My weight is going down but body fat going up?

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ladykiraraine
ladykiraraine Posts: 3 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So, i have the fitbit aria scale that measures body fat% as well as weight. And the Beginning of June I was 139lbs with 48%body fat, by beginning of July I was 232 but it said 49%body fat and today it says I am 227.8 but with 50.8% body fat. I don't know why my body fat is going up I drink roughly a gallon of water a day. And have been eating 800 to 1200 calories a day. 3 days a week I do 30 to 40 min on the elliptical and 3 days a week I go to the pool for 1 to 2 hours and swim laps and jump (got my legs super sore from water arobics). I am confused...I guess maybe it's not been long enough to really see results idk, clothes are fitting better tho.

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  • yopeeps025
    yopeeps025 Posts: 8,680 Member
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    Those scales are very inaccurate for testing body fat %. For example try to the test with clothes on and then naked. It should be the same for body fat %.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    edited July 2015
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    ladykiraraine wrote: »
    So, i have the fitbit aria scale that measures body fat% as well as weight. And the Beginning of June I was 139lbs with 48%body fat, by beginning of July I was 232 but it said 49%body fat and today it says I am 227.8 but with 50.8% body fat. I don't know why my body fat is going up I drink roughly a gallon of water a day. And have been eating 800 to 1200 calories a day. 3 days a week I do 30 to 40 min on the elliptical and 3 days a week I go to the pool for 1 to 2 hours and swim laps and jump (got my legs super sore from water arobics). I am confused...I guess maybe it's not been long enough to really see results idk, clothes are fitting better tho.

    #1 Bodyfat scales are notoriously inaccurate. Use them to gauge an overall trend for body composition change but don't believe the absolute numbers they give you.

    #2 You are eating way too little. Your extreme low calorie intake coupled with lack of resistance training is sure to increase the proportion of muscle to fat loss that you experience, which certainly could cause your bf% to increase. Eat more ( and get your protein) and get on a resistance training program (bodyweight, free weights, machines, etc.) in order to maximize muscle retention during the weight loss period.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    edited July 2015
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    double post
  • mgonyer123
    mgonyer123 Posts: 74 Member
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    Body fat measured by scales are wildly inaccurate.
  • ladykiraraine
    ladykiraraine Posts: 3 Member
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    Ok thanks guys. I have some weights that I had been using but have kinda lost the routine so I'll try adding those back in with a few more calories. I think I haven't been eating a lot cause I'm not sure what to eat, I been having a protien meal replacer shake with a banana in it for breakfast around 7am and then at noon having 4oz of chicken with some veggies like carrots or bell peppers or sometimes I'll juice cucumber, celery and green apple and drink that with the chicken. Then for dinner either more of the same from lunch or small steak with veggies.
  • maillemaker
    maillemaker Posts: 1,253 Member
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    I saw the same thing with my Withings scale. Body fat % went up while weight went down. Finally the BF% started tracking down also.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
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    ladykiraraine wrote: »
    Ok thanks guys. I have some weights that I had been using but have kinda lost the routine so I'll try adding those back in with a few more calories. I think I haven't been eating a lot cause I'm not sure what to eat, I been having a protien meal replacer shake with a banana in it for breakfast around 7am and then at noon having 4oz of chicken with some veggies like carrots or bell peppers or sometimes I'll juice cucumber, celery and green apple and drink that with the chicken. Then for dinner either more of the same from lunch or small steak with veggies.

    You can eat absolutely anything and lose weight. For the sake of eating a healthy diet, eat the foods that you traditionally think of as healthy and then allow yourself a moderate amount of "junk food." As with most things in life, an 80/20 rule is pretty easy to follow. Don't fear fat, though. Looking at what you listed as your general diet makes me think you're trying to avoid it.
  • BrianaDuBois
    BrianaDuBois Posts: 48 Member
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    If you like to cook, get the SkinnyTaste cookbook. I love to cook but was having trouble with finding healthier recipes that I enjoyed.
    It has also really helped me with proper portion control. I used to eat an entire 12 oz chicken breast before I started with that cookbook.
  • ladykiraraine
    ladykiraraine Posts: 3 Member
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    Not really afraid of fat...what else would you eat with fat in it? I thought chicken had a bit. And I forgot to say that I eat my chicken with a tablespoon of hummus. I'm more scared of carbs lol I used to eat a lot of bread and the last 2 weeks have pretty much cut it out.
    I tend to eat too little in a sitting now and I haven't been getting very hungry at all in between meals last night for dinner I wasn't hungry but my husband made me eat anyway and after I ate barely anything I felt like I was stuffed.
    I do like to cook.
  • Japessebas
    Japessebas Posts: 23 Member
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    I agree you should be eating more, add a mid morning snack and a mid afternoon snack. Make sure both have good protein.
    Add the weights back into your workouts.
    Build up some muscle to burn off the fat.
  • elvensnow
    elvensnow Posts: 154 Member
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    First of all, it's percentages, so let's put it in perspective:

    1: 232 lbs * 0.49 = 113.68 lbs fat
    2: 227.8 lbs * .5 = 113.9 lbs fat

    This means your body fat in lbs has barely changed even taking into consideration that the scale could be innacurate. Also (and I don't mean to disparage your results, 5 lbs is good loss!) your body weight itself has barely changed, and it's been less than 2 weeks. To put this in perspective, you have only lost about 2% of your original body weight. It's not too surprising your body fat has barely changed yet--it takes a while for body composition to go anywhere. The loss of %fat to %weight is definitely not going to be linear.

    And a final bit: When you start losing weight you tend to lose glucose and water weight first, which can account for your lbs of body fat staying roughly the same. Does your scale tell water% as well? That may have gone down. Basically, there could be a lot of factors here, and I don't think you should stress about it.
  • maillemaker
    maillemaker Posts: 1,253 Member
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    Here is what my weight loss progress looks like compared to my body fat %. The same scale takes both readings simultaneously (Withings WiFi Scale).

    I have no idea what to make of the fat%.

    0EGmix0.png

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