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Does this sound like realistic body fat loss/muscle gain?

weightofyourskin
weightofyourskin Posts: 173
edited October 2024 in Fitness and Exercise
The last time I checked my body fat/muscle mass percentage was in October. My body fat % t was around 30% and my muscle was 34%. I have an Ozeri scale that measures all this stuff. I know these scales aren't 100% reliable but I was confident that it's consistent with itself.

I stayed away from the scale for a few months because I was struggling through a plateau and I didn't want to see how much I weighed, but I've finally starting losing (tiny amounts of) weight lately, so today I hopped on. It says my body fat is 23.5% and my muscle mass is 40.6! I just find it hard to believe those figures.

1. In May both figures were in the mid/low 30s and it seems strange that in seven months I went from "obese" to "fitness" levels of body fat. As for muscle, this means I've gained roughly 10 pounds of muscle mass, but I've only been doing serious strength training for 10 weeks.

2. I don't look or feel all that different. I've only lost a pound since mid-October (although I guess this could be because of muscle gain) and my measurements are virtually the same, give or take half an inch around my hips. I'm a size 8-10 and I can see plenty of fat on my body (I'm looking at you, belly area) and I just don't think I have the body composition of someone at "fitness" level.

Again, I know scales aren't the best indicator of body fat, but I've yet to find a place in town that does hydrostatic weighing and I can't afford regular DEXA scans, so it's all I've got.

Does this sound like a physical change that it's possible to achieve in this time frame or is my scale playing tricks on me?

Replies

  • UponThisRock
    UponThisRock Posts: 4,519 Member
    If you're between # 1 and 2, you're 23%:

    body-fat-percentage-pictures-female.jpg
  • weightofyourskin
    weightofyourskin Posts: 173
    Ha, thanks. I feel more like #3 because I'm my own worst critic, but I look like #2, except shorter.
  • DenverKos
    DenverKos Posts: 182
    If you've only lost one pound since the last time you got on that scale and your measurements are the same, I'd say the scale is out of calibration - either when you first did it, or now. Yes, it's certainly possible to lose 5% of fat mass in that length of time, but if you haven't been working out hard enough to do so, and lifting in quantities to gain that muscle mass, there is no way the scale can be correct. I could "believe" the fat mass percentage if you had *only* lost weight over the course of this time with diet and cardio, but you have to do some serious weight lifting to maintain the same weight and gain that kind of mass with fat loss. You would know that you were doing it. Which is why you're asking the question, I suppose :wink:

    Edit to say, that's not to say you look more like 3 instead of 2 - the scale could have been off when you first used it and calculated too high.
  • weightofyourskin
    weightofyourskin Posts: 173
    I've been doing workouts from New Rules of Lifting 3 times a week since November 1st (with ten days off for the holidays when I was out of town). I don't know if that qualifies as "serious weight lifting" but probably not - although it sure feels like it for my fitness level :laugh:

    I first got my body-fat % measured in May at the gym as part of my "health assessment" (which is really just a personal trainer taking down your data and trying to talk you into signing up for $600/month personal training sessions) and it was 33% then. The figures from my own scale seemed consistent with that but one or both of them might have been poorly calibrated, I guess...
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