Gained Body Fat While on Calorie Deficit

myisha00

I’ve female 5’9 and trying to lose weight and tone. I’ve been using MyFitnessPal to calculate my calories for about a month now and I take in 1300 calories a day. I recent bought a scale to track my weight loss and BMI and all has been going well except this morning I somehow gained a pound of body fat and loss muscle according to my scale. I weightlift 3 times a week and do cardio 5 times. How is it possible that I gained weight? My Macros are 30 carbs, 40 protein, 30 fat. Am I doing something wrong?

Teabythesea_

Weight fluctuates. Its completely normal. Scales that tell you your body composition aren't the most accurate, you can expect some changes with that too.

angelsja

You didn't if your in a calorie deficit your weight fluctuates day to day depending on so many variables eg what you are the night before, time of the month, exercise

cathipa

Hormones, new activity, bowel movements (or lack of), not enough water, sodium can all affect scale weight. At @Teabythesea_ stated BIA scales can be incorrect quite often so don't put much into the readings. If you are consuming 1300 cal and working out like you are you can lose muscle since you are in a pretty significant deficit, but again I wouldn't trust the scale for any more than tracking weight. Are you using a trend app as well? Looks like there are only a few data points on the current trend so I would recommend weighing daily and following the trend that way it may be a more accurate reflection of your progress.

endermako

Composition scales are not the most accurate. They can track a trend over time however, and that's what i use mine for. If you are weighing everything and tracking accurately with your food then there is no way you gained fat. It's water weight at the most.

sijomial

Inaccurate measuring device most likely, it only measures electrical resistance and then tries to interpret that as body composition and often doesn't make a good or consistent job of it.

Use it in the perspective that it's simply not good quality data. You might get a reasonable trend over time but individual readings should not be used to base decisions on or judge the effectiveness of your diet and exercise.

NovusDies

It takes about 3500 calories in addition to your daily maintenance calories to gain a pound of fat. It is helpful to remember that in the early stages of weight loss when you step on the scale and it goes up. Even if your food log was off some it is unlikely that you ate at least 4k more calories than you realized yesterday.

Tacklewasher

Pretty much ignore the BF% on your scale. If you want to trend it long term (3-6 months) it might be useful, but day to day it is useless.

myisha00

Thanks everyone! I was aware that my scale might not be the most accurate at measuring my weight composition but I thought that it would at least remain consistent. Im bit disappointed if that is not true but glad that I did not mess something up. I was doing once a week weigh ins before but read that daily was better to get more insight in my progress. I’m going to try to continue with daily measurements to track the trends. If it drives me too crazy I’ll go back to weekly. My main issue is want to build muscle and lose fat which I’ve heard is difficult to achieve simultaneously. This is kinda why I’m not too concerned with the weight but more concerned with my body fat and muscle mass reading. I wish there was a better way to get a more accurate reading. Maybe I’ll switch using a tape measure or combination of both.

cathipa

myisha00 wrote: »

Thanks everyone! I was aware that my scale might not be the most accurate at measuring my weight composition but I thought that it would at least remain consistent. Im bit disappointed if that is not true but glad that I did not mess something up. I was doing once a week weigh ins before but read that daily was better to get more insight in my progress. I’m going to try to continue with daily measurements to track the trends. If it drives me too crazy I’ll go back to weekly. My main issue is want to build muscle and lose fat which I’ve heard is difficult to achieve simultaneously. This is kinda why I’m not too concerned with the weight but more concerned with my body fat and muscle mass reading. I wish there was a better way to get a more accurate reading. Maybe I’ll switch using a tape measure or combination of both.

It is possible, but only with recomp (maintenance calories and a progressive lifting routine). Also a very slow process. On a deficit you may have some newbie gains at the most, but would not be significant since you need to be in a surplus (or choose recomp) to gain muscle.

Tacklewasher

myisha00 wrote: »

Thanks everyone! I was aware that my scale might not be the most accurate at measuring my weight composition but I thought that it would at least remain consistent. Im bit disappointed if that is not true but glad that I did not mess something up. I was doing once a week weigh ins before but read that daily was better to get more insight in my progress. I’m going to try to continue with daily measurements to track the trends. If it drives me too crazy I’ll go back to weekly. My main issue is want to build muscle and lose fat which I’ve heard is difficult to achieve simultaneously. This is kinda why I’m not too concerned with the weight but more concerned with my body fat and muscle mass reading. I wish there was a better way to get a more accurate reading. Maybe I’ll switch using a tape measure or combination of both.

I tried using a tape. I can't get the same number twice, so am using it once a month only. I weigh daily (and get a BF% daily) because it's easy. Stand on the scale and am done, but mine is wifi so I don't even have to type numbers in.

CTcutie

You can weigh daily/every other day and use a trending app- there are several options (Happy Scale, Scelta are 2 I’ve tried). These apps are not really useful if you only weigh once a week.

TrishSeren

Body comp scales are wildly inaccurate.

SpyLuna

I read a study on those body comp scales and they are tremendously inaccurate. They are basically useless. There are local places (some places) where they have those pods and it's fairly inexpensive to use them and they are accurate.

