How helpful are these exercises for lowering body fat %

I was the most toned and buff I've ever been when I used to be seriously in to martial arts, including kickboxing. I also did circuit training. So, yes, you can definitely shed fat, gain muscle and get very strong. Have you considered Judo? That is great for upper body strength and it helped me build a lot of muscle and lose fat.

I also used to do a session of cardio, weights, HIIT or circuit training in the morning, and something else in the evening. I was in my 20s though and had far more time to devote to training. 37 now and don't have youth, time and a high metabolism on my side anymore! I used to eat like a horse. I would stick to a sensible diet and then eat loads of crap and drink Baileys every three days, but I trained for about 11 hours per week.

So, I would say that you could improve your body composition and you will get very fit and strong.

A scale cannot measure body fat with any real degree of accuracy.

Exercises do not lower body fat. Only a calorie deficit does that.

There are some bioimpedance scales that do a pretty good job. I did nothing but calipers for over 25 years and when I started my current job, they were using the top (as in $6000 top) Tanita scale. I was highly skeptical, so I did double measurement -- calipers and the Tanita--for the first dozen or so clients I tested. For the most part, the numbers were exactly the same. It sounds like this physician has the same model.

So this thread is useless without stats:

I'm a 20 year old woman 134 lbs 5'6 with a 37% body fat

A few months ago I was 140 with 32% body fat.

The weird thing is, I've been hitting the strength training exercises like crazy. Body Pump three times a week and kickboxing with bags twice a week, plus some yoga tossed in every once in a while.

My question is, are these exercises hurting me more than helping me? They aren't heavy lifting, but I though that they could potentially let me build muscle. Over the last year or so, I've slowly been trying to replace my running routine after a trainer told me that excessive running actually burns muscle instead of fat.

I know I have low muscle tone, I even had to go to physical therapy as a toddler because of this. However, desire this genetic disposition, I just can't see why my body fat % keeps climbing. I'm technically and medically obese.

See my previous post about "it should be easy for someone who knows what they are doing to spot the outliers". Those two readings represent a loss of 11 lb of lean mass, which is highly unlikely in that short a time, with that type of routine. Quite frankly, the discrepancy should have raised red flags with your doctor. As other commenters pointed out, hydration status can play cause readings to vary--I've not seen a lot that have varied as much as yours, but it is possible.

So, basically, right now, you don't really know what you are dealing with. There is always the old standby--look in the mirror. If you see changes, then things are changing, no matter what the scale says. I would also recommend that you get someone to help you take a full set of circumferences measurements--chest, waist, hips, thigh, calf and upper arm. That will give you an independent tracking mechanism that is more reflective of fat loss.

While your exercises have some resistive component to them, I don't know that I would consider them "hitting the weights like crazy". Especially after a while, they are more endurance exercises.

You don't necessarily have to lift super heavy, but I would consider transitioning out of body pump and into a more traditional lifting program. The important thing is that you work to failure with a lower number of reps than what you are doing in body pump.

And if you like running, then run. The "trainer" who told you not to was, to put it politely, not entirely accurate. A high volume of running can negatively affect a bodybuilder or power athlete, but most people can run and still increase their muscle mass.

Who cares how she is measuring her BF - point is she wants to know if what she is doing is good for lowering BF% and IMO I don't think they are. You need to eat at a slight deficit, lift heavy (more muscle the better) and be active. The deficit is where the lb weight comes off and with proper eating and activity, it will be mostly fat. If you lift heavy, it helps you not to lose all muscle every time you lose a lb on the scale.

If you do the math, you would have lost some 11lbs of muscle whilst gaining 5lbs of fat. Does not sound likely, unless you've been hitting cardio hard and avoiding protein at all costs.

Despite what the heavy lifters may tell you, you can lose body fat by doing other things. Maybe not to the same degree as quickly, but it is possible. Just watch your nutrition, and actually use some of those muscles ;-)
(ok, I have no scientific proof for this, but I've lost fat with solely running, incredible, eh)