I've lost 12 pounds but my bf% has gone up by 3%...yikes.

blueyellowhorse

So I was really happy to see that I lost 12 pounds, I'm officially at the lowest weight I've been in like 2-3 years. I feel really good. But when I went to the gym to get my body fat tested, it went from 27.8% to 30.1%. Wtf! I'm so mad at myself. I feel much better than when I weighed 12 pounds heavier, but I don't want to lose any more muscle. I don't want to be a small squishy person, I want to fit! Is that even possible, to go up 3% in bf while losing 12 pounds? Did I lose any fat? That was really disappointing. Anyways I can't afford the trainer at the gym, so I was hoping some people at MFP could give me some tips on holding on to my muscle mass.

jenncornelsen

This seems highly unlikely. Were u working out and lifting weights while dieting ?

lishie_rebooted

jenncornelsen wrote: »

This seems highly unlikely. Were u working out and lifting weights while dieting ?

Actually it is possible.
Likely it was a handheld body fat calculator which is inaccurate.
And when we lose weight, even while lifting and consuming enough protein, we will lose muscle mass, bone nass, etc. There's no guarantee that 100% of our weight loss is fat loss.

DeguelloTex

Water typically counts as lean mass -- or not as fat -- so if you lost a lot of water weight that would measure the same as losing muscle for that calculation.

I probably wouldn't be worried about it. I'd just be sure to get a reasonable amount of protein and do some lifting.

0somuchbetter0

It's very difficult to measure body fat accurately, so don't beat yourself up over 3%. Lift weights if you don't already. If you don't know how, get a book. Don't give up!

leggup

blueyellowhorse wrote: »

I went to the gym to get my body fat tested

The error rate for electric pulse BF% scales can be around 8%, by some estimates. They are thrown off by hydration level, meal timing, hand callouses, moisture in skin, etc etc.

segacs

Body fat measurement is notoriously inaccurate. Don't stress about it.

blueyellowhorse

lishie_rebooted wrote: »

jenncornelsen wrote: »

This seems highly unlikely. Were u working out and lifting weights while dieting ?

Actually it is possible.
Likely it was a handheld body fat calculator which is inaccurate.
And when we lose weight, even while lifting and consuming enough protein, we will lose muscle mass, bone nass, etc. There's no guarantee that 100% of our weight loss is fat loss.

Well when I first got it checked I did the handheld body fat calculator. When I went to get it measured a few days ago the trainer used the skinfold method. She said the skinfold method is more accurate anyways.

And I've been bad about working out, actually. My weight loss is mainly from eating less.

Liftng4Lis

Awesome job on your loss. BF calculators aren't always accurate, so you just ignore it.

Francl27

Well you can't compare two different methods anyway. But it's unlikely.

Honestly I don't even get measured at the gym anymore, they always lecture me based on their impossible numbers... Once I lost 3 pounds and probably 6 inches in 3 months and they told me I lost 3 pounds of lean mass... which I don't think is even technically possible (plus I was lifting weights 3x a week). Haven't been back since!