• Bone mass
• Base metabolic rate and metabolic age

It's interesting comparing me & Tod. My body fat is at the upper edge of acceptable levels. His is smack in the middle range, but he's got too much visceral fat (I had to look that up; it's the fat around your belly and organs) where my visceral fat, which I always think is too much is actually OK.

My bone mass is also fine and I am, as always, a mesomorph body type.

But my metabolic age is higher than my real age, so I need to do some more exercise to get the metabolism in line. Exercise will also increase my muscle mass. Combine that with a bit of calorie counting and I should be able to monitor my thighs in a shapely downward slope, rather than buying a new and larger swiimsuit.