Tanita Scale --- Standard vs Athletic?

grangerkelly

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.

Possible_Infinity

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

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

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

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.