Lost 12 lbs - wouldn't body fat drop?

c613477

I have started this very gradual journey in late February. I lost about 12 lbs, have been stuck since July at 150lbs. I am 5'6", female, 38. I lift heavy 2-3 times a week and cardio once or twice. Also walk daily about 4 to 5 miles. Is it possible that I only lost 1% on body fat while losing 12 lbs and starting weight lifting and HIIT cardio? I am down almost two sizes.
It is discouraging...I am only comparing body fat from my at home Tanita scale. Could I really be 34% body fat?

Liftng4Lis

Those scales are inaccurate. Way to go on losing sizes!

CooCooPuff

Try taking measurements and progress pictures.

Unknown

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rileysowner

The scales that measure body fat % are really inaccurate. I would not put much trust in that number.

c613477

I did take some measurements but no pictures. I wish I had.

Liftng4Lis wrote: »

Those scales are inaccurate. Way to go on losing sizes!

Thank you! I have been in recomp basically for a few months...not on purpose. I just must tighten my login more if I want to lose those last few lbs. Or.maybe breastfeeding might make this process harder when you hit a healthy BMI. I would love to lose another size and get stronger.

Yi5hedr3

It's possible, if your protein intake is inadequate, you could lose mostly muscle.

c613477

spacequiztime wrote: »

Try taking measurements and progress pictures.

I took some measurements and lost quite a few inches. I am down to 27.25 inch waist from 31. But my tighs are still huge! Wish I had taken pictures. I will do some this weekend, great idea!

c613477

catscats222 wrote: »

have you ever tried measuring your body to figure out our body fat?
probably more accurate than a scale
- just for fun try?
http://www.active.com/fitness/calculators/bodyfat
you measure your waist, hip, forearm,
write your numbers on paper and try another calculator online
http://www.calculator.net/body-fat-calculator.html
answer below if the numbers are different - curious

Just did now. They both gave me about 26%. That makes it sound so much better! I would like to have a body fat percentage goal now like 22%. I guess I should pay for a more accurate test? Where can you get one?

c613477

rileysowner wrote: »

The scales that measure body fat % are really inaccurate. I would not put much trust in that number.

Thank you. Piece if junk. I knew the absolute number might be off but I was hoping I could at least measure progress ( loss of 4% for example). It sounds like you can't.

rileysowner

c613477 wrote: »

rileysowner wrote: »

The scales that measure body fat % are really inaccurate. I would not put much trust in that number.

Thank you. Piece if junk. I knew the absolute number might be off but I was hoping I could at least measure progress ( loss of 4% for example). It sounds like you can't.

I used to think that as well, but even that is beyond those scales. There are too many things that will mess up the number.

johnnylakis

rileysowner wrote: »

The scales that measure body fat % are really inaccurate. I would not put much trust in that number.

like

cnbbnc

My digital scale was always all over the place as far as fat percentage, so I just gave up on it. I'm 5'4 and 137lbs. I just tried the links listed above out of curiosity, and they both put me at 26% too. I guess I'll use that from now on....

As far as your waist/thigh measurements, so far I've lost 2" off my waist and only 3/4" off my thighs, so you're not alone there. It's infuriating!

You sound like you're doing really well though!

Sued0nim

Ignore your scale

Mine tells me my bf is 31% :huh:

middlehaitch

I know my digital scale is inaccurate, but I find it good for following the downward trend. I always weigh in the morning after a visit to the toilet and a shower, so all external factors as as close as possible.
There is no way I have a 20.4 BF, but it is nice to see that at the same weight it has dropped from 21.2. ( I am probably closer to the mid 20's).
It is unfortunate that there is no accurate way of measuring body fat, but observation, measuring, and watching a trend can be quite satisfying.

