fat Percentage went up?

annamarie0408
annamarie0408 Posts: 11 Member
edited November 19 in Health and Weight Loss
So I started at Golds a month ago yesteday. I had a fitness test the first day, which is scored 62% on, which isn't bad honestly. my fat Percentage was 41.1% with my height being 5'3 at a weight of 207. I went back yesterday and did another fitness test, scored 76% with a fat Percentage of 41.2% and a weight of 204. I don't understand how my fat Percentage is going up. I have list at least 3 pounds and my body had slimmed down some. I work out at least 5 times a week, which include Zumba and weight classes as well.

Does anyone have any insight on how my fat Percentage has gone up instead of down?

(also want to mention, its a high fat Percentage I am aware but I am only a size 12/14 with a big nice butt and boobs so I don't actually look like i'm 200+ pounds.)
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Replies

  • __TMac__
    __TMac__ Posts: 1,669 Member
    There's an error somewhere. BMI is a formula that includes only height and weight. Find an online BMI calculator and redo it with your old and new stats.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    BMI is just a height / weight ratio - you would have had to got shorter or gained weight for your BMI to go up....

    Do you mean body fat percentage perhaps?

    My guess is you are using an inaccurate measuring device for BF% which is prone to wild fluctuations.
  • Tacklewasher
    Tacklewasher Posts: 7,122 Member
    I'm thinking fat %, not BMI.
  • deannalfisher
    deannalfisher Posts: 5,600 Member
    at 5'3", 207lbs - your BMI is 36.7
    at 204lbs - 36.1

    sounds like they didn't calculate it right either time...
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    edited June 2017
    maybe you shrank?! :laugh:
  • deannalfisher
    deannalfisher Posts: 5,600 Member
    since you edited it from BMI to fat percentage

    look at it this way:
    207lbs - 41.1% = 121.9lbs lean muscle mass/85.1lbs fat
    204lbs - 41.2% = 119.96lbs lean muscle mass/84.04lbs fat

    you have lost nearly a lb of fat - but have lost lean muscle mass as well - aside from zumba, are you doing any kind of structured weight lifting program?
  • annamarie0408
    annamarie0408 Posts: 11 Member
    Everyone, my bad, they called it BMI when they were talking to me with it. But they had a machine that I had to hold onto and it gave them my fat percentage. I just don't understand how it went up when I've slimmed down and am starting to create muscle mass again.
  • livingleanlivingclean
    livingleanlivingclean Posts: 11,751 Member
    If it's bf %, you're a lb less fat than before even despite it going up 0.1%.

    Thats likely to be inaccurate though, it's such a minimal amount and most ways of determining bf% aren't likely to give consistent results - there's lots of variables!
  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,142 Member
    edited June 2017
    because they aren't very accurate and a lot of different things can affect the readings including hydration. I have body fat scales and they are up and down daily along with my weight fluctuations.
  • deannalfisher
    deannalfisher Posts: 5,600 Member
    humph...apparently my last post didn't show (or is my computer being weird) - you are well within the error rate for a BIA (sounds like they had you do an inbody assessment)
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    annamarie0408 wrote: »
    Everyone, my bad, they called it BMI when they were talking to me with it. But they had a machine that I had to hold onto and it gave them my fat percentage. I just don't understand how it went up when I've slimmed down and am starting to create muscle mass again.

    they aren't accurate machines
  • TheChaoticBuffalo
    TheChaoticBuffalo Posts: 86 Member
    Your BF% could have gone up by 0.1% - which really isn't very much - even with a three lb weight loss if the loss was water weight.
  • tabletop_joe
    tabletop_joe Posts: 455 Member
    Did they then shove a membership renewal form in front of you?

    I would be skeptical of these results.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    A handheld device in a gym is double whammy of a dreadfully inaccurate device being used in just about the worst way.
    It won't even be assessing/guessing your lower body composition.

    Tracking progress with weight, photos and measurements would be far better,

  • Muscleflex79
    Muscleflex79 Posts: 1,917 Member
    those machines are wildly inaccurate..but even if they were accurate, why would you worry about .1% increase in bodyfat??
  • usmcmp
    usmcmp Posts: 21,219 Member
    The handheld device they use to measure body fat are VERY inaccurate. Don't let the number they gave you get you down because hydration is a huge influence in the measurement. If they didn't mention how inaccurate the device is I would be wary of letting them do further measurements.
  • stanmann571
    stanmann571 Posts: 5,727 Member
    TavistockToad wrote: »
    annamarie0408 wrote: »
    Everyone, my bad, they called it BMI when they were talking to me with it. But they had a machine that I had to hold onto and it gave them my fat percentage. I just don't understand how it went up when I've slimmed down and am starting to create muscle mass again.

    they aren't accurate machines

    It depends... some of them are better than others..
  • Chadxx
    Chadxx Posts: 1,199 Member
    annamarie0408 wrote: »
    Everyone, my bad, they called it BMI when they were talking to me with it. But they had a machine that I had to hold onto and it gave them my fat percentage. I just don't understand how it went up when I've slimmed down and am starting to create muscle mass again.

