Lost weight but gained body fat?

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mulcahya
mulcahya Posts: 82 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi guys,

I just have a quick question --

I started a boot camp 2 weeks ago which involves 3 x 1 hour sessions a week and has a clean eating diet plan to go with it. I have changed my diet mostly (still 1 - 2 meals a week that aren't amazing, but much better on the whole) and eating much more protein and much less carbs, and exercising every day for at least 30 minutes, usually closer to an hour. Today was weigh in day and I had lost 1.9kg from 2 weeks ago but according to the scales my body fat percentage has gone up by 2%?? I haven't measured myself yet so not sure of change in measurements.

I don't understand how I could possibly have increased body fat percentage if I've been exercising a lot more AND lost weight.. or is it just artefact from losing weight quickly? Help!!!

I really want to get my body fat percentage down so it was a bit of a kick today that after working hard for two weeks it had increased!

Let me know your thoughts please!!!

Replies

  • stines72
    stines72 Posts: 853 Member
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    my scales body fat % varies from 18 % all the way to 40% on a day to day basis, as you can see from my avatar, i am nowhere near 40% body fat lol, long story short... scales are very inaccurate when measuring body fat.
  • GauchoMark
    GauchoMark Posts: 1,804 Member
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    bathroom scales are notoriously inaccurate for small changes in body fat. Plus, they tend to confuse changes in water retention as changes in body fat. They are great to use to track your body fat TRENDS over long periods of time, but I wouldn't stress about how in changed in 2 weeks according to your scale.

    I don't even think Bod Pod measurements are accurate enough to really see a 2 week change.
  • HollyBmomof3
    HollyBmomof3 Posts: 11 Member
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    My scale varies by about 5% for weigh in to weigh in.
  • Rhonnie
    Rhonnie Posts: 506 Member
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    Yeah, don't listen to your scales, it can vary drastically based on things like hydration, etc. Mine can very as much as 10% in one day! What I did was for one week I measured every morning and then I took the average - still don't know how accurate that is, but it is better then just reading the seemingly random number that pops up on the scale.
  • kellensdad
    kellensdad Posts: 27 Member
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    Basically, a bf scale will send a current through your body that basically measures the amount of water is in your muscles. If you are over hydrated or underhydrated it could throw off the results. If you wear socks to stand on the scale, it could throw off the results,and if you are any supplements that cause you to retain water (creatine), you could have inaccurate results. Don't just go by the scale alone, use the eyeball test, and take measurements and also look to your strength gains in the different workouts you do.
  • chivalryder
    chivalryder Posts: 4,391 Member
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    Wow. Those are big differences! My scale only fluctuated by 2% at most!
  • mulcahya
    mulcahya Posts: 82 Member
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    Thanks so much guys :)

    Yeah - I'm feeling stronger and my clothes are fitting better so I'll do my measurements tomorrow and just be happy with feeling better :)

    Thanks!

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