How do i know im losing fat

aniqa109
aniqa109 Posts: 364 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Can i use the scale only? Or will a measuring tape be a true indicator?
I've got a scale that shows bf% as well but I'm not sure if that's reliable.
Also if im only eating according to my calories and not exercising much will I still lose fat?

Replies

  • SassyMommasaurus
    SassyMommasaurus Posts: 380 Member
    it's not reliable. I take pictures and they show more than anything else so far.
  • DoNotSpamMe73
    DoNotSpamMe73 Posts: 286 Member
    SassyMommasaurus wrote: »
    it's not reliable. I take pictures and they show more than anything else so far.

    Agreed. But if you are exercising even a little then you should be losing fat rather than muscle so scales aren't the worst.
    If you aren't exercising but are definitely staying deficit in calories you should be losing fat over muscle. Fat is easy to gain but the body will go through it before muscle. There can be temporary muscle weight gain but muscle eats fat so that is a temporary problem.
    Good luck!
  • andydevera
    andydevera Posts: 8 Member
    DoNotSpamMe73 wrote: »
    SassyMommasaurus wrote: »
    it's not reliable. I take pictures and they show more than anything else so far.

    Agreed. But if you are exercising even a little then you should be losing fat rather than muscle so scales aren't the worst.
    If you aren't exercising but are definitely staying deficit in calories you should be losing fat over muscle. Fat is easy to gain but the body will go through it before muscle. There can be temporary muscle weight gain but muscle eats fat so that is a temporary problem.
    Good luck!

    I've been doing a little cardio work outs. And I started dancing. I'm consuming 1,200 - 1,500 cal a day but I don't see any weight loss. Does that mean I'm gaining muscle? Cause I noticed my arms got bigger. Ugh T.T And will it be gone soon?
  • aniqa109
    aniqa109 Posts: 364 Member
    I'm not sure. I love dancing but haven't done it consistently I do it here n there . I didn't notice my weight loss till I actually started weighing n logging food properly but scale was going down a lot so I wanted to know if it's just water weight
  • bioklutz
    bioklutz Posts: 1,365 Member
    You are going to lose both muscle and fat when you are losing weight. The good news is there is a few things you can do to minimize the amount of muscle you lose:

    -Lose weight slowly. How much weight are you trying to lose? If it is less then 20 pounds set your goal to half a pound a week.
    -Do some kind of resistance training that gets progressively harder. You can lift weights (stronglifts 5x5, strong curves, new rules of lifting for women are a few popular programs). If you don't have equipment or a gym to go to google convict training or you are your own gym.
    -Eat adequate protein. What is your goal weight? Take that number in pounds and multiply it by 0.8-1.0. That is how many grams of protein you should try to eat. For example if you would like to weigh 120 pounds: 120 X 0.8 = 96. So eat between 96 - 120 grams of protein.

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