    Those things suck and aren't accurate. You didn't gain body fat.
  • deannalfisher
    deannalfisher Posts: 5,600 Member
    you can lose body fat and still have your percentage go up (if you lose more lean muscle mass than fat in the same time period)
  • annamarie0408
    annamarie0408 Posts: 11 Member
    tabletop_joe wrote: »
    Did they then shove a membership renewal form in front of you?

    I would be skeptical of these results.

    Well I already have the membership, its a month to month so I can cancel at anytime! (its worth paying $4 more a month and have the abiltiy to cancel then $4 cheaper and be in a year contract)
    Muscleflex79 wrote: »
    those machines are wildly inaccurate..but even if they were accurate, why would you worry about .1% increase in bodyfat??

    Mainly because of how much he made it seem like a bad thing. Regardless the fact that my clothes are not as tight as they were a month ago or the fact my skin is clearing up He made the .1% seem awful. He was like, you need to watch your food better, do more of this and that, and just made me feel awful. Heck I lost 3 pounds in a month, which isn't amazing but for me and with my how body holds onto my weight it made me happy. Also, I have been working my butt off in the gym for the past month and for them to tell me I'm getting more fat than muscle sort of makes it depressing.

    I told him I personally didn't care about my weight because of my body, I will always weight more than the BMI scale says I should. As long as I am healthy and have a nice body frame I could weight high number and not care. Its really just with how they acted when they saw the number go up instead of down.
  • stanmann571
    stanmann571 Posts: 5,727 Member
    What it comes down to is.

    This machine

    https://www.4mdmedical.com/index.php/catalog/product/view/id/389327/s/body-composition-analyzer-x-contact-356-scale-only/?CAWELAID=120141310000056386&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&scid=scplpRLL169661&sc_intid=RLL169661&gclid=CPO46uirrtQCFdgHgQodUrIH-A

    Is a B-/C+ estimate

    This machine

    https://www.walmart.com/ip/Omron-HBF-306C-Fat-Loss-Monitor/14829933?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=1971&adid=22222222227009130433&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=52919648591&wl4=pla-84840596711&wl5=9007544&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=113134806&wl11=online&wl12=14829933&wl13=&veh=sem

    is marginally better than a random number generator.
  • deannalfisher
    deannalfisher Posts: 5,600 Member
    annamarie0408 wrote: »
    tabletop_joe wrote: »
    Did they then shove a membership renewal form in front of you?

    I would be skeptical of these results.

    Well I already have the membership, its a month to month so I can cancel at anytime! (its worth paying $4 more a month and have the abiltiy to cancel then $4 cheaper and be in a year contract)
    Muscleflex79 wrote: »
    those machines are wildly inaccurate..but even if they were accurate, why would you worry about .1% increase in bodyfat??

    Mainly because of how much he made it seem like a bad thing. Regardless the fact that my clothes are not as tight as they were a month ago or the fact my skin is clearing up He made the .1% seem awful. He was like, you need to watch your food better, do more of this and that, and just made me feel awful. Heck I lost 3 pounds in a month, which isn't amazing but for me and with my how body holds onto my weight it made me happy. Also, I have been working my butt off in the gym for the past month and for them to tell me I'm getting more fat than muscle sort of makes it depressing.

    I told him I personally didn't care about my weight because of my body, I will always weight more than the BMI scale says I should. As long as I am healthy and have a nice body frame I could weight high number and not care. Its really just with how they acted when they saw the number go up instead of down.

    if any "trainer" told me that I'd tell them to go and *kitten* off and would probably then switch gyms - if you are working towards your goal and making progress (which you are), then yeah - they can go take a long walk off a short pier
  • annamarie0408
    annamarie0408 Posts: 11 Member
    Well I personally attend classes Monday-Thursday and on Saturday (which are included in the Gym Membership) so I honestly don't want to pay $300+ for a trainer for a month (that is just me though). Monday I do 2 hours of Zumba, Tuesday I do 1 Hour Zumba then 1 hour weightlifting class, Wed is Spinning Class, Thursday is 1 hour weightlifting class then 1 hour zumba. Friday is my free day so I either do Cardio and weights or I do swimming and Saturday I do kickboxing class, Sundays are my break days.

