- The Withings BodyFit scale finally lands in the UK and Europe after its US launch
- Its body composition scanning feature is said to be 'DEXA-level' implying pinpoint accuracy
- The scale is also allegedly ideal at GLP-1 drug users who are prioritising keeping muscle while losing fat
Health technology company Withings announced it will be launching the Withings BodyFit smart scale in the UK and Europe, priced at £229.95. Said to be a "segmental body composition scale", the smart scale will calculate your ratio of fat, muscle and bone using a technique called Bioelectrical Impedance Spectroscopy (BIS).
Similar to Biometric Impedence Analysis used by more of the best smart scales, BIS tech sends a harmless electrical current through your body, which moves through fat, muscle and bone at different speeds. Using this information, the Withings BodyFit can calculate how much of each material is in your body. Clever.
The Withings BodyFit uses a retractable handle for more contact points, said to provide body composition measurement as accurate as a medical-grade DEXA scan, calculating fat mass with up to 99% accuracy and muscle mass with up to 98% accuracy. The scale provides fitness goals, a calorie tracker, cardiovascular insights, nutrition logging and lots more. It's essentially a fitness tracker you can stand on, taking you on a 'personalised body composition health journey' with tips accessible in the Withings app.
The GLP-1 connection
The interesting bit is Withings is recommending its scale to a group of people who are most concerned about maintaining muscle mass, and no, it's not bodybuilders. It's GLP-1 users, who are taking drugs like Wegovy (the UK's most common GLP-1, equivalent to the more famous Ozempic in the US) to help dramatically curb weight loss. Wegovy contains the same active ingredient as Ozempic — semaglutide — which stabilizes blood sugar and signals to the brain that you're full.
With muscle analysis based on six 'zones' in your body, Withings says 'For GLP-1 users, Withings BodyFit provides the precise, actionable insights to ensure weight loss targets fat while actively protecting crucial muscle mass'.
The idea is that while taking these drugs and dramatically losing weight, you can maintain functionality in your body by doing workouts that prioritise maintaining and gaining muscle mass, and check you're on track with the scale's advanced muscle-scanning tech.
Muscle and fat
Building and maintaining muscle is an important part of any healthy weight loss journey. While some people will welcome the aid of GLP-1 medications, especially those that are unable to burn calories with intense exercise due to joint or disability issues, others will want to do it the way it's always been done — sweat equity.
Muscle weighs more than fat, so a reliable smart scale like the BodyFit can help shift the goalposts of weight loss (and weight gain) success from a simple number on a scale to adjusting your body's percentages of fat and muscle.
While such detail can in some extreme cases create obsessive behaviour, for most people it's going to make getting healthier easier long-term, as it's more about having some functional muscle than it is about how much you weigh.