Weight drops but body fat is rising

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Weight drops but body fat is rising

Postby Mrs Sunny » Sat Jul 27, 2019 6:27 am

Months ago I bought a scale which can also show water in %, bone mass in %, estimated fitness age, protein in %, BMR, visceral fat, skeletal muscle in %, body fat in % and calculated BMI. I'm quite new to the Starch Solution and already can see that my weight is slowly dropping, but I'm somehow concerned about my body fat since it's slowly rising.

Is this an effect of changing my diet? (I did a diet rich in protein before)
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Re: Weight drops but body fat is rising

Postby JeffN » Sat Jul 27, 2019 6:53 am

Mrs Sunny wrote:Months ago I bought a scale which can also show water in %, bone mass in %, estimated fitness age, protein in %, BMR, visceral fat, skeletal muscle in %, body fat in % and calculated BMI. I'm quite new to the Starch Solution and already can see that my weight is slowly dropping, but I'm somehow concerned about my body fat since it's slowly rising.

Is this an effect of changing my diet? (I did a diet rich in protein before)


Body fat scales are highly inaccurate.

https://www.consumerreports.org/body-fa ... le-review/

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Re: Weight drops but body fat is rising

Postby AnnetteW » Sat Jul 27, 2019 8:30 am

They might be inaccurate, but I feel I learn a lot from my scale when I use it consistently, and plug in the data to an Excel file I made. I use the Aria wifi scale so I don't have to think about the numbers at the time I weigh (first thing in the morning). I have it linked to a online program called "TrendWeight" which will smooth out the ups/down of total weight, fat %, fat mass, lean mass.

On my own Excel chart I log weight and body fat %. Then I've made calculations for lean and body fat. Obviously lean includes water.

When I track regularly, the body fat numbers change very slightly, they tend to go up or down by very small increments, but what moves in larger numbers is the actual weight. So what I'm seeing when I'm two pounds heavier one morning, and then I see that my body fat numbers don't change much, but I obviously didn't gain 2 lbs of muscle overnight, I just imply that it's two pounds of water weight.

Yes, yes, I know it's not scientifically accurate, but I can really see the trends.

There will be a week or two that my weight just isn't changing, but the bodyfat number will be going down, and my lean might increase. The week I had my colonoscopy the numbers were crazy and all over the place as I lost so much water. It took 2 full weeks for my body to settle in place after that.

I like using TrendWeight, and I like using my Excel sheet. I do feel I get information from it. But I also know the numbers aren't accurate to what my bodyfat is at that specific time, it is more a way for me to see what my body is doing.
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Re: Weight drops but body fat is rising

Postby JeffN » Sat Jul 27, 2019 8:53 am

I use such a scale myself to see trends and have written about it.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=57312#p576470

As a numbers guy, I own a body fat scale. I know it is not accurate but I also know it is consistent and reliable. So, I don't believe the number I see is accurate, but I know if there is any long term trend up or down, that is most likely is accurate. For me, it is more fun then anything else.


However, it is important to know that any small changes (ie, +/-3%) are really meaningless because there are so many other factors that influence those numbers at those small levels including error rates. The gold standard is called a DEXA and I have had a DEXA done every day for a week including several times in the day without changing my routine in anyway and the numbers were inconsistent with great variability.

From the link above..

At Pritikin, we owned a state of the art DEXA, the new gold standard. For fun, I ran several test on myself within minutes of each other, and several test within a week, with out changing exercise or food and there was quite a variance, even outside of the +/- 3% accuracy you often hear.


I have a whole thread why I recommend weighing regularly on a regular scale and explain why there may be changes in weight that have nothing to do with losing or gaining muscle or fat. We don’t need an inaccurate scale for that. Most minor changes in muscle mass, if accurate, are actually due to variations in glycogen and water and most minor changes in weight are due to fluid changes.

viewtopic.php?f=22&t=57741

While some individuals, especially those who like numbers, may choose to focus on these things, we do not recommend them, especially to the newcomer and especially to somebody posting for their first time. It is just not the focus of our program.

The single most important concept to someone trying to lose weight and or maintain it, is calorie density.

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Re: Weight drops but body fat is rising

Postby AnnetteW » Sat Jul 27, 2019 6:16 pm

JeffN wrote:While some individuals, especially those who like numbers, may choose to focus on these things, we do not recommend them, especially to the newcomer and especially to somebody posting for their first time. It is just not the focus of our program.

The single most important concept to someone trying to lose weight and or maintain it, is calorie density.

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Thanks so much for all the great links, I read/skimmed through the information, which of course just kept making me think of more questions. As to the scale issue, I will definitely keep stepping on the scale each day, but I think I'll lighten up on my tracking. And if I find the tracking is important to me to stay focused, I can always start right back up.

As a female in my mid 50's, one of my concerns is muscle loss. I believe I have more muscle mass than many friends my age (and older) but no one exercises (I do regularly, but feel I should exercise more). I feel so many physical changes in my muscles and skin and looseness of flesh, so seeing the "lean" mass number stay around 110 +/- lbs, makes me feel a little bit better. And yes, I do realize, that number of 110 lbs, is not necessarily accurate.
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Re: Weight drops but body fat is rising

Postby Mrs Sunny » Sun Jul 28, 2019 5:04 am

Thanks for the links, Jeff.
And of course both for your thoughts on that.

I'm aware the numbers on the scale may not be 100% accurate, but they helped me a lot during the past months to see if I am on the right way. In my case decreasing body fat to decrease visceral fat was the aim and I did a great job so far. And that's exactly why I am so confused at the moment. I am afraid of gaining the fat back. (Came from 45% body fat and achieved 27% so far)

My body fat is slowly rising, although I am losing weight consistently. And it's not just inaccurate values in this case, I can actually see my face is getting puffy, loose jeans start to tighten and so on. Maybe it's complaining at a high level because I do lose weight and also achieved major health changes in just a few days on the Starch Solution. But I cannot deny to be afraid.
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Re: Weight drops but body fat is rising

Postby Mrs Sunny » Mon Jul 29, 2019 9:58 pm

Seems somebody got ahead of herself in panic too quickly :oops: Body fat climbs down as well now. Yes I know, I am not known for my patience yet. :wink:
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Re: Weight drops but body fat is rising

Postby Dougalling » Tue Oct 29, 2019 8:00 am

Hi

I'm not a scale person. Regular looks at my body and I know if it's adding on fat or adding on muscle.
I am more into instinctively 'tracking' which nutrients and calories I am eating. A healthy diet will give me a healthy body. A healthy diet includes all necessary nutrients and enough calories. A variety of foods give me both. No need to look at scales nor track food on a chart. Having said that, I do enter my food into cronometer . com once in a while to see which nutrients I'm getting and number of calories.
I know some people need a scale to keep themselves on track. I believe there is nothing wrong with that, it's perfectly fine, everyone is different. But I also believe that scales should be used once a week and not on a daily basis. There are too many factors other than food that affect a body and what the scale read from day to day cannot be attributed to food alone.
Just my opinion. Yours may vary. :D
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