Still not getting it! Stagnating body fat.

aaliceinw

Why is my body fat not going down but everything else is?

I'm 5.1" and currently 175lbs. My fat mass has only dropped 1% since starting in December 2014 going from 45% to 44%. My BMI has dropped from 34% to 31% and I have lost 8 kg's.

I'm not getting something here. I started off on 1200 calories since I was sedentary but then started exercising hard and couldn't sustain that at 5 hours exercise a week. When I was exercising on average 3 hours a week, MFP put my calorie intake at 1400, I was hardly ever able to eat all of my calories and never ate all of the exercise calories back and lost 5 kg's (±10lbs) between Jan and Feb. During that time I stagnated for 3 weeks on the scale but I dropped two dress sizes during the period where no scale loss was measured.

I fractured my ankle a few weeks ago and was totally sedentary so put my goals back to 1200 calories. I lost 3kgs (± 6lbs) in 4 weeks. I managed to eat to my calories most days and even went over a couple of times.

I am not tired anymore and my eating habits are far better than they were when I started, even though I am still working hard to eat to goal and I am now learning how to manage macros. I will be changing my calorie goals back to 1400 now that I am returning to 3 hours exercise per week. But I want to make sure that the new habits I am creating are the right ones for a healthy lifestyle. Although I plan on including exercise in my life, walking and swimming will be the natural and sustainable form of exercise for me, even if I also do Curves at the moment, lifting weights does not appeal at all but learning how to do workouts using body weight (like planking) is something I think I could do.

Is there anything that I need to change or do to reduce body fat% ?

ninerbuff

How are you measuring body fat %?

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

aaliceinw

Both at my gym and with my Withings Body Analyser

LizBelle2015

How did you loose 6 pounds in 4 weeks being sedentary? My calorie limit is 1,390 and am trying to loose 1 lb per weight. I went from 195 to 168 in 6 months. Kinda slow. But how do you manage to eat only 1,200 calories. I'm hungry trying to do that.

ninerbuff

Than it's by bio impedance which is the MOST unreliable way to measure body fat. Fluid levels in the body totally change percentage. You could be 30% body fat, drink some water and 30 minutes later be 25% body fat. Bio impedance "reads" body fat by how long it takes electricity to run through your body from one point to another. The more fluid you have in your body (retention which is something you have no real control over), the lower the body fat reading.

The mirror, muscle definition, circumference from tape measure and how your clothing fits are MUCH better gauges.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

aaliceinw

I don't know. I have a feeling it was mostly water loss because my water intake remained the same but I was not exercising. Eating 1200 calories is difficult most the time because I discovered I had an eating disorder when I starting on MFP - I thought I was fine but I was eating less than 600 calories of real food. I put on weight because I was addicted to gummy bears and chips, and that is literally all that I ate for a long time.

ILoveGingerNut

you are doing all the right things. keep going and be patient. also, ignore the bullies on the forums. not the best place if you are looking for support.

badgerbadger1

NoblankFRplease wrote: »

you are doing all the right things. keep going and be patient. also, ignore the bullies on the forums. not the best place if you are looking for support.

What prompted this comment?

Sued0nim

badgerbadger1 wrote: »

NoblankFRplease wrote: »

you are doing all the right things. keep going and be patient. also, ignore the bullies on the forums. not the best place if you are looking for support.

What prompted this comment?

IKR

aaliceinw

Thanks guys. I'll ignore the body fat readings then since everything else seems to be working for me.

PAV8888

IF you can afford the expense you might want to look into body pod or DEXA fat % measurements.

ruggedshutter

I would measure your body fat by tape measurements. Use fat2fit.com and they have some fairly accurate BF calculators that are based upon body measurements.

yopeeps025

NoblankFRplease wrote: »

you are doing all the right things. keep going and be patient. also, ignore the bullies on the forums. not the best place if you are looking for support.

Who are these bullies you talking about?

aaliceinw

Thanks @PAV8888 . I think even if I could afford it, it apparently is not worth the expense if all else is well. I like @ruggedshutter 's idea though

PAV8888

It sounds like you are both losing weight and inches!

It ain't a race and you haven't stalled.

So if it is sustainable (i.e. you are neither over-exercising nor over-cutting) and if it is working... sounds like the cat's meaw to me!