Tanita Scale --- Standard vs Athletic?

grangerkelly
grangerkelly Posts: 23
in Motivation and Support
I am super bummed right now. I've been working so hard at the gym every day for a month. I've been eating pretty clean, haven't drank any alcohol, trying to eat more so I can gain some muscle. I felt like I was starting to see progress so I asked my trainer if I could get on the scale today and check my progress.

SOMEHOW, my bf% went up from 17% to 21%, and my fat free mass went down from 88% to 81%. My weight stayed almost the same, about a pound or so less. I'm so frustrated. He told me hydration plays a part, but I feel like I've been hydrating well.. I drink of water 96oz a day! The ONLY difference is, the first time my trainer calculated, I think he put me in as standard body type and I noticed this time it was set to athletic. Does anyone know how this could change my results? Am I seriously losing body mass and gaining fat?! :(

I weight lift/circuit train 3x a week, do light cardio on those days and longer cardio on non-lifting days.

Replies

  • Possible_Infinity
    Possible_Infinity Posts: 83 Member
    BUMP

    You want it set for standard. Unless your a serious athlete it may skew the results you want.

    Marathon runners, triathletes, body builds, etc...


    It has to do with them not being to hold as hydrated as a standard person.
  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
    I am super bummed right now. I've been working so hard at the gym every day for a month. I've been eating pretty clean, haven't drank any alcohol, trying to eat more so I can gain some muscle. I felt like I was starting to see progress so I asked my trainer if I could get on the scale today and check my progress.

    SOMEHOW, my bf% went up from 17% to 21%, and my fat free mass went down from 88% to 81%. My weight stayed almost the same, about a pound or so less. I'm so frustrated. He told me hydration plays a part, but I feel like I've been hydrating well.. I drink of water 96oz a day! The ONLY difference is, the first time my trainer calculated, I think he put me in as standard body type and I noticed this time it was set to athletic. Does anyone know how this could change my results? Am I seriously losing body mass and gaining fat?! :(

    I weight lift/circuit train 3x a week, do light cardio on those days and longer cardio on non-lifting days.

    That's the problem with weighing infrequently. Daily variations in your body can dramatically affect the weight and body fat % shown on the scale.

    I weigh every day. Sometimes the day's bf% is several percentage points higher than the last few days. Then a few days later it's back down. Same with weight - sometimes it goes up by several pounds overnight.

    These are very inexact machines. You have to understand that and work around it. A single measurement at a single point in time is fairly meaningless. You need a lot of measurements spread over time to see trends.
  • toutmonpossible
    toutmonpossible Posts: 1,580 Member
    What Tanita model do you have? I have an older version, which is still going strong, but it only estimates body fat %. One day I may upgrade.
  • AZKristi
    AZKristi Posts: 1,801 Member
    This is well within normal variation for a scale. Can you have someone measure you with calipers? These are more precise if you have the same person do it every time in the same spots.

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