losing body fat% but not pounds - feel fatter than ever!

slickmickey
slickmickey Posts: 113 Member
in Motivation and Support
so i have one of those aria scales - i'm not sure how accurate they are but it's all i have so we'll have to believe it i guess. that being said in the past 2 months its telling me i've lost 2% body fat, yet i'm roughly 3pounds heavier (today at least, i fluxuated those 3 pounds over the week). i know i havent been staying in calories, but i'm at least tracking them which is better than when i wasnt. i've been walking daily, and for the past month i've hit 10K steps almost every day. i've also been doing zumba (which i only track with steps, not as an exercise) at least 3-4 times a week so i am having a hard time figuring how how i can be losing fat% while my weight has been roughly the same this whole time. it cant really be muscle right? i feel like i am heavier looking now too than i was 2 months ago. eufi78qpy2ir.jpg
2vsbjto6ibh1.jpg


the first photo is me today, the 2nd was taken on dec 18. yes, i'm a nerd for trying to recreate the photo but after i saw the scale today i was determined to see if there was any difference.

are body fat calculating scales at all accurate i guess is what i'm really getting at here.

Replies

  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    No, the body fat calculating scales are not accurate. There are too many variables that they do not account for.

    You do not look any bigger now, btw. You look the same. I kind of enjoyed the attempt to recreate the photo.
  • blues4miles
    blues4miles Posts: 1,481 Member
    Definitely not muscle (unless you are lifting really heavy 4-5x a week and consuming 200+g of protein and are a dude).

    I'll ask all the usual questions, do you weigh at the same time every day? Preferably first thing in the morning on an empty stomach and either naked or in the same clothes every morning?

    If I consume some sodium heavy food my weight can pop up by as much as 3 lbs. Make sure you are drinking lots of water. You don't look like you have a lot to lose so it's probably going to come off really slowly. Retaining water could be masking actual weight loss.
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    slickmickey wrote: »
    are body fat calculating scales at all accurate i guess is what i'm really getting at here.

    They vary in accuracy but all have more than a 2% margin of error. You look about the same size in the photos to me.
  • slickmickey
    slickmickey Posts: 113 Member
    blues4miles wrote: »
    I'll ask all the usual questions, do you weigh at the same time every day? Preferably first thing in the morning on an empty stomach and either naked or in the same clothes every morning?

    Yes, first thing when i get up while i'm waiting for the water to get warm. and i didnt think those things could be right so i'll go with sodium :) i like it way too much

    i'm trying to lose 20 - i've already lost 20 but kind of got stuck here. over the summer i almost lost my husband so there were many months where there was zero tracking because taking care of him was more important. and now he's back to "normal" but has completely stopped caring about weight loss and has been making it harder for me to track consistently without it being a competition with him like it had been for a year. oh well. back to the grind

    thanks again everyone!
  • feisty_bucket
    feisty_bucket Posts: 1,047 Member
    Maybe you'd wanna try a measuring-tape based method of bodyfat %-finding?
    fitness.bizcalcs.com/Calculator.asp?Calc=Body-Fat-Navy

    There's also the YMCA tape measure method on the same site.

    I have a bioimpedance scale too, but by itself it's not very good. What I've taken to doing is using what I get from the above systems and my scale measurement and averaging them all together. And that's my metric.
  • FabianMommy
    FabianMommy Posts: 78 Member
    edited February 2016
    I don't think you look any bigger either.
  • kettlebells_and_cupcakes
    kettlebells_and_cupcakes Posts: 49 Member
    If It's any consolation, you look fab in both x
  • DaddieCat
    DaddieCat Posts: 3,643 Member
    LD3467 wrote: »
    If It's any consolation, you look fab in both x

    I was thinking the same thing ;) But then again, it's not my opinion that matters, but OP's. OP, bioelectical impedance scales are not accurate. I also have the aria and it routinely measures me differently even though I use it at the same time under the same conditions, etc. Mine measured me most recently at 26.4% when DEXA places me closer to 15 or so. Two days before that it measured me at 34.5, and the day prior at 17.8.

    Lots of things can influence that measure and while it's useful to track a trend when it's behaving, it's not useful for firm numbers.

    Keep doing your thing, measuring foods and logging accurately and you'll get where you want to go.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    slickmickey wrote: »
    blues4miles wrote: »
    I'll ask all the usual questions, do you weigh at the same time every day? Preferably first thing in the morning on an empty stomach and either naked or in the same clothes every morning?

    Yes, first thing when i get up while i'm waiting for the water to get warm. and i didnt think those things could be right so i'll go with sodium :) i like it way too much

    i'm trying to lose 20 - i've already lost 20 but kind of got stuck here. over the summer i almost lost my husband so there were many months where there was zero tracking because taking care of him was more important. and now he's back to "normal" but has completely stopped caring about weight loss and has been making it harder for me to track consistently without it being a competition with him like it had been for a year. oh well. back to the grind

    thanks again everyone!

    I am glad that your husband is doing better now.

    Just rededicate yourself to the process and you'll start feeling better. Whenever I've slacked off a bit and felt what I usually term "blobby and gross" and then gotten back to it, I've been amazed at how quickly I've felt better (it usually takes a week max and suddenly I'm feeling good again.) You've already made good progress and know what you need to do. You can finish the job :)
  • slickmickey
    slickmickey Posts: 113 Member
    thanks - i have been feeling "blobby and gross" and i think i actually did you the term blobby this morning which made me sign up for a yoga class today. maybe blobby is what i needed to kick me into gear!! winter is the worst tho - i just want to eat all the comfort foods and cuddle up with my blankies

    i think i'm going to make a habit of recreating that photo until i hit my goal :)

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