BodyMetrix Ultrasound Body Fat Analysis

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misskerouac
misskerouac Posts: 2,242 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
For those of you who have looked into this or were curious about it I got it done today and thought I'd share what the reports look like.

I was looking for something accurate (i've been at a plateau for 6 months and wanted some numbers besides the scale and tape measure) but couldn't find anywhere that did hydrostatic weighing or DEXA scan that was within an hour drive and wasn't 100$. I looked into Ultrasound Body Fat analysis online and it seemed like it was pretty accurate. Up until now I had just been using an online calculator.

I am...I don't know what I am about the experience. I was pretty confident it would come out under 30% and it did (29.6), I was a bit bloated this morning (TOM) so I was 2.5 lbs up from normal which kinda sucks and puts me at 13lbs of "excess fat".

The girl doing it told me I should be eating 1500 cals a day and not eating exercise calories she also told me I should be eating around 140g of protein a day. I don't know if I really agree with this part, but this was her recommendation personally, so I'll take that with a grain of salt.

Anyways I just thought i'd share what the reports look like in case any one else was looking into it.
They use 4 points at the place I went to (back of your arm, 1 inch above hip, just next to your navel, and mid thigh)

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Replies

  • Martucha123
    Martucha123 Posts: 1,093 Member
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    it says BMR is 1500 and then BMR is 2300, do they mean TDEE the second time?
    How they figure out the BMR? its based on fat/lbm amount?

    If your TDEE really is 2300 kcal tehn 1500 is not enough. did you try reset your metabolism (eating 8 weeks TDEE?)
    you should be losing eating 2000 kcal flat...
  • misskerouac
    misskerouac Posts: 2,242 Member
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    Yeah, i think the wording is kind of stupid. The second BMR number is my TDEE I'm assuming. I would have stayed and asked more questions but everything that she said just seemed questionable.

    I haven't tried resetting my metabolism, I'm scared lol. I was eating at 1800/day for about 2 months and the scale went up to 168.

    I don't know how accurate that TDEE is since it's just calculating the BMR from my weight, height, and calculations it got from the scan. I was more just getting the scan to see an accurate BF%.
  • misskerouac
    misskerouac Posts: 2,242 Member
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    But 1500 seems low right?
    It's not just me?

    I told her that seemed low considering I'm quite active, and she said no.
  • bethvandenberg
    bethvandenberg Posts: 1,496 Member
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    Just because she conducted the test doesn't make her an expert :). Do some more home work and figure out what is the best for you :)
  • misskerouac
    misskerouac Posts: 2,242 Member
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    Just because she conducted the test doesn't make her an expert :). Do some more home work and figure out what is the best for you :)

    hahah yeah.
    I pretty much just stopped talking to her. I was just sitting there quietly waiting for her to email me the report so I could get out of there. I just wanted the numbers from the machine.
  • MercenaryNoetic26
    MercenaryNoetic26 Posts: 2,747 Member
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    I gotta say.. interesting. Regardless of the girl's personal advice I agree you can come to a good conclusion yourself on what you should do. Use your accurate BF% and choose your activity honestly. If you are moderately active, then use that for tdee. That's just my opinion. Congrats on lower BF!

    I'm going to look into this ultrasound for BF. Thanks!
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    Great write-up for another alternate method of BF%.

    Indeed, with a report like that mixing up BMR and TDEE back and forth, I'd go for raw figures. And ya, tech's advice is based on knowing how to run the machine and seeing a bunch of results.
    I wonder what she says when people say they've already been eating less than her recommendation for a year with no results.

    Interesting how BF is in Acceptable range, but BMI is over. Means you got more LBM than expected I'd think for someone your age, height, weight.

    So BMR 1516 gives a you a great figure to base things on then.

    I'd also do those other measurement calculators you do for BF%, and you have an error factor you can apply as those keep going down.
    Analysis / Measurement method = factor

    Anyway, get some good estimates now based on that measured BF%, track your progress, use a better TDEE calc, and get a goal that will help your exercise give best effect while losing fat.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/813720-spreadsheet-bmr-tdee-deficit-macro-calcs-hrm-zones
  • bachooka
    bachooka Posts: 719 Member
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    But 1500 seems low right?
    It's not just me?

    I told her that seemed low considering I'm quite active, and she said no.

    People lying in their bed unable to move (think coma) are provided with their BMR to keep them alive... so yeah, 1500 is ridiculously low for you. You should be eating TDEE-20% probably even TDEE-10% since you are pretty close to the last 10 lbs.

    2300*0.8= 1840
    2300*0.9= 2070<--- I recommend this one.

    Yeah the scale will show a bit of a gain, but give it 6-8 weeks, and make sure you are eating healthy foods to fill in your macro's and do not eat back exercise calories.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    Yeah, i think the wording is kind of stupid. The second BMR number is my TDEE I'm assuming. I would have stayed and asked more questions but everything that she said just seemed questionable.

    I haven't tried resetting my metabolism, I'm scared lol. I was eating at 1800/day for about 2 months and the scale went up to 168.

