Pounds down but body fat up?

LolaBoots
LolaBoots Posts: 5 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hey folks, can anyone explain to me how the pounds are shifting off but body fat fluctuates and is % is increasing slightly?

Thanks

Replies

  • RuNaRoUnDaFiEld
    RuNaRoUnDaFiEld Posts: 5,864 Member
    How are you measuring your body fat % ?
  • seska422
    seska422 Posts: 3,217 Member
    Body fat % measurements are mostly inaccurate. They are pretty much worthless as a metric to follow.
  • daniwilford
    daniwilford Posts: 1,030 Member
    It is probably the tool you are using to measure your body fat percentage? If it is a scale or a hand held device, it is pretty much useless. Calculations from tape measured body parts or calipers are better, and then only if you are consistently measuring correctly. A Dexa scan is the most accurate but is expensive.
  • Yi5hedr3
    Yi5hedr3 Posts: 2,696 Member
    Too much carbs, possibly insufficient protein. Keep carbs below 120/day.
  • emhunter
    emhunter Posts: 1,212 Member
    Perhaps you are losing more fat than muscle. That would account for that. Are you eating enough or getting any weight training in?

    Or if you've lost a lot of weight, a smaller amount of fat could still equate to a higher percentage of body fat.

    It sounds like you are serious about your health, so keep up the consistency and the other things will fall in place. :)
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    How are you measuring

    Any kind of scale is wrong
    Calipers in Inexpert hands wrong

    Bod pod or dexa ...maybe worth talking
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    LolaBoots wrote: »
    Hey folks, can anyone explain to me how the pounds are shifting off but body fat fluctuates and is % is increasing slightly?

    Thanks

    If you were 60% fat but your weight loss was 50% fat that could happen, but it's pretty unlikely to be real.

  • kazzi349
    kazzi349 Posts: 1 Member
    Are you eating enough? If you don't, the body will go into starvation mode and hang onto you fat stores while using muscle to get its energy
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    kazzi349 wrote: »
    Are you eating enough? If you don't, the body will go into starvation mode and hang onto you fat stores while using muscle to get its energy
    No, no it won't

    That's a myth
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    Well it's a misrepresentation of adaptive thermogenesis which is long term VLCD but you will still keep losing weight

    Any weight loss is a mixture of fat, LBM and water ...eating adequately and progressive resistance helps to minimise LBM loss
  • dhimaan
    dhimaan Posts: 774 Member
    HIghly highly improbable.
  • FitGirl0123
    FitGirl0123 Posts: 1,273 Member
    I doubt this is true. More likely, your way of measuring body fat is off. I have no idea where my body fat percentage is, because I know whatever form of measuring I use, would be wrong, so I don't bother.
  • daniwilford
    daniwilford Posts: 1,030 Member
    It really stinks that the powers that be, emphasize healthy body fat percentage when measuring it accurately requires an expensive procedure.
  • CC2435
    CC2435 Posts: 21 Member
    Doesn't water retention alter the results of hand held BF measuring devices?
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,343 Member
    emhunter wrote: »
    Perhaps you are losing more fat than muscle. That would account for that. Are you eating enough or getting any weight training in?

    Or if you've lost a lot of weight, a smaller amount of fat could still equate to a higher percentage of body fat.

    It sounds like you are serious about your health, so keep up the consistency and the other things will fall in place. :)
    If she was losing more fat than muscle, her BF% would be going down, not up.
  • _Terrapin_
    _Terrapin_ Posts: 4,301 Member
    AnvilHead wrote: »
    emhunter wrote: »
    Perhaps you are losing more fat than muscle. That would account for that. Are you eating enough or getting any weight training in?

    Or if you've lost a lot of weight, a smaller amount of fat could still equate to a higher percentage of body fat.

    It sounds like you are serious about your health, so keep up the consistency and the other things will fall in place. :)
    If she was losing more fat than muscle, her BF% would be going down, not up.

    Hey, hey!!! S-t-a-h-p with the logic. hehehehehehe Sometimes leaving posts as they are become like art. Sometimes.
  • queenliz99
    queenliz99 Posts: 15,317 Member
    AnvilHead wrote: »
    emhunter wrote: »
    Perhaps you are losing more fat than muscle. That would account for that. Are you eating enough or getting any weight training in?

    Or if you've lost a lot of weight, a smaller amount of fat could still equate to a higher percentage of body fat.

    It sounds like you are serious about your health, so keep up the consistency and the other things will fall in place. :)
    If she was losing more fat than muscle, her BF% would be going down, not up.

    Fuzzy math.
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
    rabbitjb wrote: »
    How are you measuring

    Any kind of scale is wrong
    Calipers in Inexpert hands wrong

    Bod pod or dexa ...maybe worth talking

    My body fat % is way off by the caliper method. I have lost a lot and I have loose skin which makes the fat % appear higher, even though it isn't.
  • MelodyandBarbells
    MelodyandBarbells Posts: 7,724 Member
    daniwilford wrote: »
    It really stinks that the powers that be, emphasize healthy body fat percentage when measuring it accurately requires an expensive procedure.

    Fair point. Be nice to have something reliable that you can hop on like a scale.

  • emhunter
    emhunter Posts: 1,212 Member
    AnvilHead wrote: »
    emhunter wrote: »
    Perhaps you are losing more fat than muscle. That would account for that. Are you eating enough or getting any weight training in?

    Or if you've lost a lot of weight, a smaller amount of fat could still equate to a higher percentage of body fat.

    It sounds like you are serious about your health, so keep up the consistency and the other things will fall in place. :)
    If she was losing more fat than muscle, her BF% would be going down, not up.

    Yes! You're correct thanks for pointing out that I mixed up the words. That was an accident.
  • LolaBoots
    LolaBoots Posts: 5 Member
    Ok thanks folks. Some good points but overall I shouldn't worry
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    I had a coworker in the military who used to fail his weigh ins, fail the caliper or tape test, but pass the Hydrostatic Weighing, or dunk tank test, which is more accurate but obviously less convenient. He worked out a lot and was a delectable specimen of masculinity. /drool/

    Pros and cons of various methods here: http://dailyburn.com/life/health/how-to-measure-body-fat-percentage/
  • sapphirewind
    sapphirewind Posts: 55 Member
    edited November 2015
    So the InBody machine (bioelectrical impedance scale) at my gym is not the best most accurate method... but it's what i've got.

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