Come on scales! What do mean BF is 48%!!!!

kimothy38
kimothy38 Posts: 840 Member
in Motivation and Support
Over the past 6 months I've lost 20 kg (44 lb) and have gone from 106 kg (233lb) down to 86 kg (190 lb). So I'm about half way to my goal which I'm really chuffed about. Thought I'd get a fitness test done and boy did it knock my confidence. My fitness level has improved from poor to fair to average. But the body fat % is basically the same as it was 6 months ago. WTF?! Come on!!!!
I've improved by diet and bust my butt doing circuit, running and weights. My trainer said the scales can be really inaccurate and that he'd usually do 3 readings but my confidence was so dented I didn't want to get back on the dang thing. Trying to put it into perspective I suppose woman need to be 20% BF or something so nearly 50% isn't too bad. Still, that's half my body. Grumble, grumble.

Replies

  • elizak87
    elizak87 Posts: 249 Member
    When I started (before mfp) I was 79kg and 42% body fat. Now I am 65kg and still 33.9% body fat. To have lost the weight and still see such high body fat devistated me. Especially because I am only losing 2% body fat a month.

    But to keep me motivated I think if my weight has dropped this much and I can see results, imagine how hot I will look when my body fat percentage is where it should be. When you and I hit the 20s we will be drop dead gorgeous!
  • MMAQueen
    MMAQueen Posts: 279 Member
    first: 20% is actually very low for women, anything in the 25%-30% is a-ok!

    second: yes, scales are super inaccurate. If i weight myself with the settings saying i'm male it puts me at 10% lower then with it set as female.

    third: how tall are you? 48% at 190 sounds really high.

    fourth: keep your chin up and focus on other things like how many inches you've lost, how many lbs, and how you feel!
  • meshashesha2012
    meshashesha2012 Posts: 8,329 Member
    the scale could be off. the amount of water you retain will also have an effect.

    also, i just wanted to say that there is doing weights and there's doing weights. just because you are lifting a weight doesn't mean it's enough to help preserve LBM while you lose
  • goonas
    goonas Posts: 205
    I wouldnt use the scales for a body fat calculation, do it manually, there are a few calculators on the net, so by putting in various measurements you can get a more accurate reading.
  • cyberblonde
    cyberblonde Posts: 100 Member
    Check your body fat in the evening, you will be higher BF in the am due to dehydration.
  • AllonsYtotheTardis
    AllonsYtotheTardis Posts: 16,947 Member
    I have a BF sensor on my scale and the ONLY thing I use it for, is watching it sloooooooowly :grumble: move to a smaller number. I'm sure the actual number is complete BS, but as long as it's going down instead of up, I know I'm making progress. :bigsmile:
  • nadinab
    nadinab Posts: 124 Member
    I wouldn't trust a scale! Try this: http://www.linear-software.com/online.html
  • kimothy38
    kimothy38 Posts: 840 Member
    Thanks for the feedback. To put it into perspective I'm 5'4". If healthy BF for females is 25-30% then suppose it's not too bad. What really got to me was that I've lost 20kg but BF hadn't changed. I'll keep plodding along then and continue to enjoy the benefits of better fitness and less fat to lug around.
  • waskier
    waskier Posts: 254 Member
    If you want to know your real BF content get a DEXA scan. Google it and you should find a sports med clinic that has one near you. They cost about $100 each. It will tell you your body fat, including how much in each limb, torso and your head. It will also tell you bone density and water. Do not trust those machines at the gym or scales. They are notoriously inaccurate.
  • ma_oeuvre
    ma_oeuvre Posts: 123
    How did you measure your body fat? I find different ways of doing it give me different results, which means most likely I'm doing it wrong! I use this site to measure mine to get consistent results - http://www.fitwatch.com/qkcalc/body-fat-percentage-calculator.php See how it is with that? That's the way I trust most, and I feel it gives me a reasonable estimation (one site told me I had BF% of 22% whilst another one told me 38%! Same measurements!

    (Quite obviously I haven't got the hang of it, but I do feel that site is a good one)
  • heatherloveslifting
    heatherloveslifting Posts: 1,428 Member
    Thanks for the feedback. To put it into perspective I'm 5'4". If healthy BF for females is 25-30% then suppose it's not too bad. What really got to me was that I've lost 20kg but BF hadn't changed. I'll keep plodding along then and continue to enjoy the benefits of better fitness and less fat to lug around.

    First, congratulations on your loss! you should be *very* proud no matter what the scales say!

    Okay I am also 5'4" and the "healthy" weight range for us is something like 119-145 lbs. For me, I was about 30% body fat at about 145 lbs with approx 104 lbs lean body mass . But also keep in mind that if I kept my lbs I could also lose 1% body fat with each lb, which I have managed to do so far, but from what I understand this is generally pretty difficult. I am lifting some pretty big weights and eating a very small caloric deficit.

    ETA so I guess my point is that I'm glad I didn't know about body fat when I started out because I think I would have gotten a depressingly high number and, given my method of weight loss the first 6 months (Cairdio and high caloric deficit), it probably wouldn't have changed much.
  • LottieLou13
    LottieLou13 Posts: 574 Member
    Over the past 6 months I've lost 20 kg (44 lb) and have gone from 106 kg (233lb) down to 86 kg (190 lb). So I'm about half way to my goal which I'm really chuffed about. Thought I'd get a fitness test done and boy did it knock my confidence. My fitness level has improved from poor to fair to average. But the body fat % is basically the same as it was 6 months ago. WTF?! Come on!!!!
    I've improved by diet and bust my butt doing circuit, running and weights. My trainer said the scales can be really inaccurate and that he'd usually do 3 readings but my confidence was so dented I didn't want to get back on the dang thing. Trying to put it into perspective I suppose woman need to be 20% BF or something so nearly 50% isn't too bad. Still, that's half my body. Grumble, grumble.

    Congratulations on your weight loss so far!

    When I was 196lbs my body fat was 47.3%, now I'm 170lbs and sitting around 37% bf. Although its dropped by 10% its still a lot higher than I would have thought I'd be at by now. Just gotta keep on trucking and every lb lost is a step in the right direction :flowerforyou:

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