Assuming that you are measuring correctly, this can depend on how you are built and how you are carrying your fat. I have a definite waist point at my navel that changes much slower than the jigglier surrounding areas because I have less fat right at that point so it's not as useful as other measurements that I could be taking. You could be losing fat in your legs and butt in ways that aren't showing up on your hip measurements, and your pants would definitely be fitting more loosely. Try picking a different spot that you have noticed is definitely smaller and measure there. It could be a thigh measurement, it could be a poochy spot on your torso, or over a back-roll, or your upper arm. Track that for a while through some more weight loss and see if you notice any changes.

There's a good guide here:
http://strengthunbound.com/measure-body-fat-easily-accurately-home/

How to Measure

The first question to be asked is where to measure the waist? At the navel? At the smallest point? Each one of the formulas has a little different instructions for how to measure unfortunately. But when we consider that the formulas aren’t precise and with most of the formulas the waist to body fat relationships are linear (or close enough), it really doesn’t matter which point you choose. With other measurements you are generally looking for the largest point.

Here is a breakdown to where to take each measurement:
Note all measurements are unflexed

Neck – Just under the adams apple. Pinch the tape or use a mirror if taking the measurement yourself.
Waist – At the thinnest point. The navel could also be used. Or both if you like to collect data. Most important of all is using the same point each time you measure.
Wrist – At the thinnest point of the wrist, just before it meets the hand.
Forearm – At the widest part of the forearm with the arm straight.
Hips – Around the widest part of your butt. Note this almost surely is NOT around your hipbones.
Thigh – Around the widest part of the thigh. Generally this will be near the top of the thigh. Take care not to include part of your butt in the measurement.
Calf – Around the widest part of the calf with the leg straight.
The other factor is how tight to pull the tape. All formulas use the same general rule, tight against the skin without compressing the skin.

Most of the instructions for the formulas tell you to measure each point 3 times, then take the average of the points. This can be done in order to ensure accuracy, though it isn’t absolutely necessary, especially if you are taking “cheated” measurements.

Practically however, if you are going to be tracking changes to your body fat, it is far more important to measure the same way than it is to measure the right way. The reason for this is a matter of arithmetic; when most of the variables are related in a linear way, when considering change, absolute error largely cancels out; if the waist changed by an inch, whether measuring at the thinnest point or the navel, the waist changed by and inch.

Cheated Measurements

Depending on your measuring tools, it may in fact be wiser to “cheat” and then correct that cheat. What I mean by that? Tight against the skin without compressing the skin is in fact a fairly difficult way to measure reliably. Especially when there is a lot of fat under the skin or the fat is “squishy”, as can occur during fat loss. Small differences in the tension on the tape can make a big difference in measured value.

A much more reliable to measure point is to pull the tape very tight against flexed abdominal muscles. This is a quite reliable to measure datapoint. Being a “cheated” measurement, you really don’t have to concern yourself with the idea that you may be cheating the measurement; you are purposely.

To be useful however you then have to correct this measurement (at least for computing body fat % with absolute accuracy, cheating measurements doesn’t matter in the least bit for relative accuracy, as long as they are all cheated the same way). To do this try to measure as prescribed for the formulas periodically and add the difference between that measurement and your cheated measurement to your measurement value as a constant. Round to the nearest whole or half number for the correction factor; precision isn’t necessary.

For example, with a standard fiberglass tape, I add 3″ to my “cheated” flexed abs, tape pulled tight waist measurement in order to adjust for use with the formulas. This value has stayed constant for me for a long time. Measuring this way allows me to measure with a high degree of repeatability. I can measure exactly the same way every single time with a lot of confidence.

minties82 wrote: »

I always find it weird that the hips aren't measured around the actual hips themselves? That makes no sense to me so I measure around my hip bones, not my bum.

I do both, the Hips (around my bum, usually right above the pelvic bone) and my lower abs (across the hip bones where the pooch is, in between navel and pubic bone).

I got myself a myotape measurer so I would be more consistent. I measure about once a month (and weigh every morning).

FIT_Goat wrote: »

I should get around to measuring. It's been a while and the scale's been taunting me lately. A couple measurements to see how estimated body fat has changed would be cool.

@FIT_Goat, how do you estimate your body fat %?