bodyfat tests

gettinripped513 · 09-03-2007, 08:14 PM

are so much bs. i have lost 3 lbs in the past 3 weeks and had my trainer get a 7 fold test and i gained 1% body fat lol. nuts i look alot better now in the mirror then i did before and have lost 2 belt loops so i havent lost muscle in fact i probably have made gains yet the bs test we rely on says im fatter. what bs.

Jrockin629 · 09-03-2007, 08:19 PM

BF% really depend on the trainer who is performing the test. The test is a approximate guess not a conclusive answer. 4 test must be made to be more conclusive: Circumfrence, hip to waist, BMI, and bf% should be taken to have a full assessment of overall body composition.

AlexMR · 09-03-2007, 09:59 PM

BMI is useless imo.

BF% test are/can be very accurate. Try to find some information around about how to make the tests and then post what you think about them.

It is possible that you lost the pounds and are a little more fat. Not likely but definetely possible. The most likely posibility is that there were some bad reads.

Also, 3 pounds and 3 belts loops are a bit extreme.

Maybe the BF% tests are not for you and you will have to trust your mirror and scale. Good luck.

gettinripped513 · 09-04-2007, 08:11 AM

im going to trust the mirror and loss around the waist i dont know what else to think but it is within the 2 point accuracy i may have been 17% who knows all i know is im looking better so screw the test..

naughtystorm · 09-04-2007, 08:55 AM

I personally trust the test more than i do the scale, My husband keeps track of my bf% for me. that's going down, though the scale is a bit slower of a change, i've lost 11 pounds since august 19th. my starting bf% was 36.5, it's now 29% both numbers are going down, but there is a there for like a week i got kinda stuck with the scale and had to get over the hump so to speak, the inches were coming off, but the scale wasn't showing it. the BF% test was showing it however.

blueguitar322 · 09-04-2007, 04:40 PM

The real benefit of measuring body fat is shown in my last 5 weeks' results.

Aug 6 - 203 lbs, 20.9%
Aug 13 - 203.5 lbs, 20.3%
Aug 20 - 202.5 lbs, 20.0%
Aug 27 - 202.0 lbs, 18.6%
Sep 3 - 202.0 lbs, 17.8%

If I hadn't been measuring body fat, I would be terribly depressed and would start starving myself. Seriously - 1 lb in 4 weeks? Who could maintain a strict diet and exercise program with results like that. BUT adding in a body fat % test shows I've been losing an average of 1.6 lbs of fat per week...MUCH better.

So why has my weight stayed the same? Because I've gained lean mass. This is most likely what is termed "newbie gains". I've been lifting on and off for years, but really just started getting into it recently, and this past month reflects that with pretty rapid muscle gain. All my lifts have gone up, my chest size has gone up, but all my other measurements are going down.

Hope this helps,
Dave

P.S. Results like these aren't too typical over the long term. I've been losing weight since January and this is the first stretch like this.

blueguitar322 · 09-04-2007, 04:43 PM

One more thing: I find that it's helpful to keep track of caliper measurements even if you're not using them to find body fat %. It's another way of charting progress.

I have the cheapo (but highly recommended) AccuMeasure, and even though it's designed for 1-site love-handle (suprailliac) tests, I grab 4 measurements each week (also belly, chest, thigh). These numbers alone, even without a formula to calculate body fat, give me excellent tracking ability.