gaining body fat but losing weight

icus1969

Hello everyone, I joined this site at the begining of October and I found it has helped me out alot with portion control. My questioned is this, I just finished my last session with a personal trainer and she did an assessment of me. Now in a month I have lost 10 lbs. but managed to gain body fat. Can someone explain to me how this is possible? and what i can do to change it. The trainer said because I have gained body fat it means that i have lost lean muscle. Now i know I don't do enough cardio as I should but I have been doing weights in a class as I have joined Goodlife fitness and go to their Bodypump class at least once a week if not twice and have training 3 times a week until a week ago when i dropped to once a week before i finished the training today. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Brenda

icus1969

Hello everyone, I joined this site at the begining of October and I found it has helped me out alot with portion control. My questioned is this, I just finished my last session with a personal trainer and she did an assessment of me. Now in a month I have lost 10 lbs. but managed to gain body fat. Can someone explain to me how this is possible? and what i can do to change it. The trainer said because I have gained body fat it means that i have lost lean muscle. Now i know I don't do enough cardio as I should but I have been doing weights in a class as I have joined Goodlife fitness and go to their Bodypump class at least once a week if not twice and have training 3 times a week until a week ago when i dropped to once a week before i finished the training today. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Brenda

julieofthewolves

I have read this over and over and have been pondering your question. I have no clue as to what would cause this to happen, especially since it sounds like you are doing more weights than aerobic. I would continue to track this and some part of me wonders if the first measurement was correct. What kind of instrument was the trainer using? Was it a caliper that was placed on various areas of your body? Was it a scale? Was the measurement on bare skin or clothing (you have to have bare skin). THis seems odd - definitely something to stay on top of.

I know there are trainers who are on this site - maybe they can help. Let me know what you find out. My science brain is very intrigued!

mmoran

Your body naturally burns both lean muscle mass and fat when you work out. If you don't replenish with protein your muscles won't recover you'll just get weaker. Also, muscle aids in burning fat, so the more muscle you lose the less effective your body is at burning off the fat. You have not necessarily gained in pounds of body fat, but increased your body fat percentage by losing lean muscle mass. I suggest eating a protein bar after your Bodypump class.

icus1969

To Julie - it was done on a Tanita Body Composition Analyzer, you stand on it like a scale and it caculates everything according to your age, weight, gender , height and body type.

To Mmoran - Thank you for the advice, I'll try to up my intake of protein. I went back through my food diary and checked my protein intake, most of my days I'm over on the protein but maybe it isn't enough.

Does anyone have any suggestions of foods that are high in protein that I could eat throughout the day
with my lunch and dinner and snacks?

Brenda

ariannedavis

I hope this helps you breathe a lillte easier. I am an athletic trainer, so I have to teach my students and athletes about body fat assessment. I can not emphasize to everyone how important hydration is when measuring body fat via bio-electrial impedance. (the scale you used). The way it works is that it sends an electrical impulse that is slowed by fat. HOWEVER, if you are dehydrated, it will give you a false reading that is significantly higher (mine has been as much as 3%) because the signal takes longer to travel through dehydrated tissue. Think of it as the hairdryer in the tub, the water makes the signal travel faster, right? If you are dehydrated, you slow the signal. So make sure you measure at a regular time of day, wearing the same thing: I weigh & take body fat on my scale first thing in the morning as I'm stepping into the shower.

lotusfromthemud

I am madly in love with soy crisps...and they have 8 grams of protein per serving, which is pretty high for a crunchy thing. Several companies make them.

Also, I'm all about the protein smoothie. I prefer an egg white protein powder over a whey based one, but that's just a preference.

Also, my old trainer swore by a glass of milk (if you're into that) as a "perfect balance" of carbs and protein. (I'm going on the perhaps incorrect assumption that my afternoon latte counts)

Opinions differ on what's a good protein intake, but in my humble (educated only by a friend who is a nutritionist) opinion, the "default setting" on protein is too low. I feel better if I use this formula:
my goal weight, divided by half = grams of protein for the day.

Hope that all helps.

icus1969

Thanks Arianne I was pretty thirsty this morning when I had it done and it was right after I worked out. If I remember correctly when I had It done 6 weeks ago it was in the evening so I probably was more hydrated then than I was first thing this morning. It was 1% higher today than it was back then.

Brenda

icus1969

Viviakay I will look into those soy crisps and boost my milk intake. Going by your formula for protein intake I pretty much get enough protein every day but maybe I have to increase it when working out with weights like mmoran had said.

thanks
Brenda

sanlin20

Hi, Brenda:
icus1969:
Perhaps, you should ask your trainer to use a caliper method. I have a Tanita scale, and my experience with the body fat measurement capability of that equipment has been rather disappointing. As ariannedavis pointed out, the measurement method itself is sensitive and influenced by various factors. To minimize variations, I usually use Tanita first thing in the morning after shower (the results vary before and after shower). Even then, comparing the body fat percent numbers it spits out with a four-point body caliper method (Durnin/Womersley algorithm) that I also use and trust, Tanita's numbers can only indicate a rough 'trend' of your body fat composition.

This website provides algorithms for various body caliper methods.
http://www.linear-software.com/online.html

If you want to buy your own caliper, I recommend 'Slim Guide' from the same website ($19.95). I got mine from ebay and ended up paying more.

P.S. I have no interest or relationship with that website.

ariannedavis

Just one more thought on the bodyfat. We use and teach our athletic training students to use the Lange Skinfold Calipers (they cost a couple hundred dollars) which are very accurate. Maybe give a local college/university a call and talk with someone in the athletic training/ sports medicine department. I know that we are more than willing to work with the community with such requests. You could probably get it done for free, or a minimal fee.

oldandbroke

Brenda
I agree with what the others are saying here. The only other thing I can think of is how low cal did you go? It might be possible that you starved your self and your body protected itself by storing fat and burning muscle. 10 lbs a month is a lot to lose, that is what made me wonder about that.

Does any one know how accurate the Accumeasure FAT TRACK II digital calipers are? I have one but have no way to know if it is accuarate. I am just tracking the measurements, as long as they get smaller I am heading in the right direction.