    I am sure with doing all that and eating on track I should be able to slim down, it might take a year to get where I wanna be but I am sure it can happen if I keep this up. Heck, per my iWatch I burn at least 1000 calories on Tuesday and Thurday classes and aroound 400-600 on the other classes.
  • tabletop_joe
    tabletop_joe Posts: 455 Member
    Honestly, if you're doing everything you said you are you are doing great, that machine is nonsense, and that trainer may have many great qualities, but expertise in that machine ain't one of them. Switch them up.

    Maybe in the meantime figure out what you like most about this gym and look for another that has those things but is less gimmicky.

    Good luck! You sound like you're doing a really great job taking charge of your health the way you have. Don't let some dumb machine throw that in doubt.
  • Tacklewasher
    Tacklewasher Posts: 7,122 Member
    Keep going but stay away from the fat scan thingy, and the guy who does it. He seriously doesn't know what he's talking about if he gave you grief over the number going up slightly.
  • Muscleflex79
    Muscleflex79 Posts: 1,917 Member
    stanmann571 wrote: »
    annamarie0408 wrote: »
    tabletop_joe wrote: »
    Did they then shove a membership renewal form in front of you?

    I would be skeptical of these results.

    Well I already have the membership, its a month to month so I can cancel at anytime! (its worth paying $4 more a month and have the abiltiy to cancel then $4 cheaper and be in a year contract)
    Muscleflex79 wrote: »
    those machines are wildly inaccurate..but even if they were accurate, why would you worry about .1% increase in bodyfat??

    Mainly because of how much he made it seem like a bad thing. Regardless the fact that my clothes are not as tight as they were a month ago or the fact my skin is clearing up He made the .1% seem awful. He was like, you need to watch your food better, do more of this and that, and just made me feel awful. Heck I lost 3 pounds in a month, which isn't amazing but for me and with my how body holds onto my weight it made me happy. Also, I have been working my butt off in the gym for the past month and for them to tell me I'm getting more fat than muscle sort of makes it depressing.

    I told him I personally didn't care about my weight because of my body, I will always weight more than the BMI scale says I should. As long as I am healthy and have a nice body frame I could weight high number and not care. Its really just with how they acted when they saw the number go up instead of down.

    If the trainer doesn't understand that 1/10th of 1 percent exceeds the margin of error of ANY device(to include bod pod/DEXA)... then I'd see about switching... if you need to use a trainer.

    I was going to say the same thing - I would seriously question why this person is a trainer if 1) they believe those machines are accurate and 2) they freak out over .1 % bodfat
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,343 Member
    edited June 2017
    A 0.1% change in bodyfat percentage is not accurately measurable by any device currently in use, no matter how accurate or sophisticated it claims to be. That's absolute hogwash and the trainer should know that. The fact that he considers that reading valid speaks volumes about his level of knowledge/proficiency. The error in BIA readings can be as high as 8%-9% in the first place, so thinking it can accurately measure a 0.1% change is beyond ridiculous. And if he did refer to BMI instead of bodyfat percentage, that's even derpier - the two don't correlate in any meaningful way and any trainer worth their salt should know the difference between the two.

    It sounds like that trainer is a typical "big box gym" trainer who knows a lot more about selling memberships than anything else. When I signed up at my current gym, the trainer offered me a free initial consultation which included a bodyfat assessment. I asked her how they measured it and she told me they used one of the BIA machines. I told her no thanks, not interested. I could get a measurement just as accurate by throwing a dart at a dartboard.


    If you want to read in detail about how inaccurate those machines are:

    http://weightology.net/weightologyweekly/index.php/free-content/free-content/volume-1-issue-4-the-pitfalls-of-body-fat-measurement-parts-3-and-4-bod-pod-and-bioelectrical-impedance-bia/the-pitfalls-of-bodyfat-measurement-part-4-bioelectrical-impedance-bia/
  • Katiebear_81
    Katiebear_81 Posts: 719 Member
    At this point, I'd just be middle fingers up. The trainer can take his attempt to shame you and go pound sand. It sounds like you're being active, and only you know the truth of what you eat/your effort at the gym. If you feel like you're making progress through how your clothes fit... then keep on keeping on. If that progress seems to stop, then re-evaluate.
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