Anyone?

JoceyG26

I have a scale this tells me my Body Fat %, my question is why has my body fat increased? I've been loosing weight, my water % has decreased and my BMI was 32.7 and today it was 31.6! I am a bit confused? Is there something I am doing wrong?

DeguelloTex

Because the readings on the scale vary for reasons having nothing to do with your actual body fat.

juggernaut1974

Well first of all, know that those scales are HIGHLY inaccurate. Completely unrelated things such as hydration levels can significantly skew their numbers.

That out of the way, if we accept the numbers as accurate, it's possible for BF to increase as a percent of total body weight if you're losing mostly lean mass as opposed to fat.

As an example, take someone who starts at 210 lbs with 33% BF (70 lbs fat, 140 lbs lean mass) and loses ten pounds, of which 8 was lean mass and 2 was fat (not likely, but exaggerated to make the point). They now weigh 200, with 68 lbs of fat, or a BF% of 34%

I_Will_End_You

Scales that measure body fat are completely useless.

rsclause

I use the body fat % as a reference number when I gain and slack off my workouts it increases. When I keep my calories up and weight it stays about the same but I increase my running, it decreases a little. When I reduce calories and increase cardio it goes down more. It measures body composition by sending current up one leg and down the other so it is very susceptible to other factors. How inaccurate it is doesn't really matter to me but I do see the change in my belly when it is going up or down so it can't be all bad. I just wouldn't get too caught up in the minor fluctuations.

PinkPixiexox

Invest in some calipers - you can get them on amazon for around £2.99!

TheopolisAmbroiseIII

While I'm not the norm, calipers aren't very useful for me. I have minimal fat on my arms and legs and even around my midsection have maybe half an inch of pinchable fat, maybe an inch on the love handles.

However, if I stand relaxed, I look like I have a beach ball under my shirt. Most of my fat is visceral, which really throws off all but water displacement testing for BF%.

Liftng4Lis

They're inaccurate.

hamlet1222

JoceyG26 wrote: »

I have a scale this tells me my Body Fat %, my question is why has my body fat increased? I've been loosing weight, my water % has decreased and my BMI was 32.7 and today it was 31.6! I am a bit confused? Is there something I am doing wrong?

Do you measure it at the same time every day? I check mine every morning as soon as I get up, and find it doesn't fluctuate that much (maybe 1% at worst). I've tried them at other times of day, before and after meals and exercise and can see up to 2% variations. They may be inaccurate, but as long as they are consistently inaccurate they can be helpful. The important thing is to observe the long-term trend (it's a bit like comparing weather and climate), if this shows in increase in bf % while your losing weight then it's highly likely your weight loss is from muscle - so add some weight training to your exercise plan to preserve as much muscle as possible.

Yi5hedr3

You are loosing muscle.