SpyLuna

I read a study on those body comp scales and they are tremendously inaccurate. They are basically useless. There are local places (some places) where they have those pods and it's fairly inexpensive to use them and they are accurate.

alicemarshall2

When I had my appraisal at the gym the woman told me that when you under eat your body starts to store fat.. I was given an ideal daily calorie goal based on my body fat %, weight, height etc... It had a fancy name which I can't remember

Teabythesea_

alicemarshall2 wrote: »

When I had my appraisal at the gym the woman told me that when you under eat your body starts to store fat.. I was given an ideal daily calorie goal based on my body fat %, weight, height etc... It had a fancy name which I can't remember

This is not true at all, and if she's telling you that then I'd take everything else she says with a grain of salt. There are two ways to get your "ideal" intake for weight loss. You can input your stats into MFP and eat what they tell you to with your exercise calories or you can calculate your TDEE and eat less than that whether or not you exercise for the day. I put "ideal" in quotes because both of those numbers aren't 100% accurate but they're good starting points for determining your calorie needs.

cmriverside

alicemarshall2 wrote: »

When I had my appraisal at the gym the woman told me that when you under eat your body starts to store fat.. I was given an ideal daily calorie goal based on my body fat %, weight, height etc... It had a fancy name which I can't remember

No. That doesn't happen. I'd find a new woman at the gym. That sounds like the old starvation mode myth.

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1077746/starvation-mode-adaptive-thermogenesis-and-weight-loss/p1

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/761810/the-starvation-mode-myth-again/p1

Silentpadna

alicemarshall2 wrote: »

When I had my appraisal at the gym the woman told me that when you under over eat your body starts to store fat.. I was given an ideal daily calorie goal based on my body fat %, weight, height etc... It had a fancy name which I can't remember

FIFY

sijomial

alicemarshall2 wrote: »

When I had my appraisal at the gym the woman told me that when you under eat your body starts to store fat..

Please, please, please tell me you laughed in her face.

cwolfman13

Body weight fluctuates naturally up and down, even when you're in a deficit. Scales are not accurate at measuring bodyfat...think about it...how could they be. It's a gimmick.

myisha00

cwolfman13 wrote: »

Body weight fluctuates naturally up and down, even when you're in a deficit. Scales are not accurate at measuring bodyfat...think about it...how could they be. It's a gimmick.

I agree that they may not be the most accurate but I don't think they are a gimmick. I've been eating in a caloric deficit and weight lifting 3 to 4 four times a week for about two months and my scale has shown an increase in my muscle mass and for the most part loss in body fat since I first started. I feel like if they were just a gimmick then I would be seeing more random readings instead of just one or two fluctuation here and there.

jseams1234

myisha00 wrote: »

cwolfman13 wrote: »

Body weight fluctuates naturally up and down, even when you're in a deficit. Scales are not accurate at measuring bodyfat...think about it...how could they be. It's a gimmick.

I agree that they may not be the most accurate but I don't think they are a gimmick. I've been eating in a caloric deficit and weight lifting 3 to 4 four times a week for about two months and my scale has shown an increase in my muscle mass and for the most part loss in body fat since I first started. I feel like if they were just a gimmick then I would be seeing more random readings instead of just one or two fluctuation here and there.

They use an algorithm that is partially based off of BMI. They can show a trend if used properly (sometimes) but these types of scales can be highly inaccurate... up to 8% or more on a reading. It could be telling you that you are 20% body fat and in reality you are closer to 28%. That's not acceptable in my opinion. Besides, the electric impulse it uses typically travels up one leg and down the other, completely ignoring your upper body... or if it's a hand held device, up one arm and down the other - ignoring your core/chest and lower body. Once again, they use a calculation based on a statistical mean. If you fall outside of this that calculation is going to be highly inaccurate. If you want an example of how this works on your bathroom BIA scale - hold a weight in your hands and take a new measurement. Viola! ...you suddenly gained a ton of body fat according to your BIA device and the only thing that changed is your total body weight.

RoxieDawn

I'm using that same app, its so unreliable other than just gathering scale weight, actually BIA scales in general are unreliable but that app software went though a complete overhaul and its crap now compared to what it used to be. Hydration effects results immensely no matter the device you use.

PAV8888

Yes, you're doing something wrong: you're believing the results of your BMI scale!

Or to rephrase: you believe that your BMI scale is capable of giving you actionable results.

myisha00

Does anyone have any suggestions on what tools to use to get a more accurate body fat and muscle mass readings? I mainly want to make sure I am not losing muscle mass while I am on my calorie deficit. My goal is to get down to 20% body fat. Thanks to everyone who has replied!

WinoGelato

Others have already covered the inaccuracy of the scale you are using.

I wanted to inquire about your stats and goal - you are 5’9, currently 152 lbs and you have a calorie goal of 1300? What rate of loss did you choose, because it really shouldn’t be more than 0.5 lbs/week assuming you have less than 20 lbs to lose. So you may also need to adjust your expectations.

How are you measuring intake? Are you using a food scale?

jasonpoihegatama

myisha00 wrote: »

Does anyone have any suggestions on what tools to use to get a more accurate body fat and muscle mass readings? I mainly want to make sure I am not losing muscle mass while I am on my calorie deficit. My goal is to get down to 20% body fat. Thanks to everyone who has replied!

It sounds like you can if not already go into starvation mode . You can get a full body MIR scan this will tell what you asked.

JBanx256

Depending on my level of hydration etc, my scales will read anywhere from 19 to 26% bodyfat within a 24-hour window...so, definitely don't put too much stock in the bodyfat reading a scale gives you!

Damienriven

Do IF for a week, fixed your problem.

mackfoo

Body fat percentage is NOT body fat.

If you had a certain amount (mass) of fat, and you lost water, your body fat PERCENTAGE would go up, though you may have even lost actual fat.

That reading says that your water percentage went down. That just means that your other numbers will go up, 'cause you know, it all has to add up to 100.