Body Fat %

manetta1
manetta1 Posts: 138
edited September 20 in Food and Nutrition
Hi. I've been on this weight loss trip for about 2 months. Well this week I decided to do a change of pace. I hit my target weight so i swapped my diet to maintain weight and gained a 1000 extra calories. For my weighin my body fat actually went up this week by .7%. According to my scale my muscle mass stayed the same which I FEEL like is wrong. This is the first week I started taking a bunch of protein shakes and creatine. I got about a pound which i dont care about, but my body fat is something I have been striving to get down. Now I'm doing less cardio because I'm lifting more, but I still have plenty of exercise each day. Can anyone tell me why my body fat went up? I had to eat left overs this week, but I estimated those leftovers in my daily calorie intake so i should of still lost body fat? Its frustrating because this is the first week everything has gone up on me and it makes me feel defeated? Any help would be much obliged.

Replies

  • KimberlyKurtz
    KimberlyKurtz Posts: 287
    I hate my scale it has a body fat% setting on it. Even if I maintain my weight my body fat % goes up or down. Sometimes it doesn't take into account muscle you have, height, and bone size. Don't stress too much over it! Just keep doing what your doing!
  • zognorf
    zognorf Posts: 13
    Don't let a "bad week" get you down....and remember that it might not even be a "bad week"! If you've been on a strict, healthy food, calorie deficit food plan, and you switch out to a food plan in "maintenance mode"....if you added 1000 cals, you body grabbed that and stored it--thinking it was "feast time" and preparing for "famine" (your deficit plan) ahead. No worries....you can use this to your advantage!

    According to the truly scary-healthy guys out there (Venuto, Benson, etc.) you can "stagger" your calories per week up and down to actually cut MORE bodyfat off, or maintain what you have! Stick with your 1000 extra cals for another week....watch your results..and after your body has gotten "used to" the extra cals.....cut em out...drop back to your "diet" level meal plan.

    The weight will fall right off again, as your body uses the "reserve" it generated.
    Shy of liposuction (eewwwww) Fat cells never go away--they just shrink as their payload is used...so weight maintenance is something you commit to forever...but as long as you watch and record your results...YOU control them!!

    Stay strong!
  • manetta1
    manetta1 Posts: 138
    I appreciate the comments. Ya i guess my body fat setting might be iffy. If i set it on the athlete setting my body fat falls into the 7%. Technically according to their instruction manual i am cause i do 60 minutes of cardio everyday. I thought maybe creatine was a factor too because it makes me hold in extra water weight which went up by 4% if i recall. I hate looking at numbers, but at the same time they are what drive me. My body looks and feels better. My body is becoming really tone and definition is showing. You guys are right though, I'm at my race weight for the marathon pretty much so all i'm focusing on is dropping body fat and building muscle mass. So with the 1000 calorie increase in diet plus iv'e been sucking so many protein shakes down just to get my calories higher. I hope next week it does go down or ill really feel defeated :(
  • abbie38
    abbie38 Posts: 128
    I agree with the others. If as a rule, your numbers are going well, then sometimes one week can just be a fluke for results. :) It sounds like you're doing great. I'm tracking body fat as well, and balancing my cardio with some strength training, and i find the body fat % to be a better indication of how I'm doing overall.
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