Cheers, h

richardgavel

When do you weight yourself? I know BF on digital scales are inaccurate to a point, but the trend is helpful. I used to get variations of 1.5% day-to-day until I gave myself 10-15 minutes of normal post-sleep activity before weighing, as opposed to immediate bed->bathroom->scale. I think that is distributing the fluids in my body to a more "normal" state, which will affect the measurement. I will still see a 2% variation from that point to other times during the day, but at least the morning measurement is more useful for trend tracking.

c613477

My body fat varies 5% daily!! Highest when I weight when I wake up. I always use that value. It only dropped 1% at most since February. If I lost about 7% of total body weight slowly and doing progressive weight training, I should have lost at least half of those 7% in fat, no?

Sued0nim

c613477 wrote: »

My body fat varies 5% daily!! Highest when I weight when I wake up. I always use that value. It only dropped 1% at most since February. If I lost about 7% of total body weight slowly and doing progressive weight training, I should have lost at least half of those 7% in fat, no?

Your bf % isn't changing daily...you're just measuring it with an inappropriate tool

N200lz

Skinfold calipers will tell a accurate story. I use the FatTrack digital that is very consistent in it's accuracy.
The electronic types (scales, handheld, etc.) offer little in the way of accuracy. I can measure, take a shower and measure again and get different results.
Calipers are like jeans. If you can fit into a smaller waist size then you've lost fat. If you are lifting heavier and weigh the same then you are losing fat.

jim180155

c613477 wrote: »

My body fat varies 5% daily!! Highest when I weight when I wake up. I always use that value. It only dropped 1% at most since February. If I lost about 7% of total body weight slowly and doing progressive weight training, I should have lost at least half of those 7% in fat, no?

According to your first post, roughly half of your weight loss came from fat, with 5.7 lbs of fat loss, 6.3 lbs of lean body mass loss. (Based on going from 162 to 150 pounds and 35% BF to 34% BF.)

Losses like that are not out of the question, even with heavy lifting, but at your age I doubt that that's what's going on. I'm 61 years old and fairly lean at about 12.6% bodyfat. (142.4 lbs, 5'9" tall.) I had been targeting 10% bodyfat before ending my cut and starting a bulk, I'm getting so thin that I think I may quit cutting when I hit 12.4% bodyfat or 140 lbs, whichever comes first. The reason I bring up my own stats is because I've found the fat loss to LBM loss ratio really frustrating as I got leaner. I seem to be losing a pound of LBM for every pound of fat.

But I'm old and pretty lean for my age. And again, I doubt that's what's happening with your body.

To start with, you should find a better method of measuring bodyfat. I have a "good" bioimpedance scale that takes readings from four points, through both hands and feet, to measure bodyfat. Theoretically that gives more accurate results than the units that measure through feet only (current goes up one leg and down the other) or through hands only (up one arm, across the chest, and back out the other arm). I saw daily variances of no more than 3% and felt it was a pretty good method of measuring progress, and it was, but I got to the point where I knew the readings were too low. My scale now thinks I'm around 6% to 8%. I'm not.

I tried the tape measure method. That was better, but still too low. My tape measure results come out at around 10%.

Then I went to bodyfat calipers, which I've found to be the most accurate and consistent from day to day, with fluctuations of no more than one half of one percent, and normally are the same or vary by 0.2%. Calipers are cheap at less than $6. Here's a link:

amazon.com/Accu-Measure-Fitness-Personal-Caliper-Measurement/dp/B000G7YW74/ref=sr_1_4?s=hpc&ie=UTF8&qid=1446304985&sr=1-4&keywords=body+fat+caliper

There are different methods for taking readings and some good online calculators. I found the simplest method to be the most accurate which uses a single reading an inch above your hip bone, called the Suprailiac method. I also tried the 3-point Jackson-Pollack method, but the results were too low. I never tried the seven-point method because I'd need someone else to help take the readings.

c613477

Thanks for all your help. Very helpful information. It is obvious I need to cut further, but wouldn't it be nice to measure progress using an accurate body fat tool at home? Maybe my own Christmas gift to myself will be a dexa scan. But the calipers, once I learn how to use them sounds like am interesting method. I really have no clue of what to expect in terms of body fat loss per month for someone around my stats. Any clue?
If I lose another 10 lbs, could I drop another 2-3% body fat or is this an unreasonable goal?

c613477

rabbitjb wrote: »

c613477 wrote: »

My body fat varies 5% daily!! Highest when I weight when I wake up. I always use that value. It only dropped 1% at most since February. If I lost about 7% of total body weight slowly and doing progressive weight training, I should have lost at least half of those 7% in fat, no?

