Gained Body Fat While on Calorie Deficit

myisha00 wrote: »

cwolfman13 wrote: »

Body weight fluctuates naturally up and down, even when you're in a deficit. Scales are not accurate at measuring bodyfat...think about it...how could they be. It's a gimmick.

I agree that they may not be the most accurate but I don't think they are a gimmick. I've been eating in a caloric deficit and weight lifting 3 to 4 four times a week for about two months and my scale has shown an increase in my muscle mass and for the most part loss in body fat since I first started. I feel like if they were just a gimmick then I would be seeing more random readings instead of just one or two fluctuation here and there.

They use an algorithm that is partially based off of BMI. They can show a trend if used properly (sometimes) but these types of scales can be highly inaccurate... up to 8% or more on a reading. It could be telling you that you are 20% body fat and in reality you are closer to 28%. That's not acceptable in my opinion. Besides, the electric impulse it uses typically travels up one leg and down the other, completely ignoring your upper body... or if it's a hand held device, up one arm and down the other - ignoring your core/chest and lower body. Once again, they use a calculation based on a statistical mean. If you fall outside of this that calculation is going to be highly inaccurate. If you want an example of how this works on your bathroom BIA scale - hold a weight in your hands and take a new measurement. Viola! ...you suddenly gained a ton of body fat according to your BIA device and the only thing that changed is your total body weight.

Yes, you're doing something wrong: you're believing the results of your BMI scale!

Or to rephrase: you believe that your BMI scale is capable of giving you actionable results.

Others have already covered the inaccuracy of the scale you are using.

I wanted to inquire about your stats and goal - you are 5’9, currently 152 lbs and you have a calorie goal of 1300? What rate of loss did you choose, because it really shouldn’t be more than 0.5 lbs/week assuming you have less than 20 lbs to lose. So you may also need to adjust your expectations.

How are you measuring intake? Are you using a food scale?

Depending on my level of hydration etc, my scales will read anywhere from 19 to 26% bodyfat within a 24-hour window...so, definitely don't put too much stock in the bodyfat reading a scale gives you!

Body fat percentage is NOT body fat.

If you had a certain amount (mass) of fat, and you lost water, your body fat PERCENTAGE would go up, though you may have even lost actual fat.

That reading says that your water percentage went down. That just means that your other numbers will go up, 'cause you know, it all has to add up to 100.