Body Fat % are well off... help?

Lulzaroonie
Lulzaroonie Posts: 222 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
When I first started trying to lose weight, I was 240lbs, 41% body fat, UK 22. I've lost more than 10% of my body weight since then, I'm now 214 lbs, a size 16/18 and my body fat percentage has stayed pretty much the same? I'm so confused by this...

The ones that use all measurements, wrist, forearm, hip, neck, waist etc give me a lower percent than the ones that just use weight and waist.
My waist is taking a long time to catch up with the rest of my body. I have lost 10 inches from the waist, 6 from the hips, 4 from my thighs...

One site tells me I'm 38%, another tells me I'm 27%... I know people say don't bother to use online tools, but I also legitimately suffer from body dysmorphia, and so feel like I'm back pedalling and making no progress... even though I know from my clothes etc that I am...

It's driving me insane. I honestly feel so horrible about myself sometimes, it makes me feel ill to think I'm still so gross. This should be working, I'm trying seriously so hard, I've been stuck at the same weight for three months now...

Replies

  • m4ttcheek
    m4ttcheek Posts: 229 Member
    Those sites are all pure guestimates.

    For a proper reading you'd need to use calipers. Even electronic scales would give you a better ball park figure.

    Your weight is going down, your other measurements are going down, so you're making good progress.
  • Ninhydrin
    Ninhydrin Posts: 18 Member
    I found this website, which has some photographic examples of various body fat percentages, to be quite useful: http://www.leighpeele.com/body-fat-pictures-and-percentages

    Of course if you're over 30% body fat it won't be of much use to you but I think, as you are between 27% and 38% on the various sites, it may give you a better of idea of which percentage you're closer to.

    The body fat percentage machine at my gym says I'm 41% fat, but based on the calculators online and the visual examples on that site (also logic) I am actually closer to 28% fat.
  • delonda1
    delonda1 Posts: 525 Member
    are you doing resistance workouts?? i would get calipers or omron to test it honestly not websites. but it is possible to lose weight and not BF% if you arent doing anything to gain muscle. a lot of skinny people are "skinny fat" because they have a higher BF percent
  • LadyPakal
    LadyPakal Posts: 256 Member
    How did you measure your starting point of 41%? Use that same method to measure it now. Don't swap between different ones because they all give different results - as you have seen.
  • mousepaws22
    mousepaws22 Posts: 380 Member
    Losing weight is not necessarily the same as losing fat. Are you doing strength/resistance training?
  • Warchortle
    Warchortle Posts: 2,197 Member
    Losing weight is not necessarily the same as losing fat. Are you doing strength/resistance training?
  • jdad1
    jdad1 Posts: 1,899 Member
    "A smaller marshmellow is still a marshmellow".......................lift weights!
  • Lulzaroonie
    Lulzaroonie Posts: 222 Member
    Yeah, I do both resistance and weights, with bands and hand weights. My friend also has her boyfriends bar and weights which I use when I go round there.

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