    I don't know how accurate that TDEE is since it's just calculating the BMR from my weight, height, and calculations it got from the scan. I was more just getting the scan to see an accurate BF%.

    How much of gain during that 8 wks, and was it fast near the start and then you held, or steadily but slowly going up?
  • misskerouac
    misskerouac Posts: 2,242 Member
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    Great write-up for another alternate method of BF%.

    Indeed, with a report like that mixing up BMR and TDEE back and forth, I'd go for raw figures. And ya, tech's advice is based on knowing how to run the machine and seeing a bunch of results.
    I wonder what she says when people say they've already been eating less than her recommendation for a year with no results.

    Interesting how BF is in Acceptable range, but BMI is over. Means you got more LBM than expected I'd think for someone your age, height, weight.

    So BMR 1516 gives a you a great figure to base things on then.

    I'd also do those other measurement calculators you do for BF%, and you have an error factor you can apply as those keep going down.
    Analysis / Measurement method = factor

    Anyway, get some good estimates now based on that measured BF%, track your progress, use a better TDEE calc, and get a goal that will help your exercise give best effect while losing fat.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/813720-spreadsheet-bmr-tdee-deficit-macro-calcs-hrm-zones

    That was the other thing I was thinking, I now have a better of an idea of the margin of error for my online calculator (to a certain degree) so I am not going to get tested again for quite a while
  • misskerouac
    misskerouac Posts: 2,242 Member
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    Yeah, i think the wording is kind of stupid. The second BMR number is my TDEE I'm assuming. I would have stayed and asked more questions but everything that she said just seemed questionable.

    I haven't tried resetting my metabolism, I'm scared lol. I was eating at 1800/day for about 2 months and the scale went up to 168.

    I don't know how accurate that TDEE is since it's just calculating the BMR from my weight, height, and calculations it got from the scan. I was more just getting the scan to see an accurate BF%.

    How much of gain during that 8 wks, and was it fast near the start and then you held, or steadily but slowly going up?

    I went up 4 lbs and it was steady.
  • jc4mee
    jc4mee Posts: 40 Member
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    This is interesting information. Our stats are basically identical, except that I am 51 years old. I've been just where you are with the LONG plateau and I eventually gave up. Glad to see that you are not doing that! I went for nearly a year without significant exercise due to plantar faciitis and during that time my husband decided to begin a vegan diet to reduce his cholesterol. That saved me because it kept my diet more in line with what it should have been instead of totally falling off the wagon with both diet and exercise. I started back on a weight loss journey about a month ago and had lost 6 pounds the first week, then didn't lose another ounce. My thought was, "Here I go again." This time I decided that instead of trying to guess how many calories I really was burning I bought a BodyMedia Fit in hopes that it does all that it says it will do. After just 4 days I have lost 1.6 pounds! I realize that I am eating too little, but each day I'm getting a little closer to what my daily intake should be. I guess it takes a little while to get used to how many calories you burn while you are sleeping. I want to end my day with a deficit of 500 to 750 calories to lose between 1 to 1.5 pounds a week. I'd say that so far this thing seems to be pretty accurate.

    If you have a day that you are less active, then you can simply adjust your caloric intake and if you have a day where you are very active you get to eat more :smile: I'm a numbers person and so I like to see what I'm burning and what I'm eating, so this is not a burden for me. I was already logging my food into MFP and the BMF links up nicely with it, so I can look at all of the numbers at once. I paid $119 for the device from Costco and it came with a 1 year subscription (which is normally $7 per month after the first 3 months) so I didn't think that was too much if I can really get my weight under control.

    Hope that the analysis that you got helps you to reach your goal and move beyond the plateau!!
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    I went up 4 lbs and it was steady.

    So I'd suggest at minimum 1 lb was water weight, perhaps closer to 2, which is always gained back when you go to maintenance. Same water weight that was big drop when starting a diet.

    So 3 lbs x 3500 cal / lb fat (if all fat) = 10500 excess calories over 8 wks = 1313 weekly = 188 daily.

    So upwards of 188 calories daily was in excess of real TDEE for whatever the level of activity was during that time.
    Just need to know how much you really ate on avg during that time, subtract, and that is likely TDEE if your activity is the same, and your weight is the same.

    I'd subtract 150 though, may have been more water weight gain which is LBM gain.

    So TDEE estimate was pretty close really.
  • misskerouac
    misskerouac Posts: 2,242 Member
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    Thanks heybales!

    It's great to read everyone's responses.

    For me the main thing was I knew I was "overweight" BMI wise but I knew I wasn't ACTUALLY "overweight". Even my doctor 2 weeks ago told me I was perfectly healthy (well aside from the Chronic Fatigue that i was getting medication for lol). As well as my trainer was shocked when I told her what I weighed.

    So seeing that I am in the average BF% range was sort of this confirmation that, yes, I'm in the healthy range, everything from now on is pretty much just about me wanting to get stronger and leaner.

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