Excess skin and impact on body fat reading

fit_healthy92
fit_healthy92 Posts: 21
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi all,

I have recently dropped to my lowest weight in many years losing 50kgs (110ish pounds) but have a small pouch of excess skin on my tummy. My age (21), slow weight loss and regular exercise has minimised the amount of skin and now I'm looking at reducing my body fat percentage.

I have been using a Tanita scale to record my body composition and as of new year's day, I recorded:
Body fat = 30%, weight = 62.9kgs, muscle = 41.8kgs, visceral fat level = 2

Can anyone give me insight into the category my excess skin goes into? Would it be body fat? Or calculated in my 'weight'?
Just interested as I've been training with weights 4-5 times per week and eating at a deficit but my BF is still quite high.

Thanks in advance:flowerforyou:

Replies

  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    Those scales are not accurate at all.
  • Brad805
    Brad805 Posts: 289 Member
    The BIA scales are affected by a number of things, but I suspect you have already read all about those. Have you tried using calipers? I have a similar problem and use a cheapo pair of calipers to track the progress with my problem areas. The calculator at the site below is another option.

    http://www.weightrainer.net/circbf.html

    Great job by the way.
  • fit_healthy92
    fit_healthy92 Posts: 21
    Those scales are not accurate at all.

    Franc - In what way are they inaccurate?

    Brad - wouldn't using callipers be inaccurate also as my skin would bunch up instead of the fat?

    I'm wondering about getting a DEXTA body scan done which will visually highlight my fat and measure my BF also.
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
    Those scales are not accurate at all.

    Franc - In what way are they inaccurate?
    Because the scales determination of body fat relies on hydration measurements too. I've noticed when I'm less hydrated my body fat seems a bit higher.
  • gertudejekyl
    gertudejekyl Posts: 386 Member
    I use a Tanita scale and it is very accurate in body fat measurement. I know this because I have gone for hydrostatic weighing twice and the percentage points were only a tiny bit different. It costs $50 for hydrostatic weighing. Go do that !:flowerforyou:
  • QuietBloom
    QuietBloom Posts: 5,413 Member
    Those scales are not accurate at all.

    Franc - In what way are they inaccurate?

    Brad - wouldn't using callipers be inaccurate also as my skin would bunch up instead of the fat?

    I'm wondering about getting a DEXTA body scan done which will visually highlight my fat and measure my BF also.

    The calipers will be accurate, even on your abdominal skin, as long as it is done by someone who knows what they are doing.

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