Still not getting it! Stagnating body fat.

aaliceinw
aaliceinw Posts: 747 Member
edited November 15 in Health and Weight Loss
Why is my body fat not going down but everything else is?

I'm 5.1" and currently 175lbs. My fat mass has only dropped 1% since starting in December 2014 going from 45% to 44%. My BMI has dropped from 34% to 31% and I have lost 8 kg's.

I'm not getting something here. I started off on 1200 calories since I was sedentary but then started exercising hard and couldn't sustain that at 5 hours exercise a week. When I was exercising on average 3 hours a week, MFP put my calorie intake at 1400, I was hardly ever able to eat all of my calories and never ate all of the exercise calories back and lost 5 kg's (±10lbs) between Jan and Feb. During that time I stagnated for 3 weeks on the scale but I dropped two dress sizes during the period where no scale loss was measured.

I fractured my ankle a few weeks ago and was totally sedentary so put my goals back to 1200 calories. I lost 3kgs (± 6lbs) in 4 weeks. I managed to eat to my calories most days and even went over a couple of times.

I am not tired anymore and my eating habits are far better than they were when I started, even though I am still working hard to eat to goal and I am now learning how to manage macros. I will be changing my calorie goals back to 1400 now that I am returning to 3 hours exercise per week. But I want to make sure that the new habits I am creating are the right ones for a healthy lifestyle. Although I plan on including exercise in my life, walking and swimming will be the natural and sustainable form of exercise for me, even if I also do Curves at the moment, lifting weights does not appeal at all but learning how to do workouts using body weight (like planking) is something I think I could do.

Is there anything that I need to change or do to reduce body fat% ?

Replies

  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,990 Member
    How are you measuring body fat %?

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
    9285851.png
  • aaliceinw
    aaliceinw Posts: 747 Member
    Both at my gym and with my Withings Body Analyser
  • LizBelle2015
    LizBelle2015 Posts: 60 Member
    How did you loose 6 pounds in 4 weeks being sedentary? My calorie limit is 1,390 and am trying to loose 1 lb per weight. I went from 195 to 168 in 6 months. Kinda slow. But how do you manage to eat only 1,200 calories. I'm hungry trying to do that.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,990 Member
    Than it's by bio impedance which is the MOST unreliable way to measure body fat. Fluid levels in the body totally change percentage. You could be 30% body fat, drink some water and 30 minutes later be 25% body fat. Bio impedance "reads" body fat by how long it takes electricity to run through your body from one point to another. The more fluid you have in your body (retention which is something you have no real control over), the lower the body fat reading.

    The mirror, muscle definition, circumference from tape measure and how your clothing fits are MUCH better gauges.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
    9285851.png
  • aaliceinw
    aaliceinw Posts: 747 Member
    I don't know. I have a feeling it was mostly water loss because my water intake remained the same but I was not exercising. Eating 1200 calories is difficult most the time because I discovered I had an eating disorder when I starting on MFP - I thought I was fine but I was eating less than 600 calories of real food. I put on weight because I was addicted to gummy bears and chips, and that is literally all that I ate for a long time.
  • ILoveGingerNut
    ILoveGingerNut Posts: 367 Member
    you are doing all the right things. keep going and be patient. also, ignore the bullies on the forums. not the best place if you are looking for support.
  • badgerbadger1
    badgerbadger1 Posts: 954 Member
    NoblankFRplease wrote: »
    you are doing all the right things. keep going and be patient. also, ignore the bullies on the forums. not the best place if you are looking for support.

    What prompted this comment?
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    badgerbadger1 wrote: »
    NoblankFRplease wrote: »
    you are doing all the right things. keep going and be patient. also, ignore the bullies on the forums. not the best place if you are looking for support.

    What prompted this comment?

    IKR
  • aaliceinw
    aaliceinw Posts: 747 Member
    Thanks guys. I'll ignore the body fat readings then since everything else seems to be working for me.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,254 Member
    IF you can afford the expense you might want to look into body pod or DEXA fat % measurements.
  • ruggedshutter
    ruggedshutter Posts: 389 Member
    I would measure your body fat by tape measurements. Use fat2fit.com and they have some fairly accurate BF calculators that are based upon body measurements.
  • yopeeps025
    yopeeps025 Posts: 8,680 Member
    NoblankFRplease wrote: »
    you are doing all the right things. keep going and be patient. also, ignore the bullies on the forums. not the best place if you are looking for support.

    Who are these bullies you talking about?

  • aaliceinw
    aaliceinw Posts: 747 Member
    Thanks @PAV8888 . I think even if I could afford it, it apparently is not worth the expense if all else is well. I like @ruggedshutter 's idea though :D
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,254 Member
    It sounds like you are both losing weight and inches!

    It ain't a race and you haven't stalled.

    So if it is sustainable (i.e. you are neither over-exercising nor over-cutting) and if it is working... sounds like the cat's meaw to me!
This discussion has been closed.

Categories