Body fat calculation

[Alychef]

I can't seem to work out where I'm up to in terms of body fat percentage. I used the machine in the gym when I first started going...and used it again today. Today it said I'd gained a kilo of body fat. I don't get this at all as I weigh the same if not slightly less and I know I've gained muscle....I don't get it at all.

 

Then I did some calculations manually and that worked out some 10% variation (less) than the machine!!

 

I'm lost with this one...I know I've lost body fat and gained muscle.

 

Aly

[veginator]

I can't seem to work out where I'm up to in terms of body fat percentage. I used the machine in the gym when I first started going...and used it again today. Today it said I'd gained a kilo of body fat. I don't get this at all as I weigh the same if not slightly less and I know I've gained muscle....I don't get it at all.

 

Then I did some calculations manually and that worked out some 10% variation (less) than the machine!!

 

I'm lost with this one...I know I've lost body fat and gained muscle.

 

Aly

 

Yeah, I'm not sure I believe what my scales at home say, either. I can tell from comparing pictures and from the added weight I can lift that I've added at least a little muscle since I started working out regularly a few months ago, but my scales don't register that, and I don't think the body fat percentage they give is quite accurate. There are various issues with the scales, one of them being that the electric current only goes up one leg and down the other, so it doesn't measure upper body fat/muscle. Also the results you get will vary a lot depending on things like the amount of moisture on the outside of your body and all sorts of other stuff. (I've posted about this in another thread.)

 

If you want a fairly accurate estimate of your body fat percentage, you can probably find somewhere that can do hydrostatic weighting (weighing you in the water) or some other technique more sophisticated than the body fat scales, but it would probably cost a fair bit. But the important thing is not so much knowing your exact body fat percentage--although that would be fun to know--but knowing whether you're making progress or not. Just measuring your waist and other areas that working out would affect should suffice to do that. My body fat percentage may or may not be as high as 22.5% (what the scale said this morning), but I know for sure that my waist size (measured at the navel for using on a body fat calculator site) is down to 33 and my pants, all size 34s, are very loose!