Your bf % isn't changing daily...you're just measuring it with an inappropriate tool

I understood that. I just thought that I could see that range drop several percentage points as I lost fat. I will ignore the body fat reading from the scale from now on. It is only making me frustrated.

cafeaulait7

Those inches calculators for bodyfat are for the average population, remember. Says the girl with the weirdly small neck and extremities compared to her torso frame, lol! I really don't think I'm 40% bodyfat with my ribs and hip bones showing

c613477

cafeaulait7 wrote: »

Those inches calculators for bodyfat are for the average population, remember. Says the girl with the weirdly small neck and extremities compared to her torso frame, lol! I really don't think I'm 40% bodyfat with my ribs and hip bones showing

Yikes! I am pear shaped so I wonder if the bio impedance scales assume my fat is every distributed. I swear 10% of my fat sits in just my thighs! I guess having a flat stomach must mean I pay the price somewhere else.

daniwilford

catscats222 wrote: »

have you ever tried measuring your body to figure out our body fat?
probably more accurate than a scale
- just for fun try?
http://www.active.com/fitness/calculators/bodyfat
you measure your waist, hip, forearm,
write your numbers on paper and try another calculator online
http://www.calculator.net/body-fat-calculator.html
answer below if the numbers are different - curious

I got 27% and 59% respectively with these. I know the first one is incorrect and I hope the second one is. My guess the average of 43% is probably close.

threadmad

This site offers five different formulae for calculating body fat %
https://www.healthstatus.com/calculators/
You can use them separately, or use the first one in the list, which seems to be an average of the other 4. Some of them require a lot of measurements, so get your measuring tape ready!

robertw486

I have a HealthOMeter scale that measures weight, BF%, BMI, and water %.

I've been saving my weigh in results to memory over the period of the year, but more often (almost daily) for the last couple of months. I recently charted all the results in memory to add to a spreadsheet just for the sake of data.

My determination is that anything other than the weight and maybe the hydration level, are nothing but trash and aren't even close to accurate. Sure, the overall trend for BMI and body fat have gone down, but they vary so much that I can't take them seriously at all.

Overall, I think other than DEXA scans, hydrostatic, and air displacement testing, that pretty much every method is less than reliable. They might show trends, but there are just too many factors that affect the results.

And I guess at the end of the day, I don't care what the percentage is. I know how I feel, and how I look.

collosus_ken

First of all congrats on your progress! do not be discouraged, another thing to note is that body recomposition and fat loss vary a bit. Depending on what your eating, the macronutrient ratios etc. Reducing calories is the first step, gauging your macronutrient intake is the second.
For eg, someone who is on a 2000 calorie diet and is on an extremely low protein, moderate fat, high carb diet will lose fat as well as lean mass. Compared to a moderate take on everything. A point of reference is 1g/lb of bodyweight for protein and your fats should never be below 25-30% of your calories. Keep up the awesome work

cwolfman13

a scale cannot measure body fat...it's just a marketing gimmick. you're better off taking measurements and/or using calipers..even then, getting an accurate BF% is difficult. I always let my coach take my measurements.

tracoleman99

If you've gone down two sizes, your body fat has decreased. If you're stuck, try switching things up a little. You can adjust your goals to increase or decrease your calories and macros. Try a little more protein and a little less carbs. The default settings with MFP can be adjusted under goals. You may need more protein to lose more body fat. I find that my body responds well to changes in my nutrition when I hit a plateau.

c613477

Super helpful. I did start with the default macros but have switched to 40% carbs and 30% for protein and fat. I am not always there with the protein but average about 26 or 27%. I think I really should add maybe more cardio besides walking, and elliptical or Stationary bike. I used to run and do a couple hour long dance classes but got injured and stopped it. Then started focusing on weights. Hard to have time for everything.