Body Fat Percentage

amunet07 · June 2011

Ok so my weight went down, amy water % went down but my body fat% went UP??? Is that possible

I have a Walmart Health o Meter that measures everything. I'm not sure it is correct in that area then.

fitnss1st · June 2011

If you water % went down, that is probably why your BF % is reading higher--lean mu :scle is read as "water" since that is mostly what it is made of---so, if your water is lower, it might give that type of result :-(
Don't worry though, just use that scale as a "gauge", not a 100% accurate measurement-make sure you are also doing your readings at the same time of day or that will definitely have an effect also. I can gain 4 lbs. in a day-and that usually makes the BF read higher as well.

JNick77 · June 2011

Be careful when testing bodyfat percentages, because there are nuances. First, those hand-held devices are garbage for finding out what your true bodyfat is. If you want to use it as a baseline that's fine and you can track your ups and downs but it's not ideal for getting true values. Second, if you're getting the caliper method you have to make sure the same person is doing it for you each time and is consistent in the points they're measuring. I've read stories from professional body builders that have been measured at a wide range of values from day-to-day if different people do it. One guy said he was measured at 2.7% bodyfat before a contest... as I understand it you're dead at that point so the measurement couldn't be right. Personally, I can look at myself and tell if I've gained or lost body fat.

Another thing to be careful of is losing weight versus losing bodyfat. If you're not strength training and / or you're eating far too few calories, your body will lose muscle mass instead of fat. You weight will go down but your body fat will be about the same, so obviously this is not ideal weight loss. If you do any kind of strength training you will probably notice a loss in performance if that's the case for you.

ATT949 · June 2011

I bought an Omron meter a few months ago and I track my MFP daily.

I've also weighed in at a Lindora health clinic that my GF runs - they have a commercial scale that does weight, BFP, etc.

The two devices have been very close, perhaps 0.1% off.

Then Debbie switched the setting on the Lindora scale to "athletic" instead of "normal", which makes sense 'cause I've been working out for 6 months and I've taken up running. And my body fat on the Lindora machine is now 18.2 vs 20 to 21 on the Omron (which is on the athlete setting).

I suspect the Lindora device is more accurate. Don't know why because the technology is very simple - simple enough that they can create a $30 product (which costs perhaps $5 to manufacture).

The bottom line for me is that I will continue to use my Omron daily and the Lindora device every few weeks because it really doesn't make a difference to me if I'm 18.2 vs 20.6 as long as I'm seeing a decreased.

On the other hand I needed to come up with a "guaranteed accurate" number, well the only way that I know that you can get that is to have it done in a dunk tank.

ATT949 · June 2011

"garbage"? Wow, pretty strong word. Do you have a comparison of the handhelds vs dunk tank?

My Rolex is inaccurate but, like other chronometers, the amount of inaccuracy is known and constant. That's the standard that instrument makers use so I'm OK with it.

A question about you the statement about losing "lean body mass" — when you lose a pound of lean body mass you don't necessarily lose a pound of muscle. Muscle is a component of lean body mass. I haven't found anyway to determine how much muscle I've lost but I know I've lost lean body mass. And I don't even see a discussion of the difference between the two even though they are very important and very different. Any chance that you've read anything about that?

If you're interested, check out

http://cbeinfo.net/BodyComp.htm

The numbers in the top part of the worksheet are from the Lindora scale while the numbers at the bottom (the dailies) are from the Omron. The numbers track pretty well until the Athlete/Normal setting was switched to Athelete on 6/11/11. When that was changed, it recalculated my BFP at 18.2% instead of 22.0% and it changed my fat loss/lean body tissue loss from 2.8/1 to 5.9/1!

I have no proof that the Omron is any more "right" than the clinic scale but I'd love to see a comparison of a dunk tank vs a hand held vs a clinical scale.

TrainingWithTonya · June 2011

I have a blog post on my profile about the differences in the types of devices used for determining body composition. You should be able to find it here: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/TrainingWithTonya

Basically, unless your body water % is the same, the two body fat readings on the scale aren't comparable to each other because of the formulas used to determine body composition. This is why I tell my clients to weigh at the same time of the month, day, etc. because there are massive fluctuations in water throughout the day and will throw off everything (weight, body fat %, body water %, etc.).

All that being said, it is possible to lose lean body mass and gain body fat. Make sure you're eating enough (IE: not too much of a deficit) and doing your weight training, though, and that is less likely to happen.

JNick77 · June 2011

"garbage"? Wow, pretty strong word. Do you have a comparison of the handhelds vs dunk tank?

My Rolex is inaccurate but, like other chronometers, the amount of inaccuracy is known and constant. That's the standard that instrument makers use so I'm OK with it.

A question about you the statement about losing "lean body mass" — when you lose a pound of lean body mass you don't necessarily lose a pound of muscle. Muscle is a component of lean body mass. I haven't found anyway to determine how much muscle I've lost but I know I've lost lean body mass. And I don't even see a discussion of the difference between the two even though they are very important and very different. Any chance that you've read anything about that?

If you're interested, check out

http://cbeinfo.net/BodyComp.htm

The numbers in the top part of the worksheet are from the Lindora scale while the numbers at the bottom (the dailies) are from the Omron. The numbers track pretty well until the Athlete/Normal setting was switched to Athelete on 6/11/11. When that was changed, it recalculated my BFP at 18.2% instead of 22.0% and it changed my fat loss/lean body tissue loss from 2.8/1 to 5.9/1!

I have no proof that the Omron is any more "right" than the clinic scale but I'd love to see a comparison of a dunk tank vs a hand held vs a clinical scale.

Maybe I chose poor words there... If you want accurate measurements, then no it's no good. I've done calipers and that device and it's off by about 7 percentage points, on the high side. Based on the level of definition I can see at certain points on my body I know I'm not on the high side. I've measured bodyfat with calipers for a long time so I can tell on my own body what's right.

Now if you want ot use it as a baseline to see your progress, it's probably fine. For example, if it says you're at 20% and then a month later you're at 19% well you've probably made some progress. In reality you might be closer to 15% or 14% body fat but you've displayed progress. The device can be useful in that regard.

There's plenty of information out there about the water test versus calipers versus the device thing-a-mabob. I can redirect to another site from here but the info should be pretty easy to find. Not sure if I'll get in trouble for this or not, but Charles Poliquin is a well reknowed strength coach for olympic athletes and has written much about body fat testing, try googling him.

Body Fat Percentage

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