The joys of weighing in

(KM) #1

Ordinarily I don’t put much stock in my scale, and I don’t bother waiting for the body composition analysis. Still, I can get a body fat reading, so I figured why not, I’m feeling a bit flabby. Today my starting weight was 125.2 and I waited long enough to see that my body fat is 29%. Later on I took a long hot bath. Loads of sweating. As you would expect, my body weight went down by about 3.5 lb. You would expect that was water loss, which should temporarily raise my percentage of body fat. Instead, I see that my body fat is now 27%. Apparently, my bath water is so hot I am broiling myself. :roll_eyes::laughing:

#2

Hi kib1. You don’t mention your age, gender or height, but 125.2 pounds doesn’t sound a lot. It’s crazy how much our bodies can fluctuate, in just the space of one day. I just have an old scale, I stepped on the scale this morning without thinking and the scale noted me at 112 pounds. (I am 5.2.) But this is not a number that carries much significance to me, as I know how much this number fluctuates. Your mirror tells you a lot more even than your clothes do, because clothes can stretch, but the mirror and pictures don’t lie unless (1) you have an eating disorder that skews your body image (2) your photos are photoshopped. But as we generally look in the mirror for signs of improvement aka better and firmer skin, less wrinkles, less cellulite, etc, our photos are to track progress of weight and body composition so there would be no need in altering what we see. I’m guessing it happens a lot though and it’s not good for most peoples’ body image, everyone thinking one must be thin from commercials to influencers’ photos to models on the catwalk. Dr. Ken Berry as well as Professor Ben Bikman believes a layer of healthy body fat on a woman, at least of reproductive years, is well … very healthy, and that going below a certain percentage of fat will make us much less healthy. I don’t know how old you are, but I’m 39 and will be turning 40 this year, so I consider myself past the reproductive stage. I am blessed with my two children. Dr. Ken Berry also said a woman was expected to, past 40, put on a pound a year, or something like that. I suppose this varies from individual to individual, just like the signs of menopause would.

#3

You’d be AMAZED how many people don’t grasp that one! I’ve seen more people lose “weight” and look crazy when you tell them their BF% just went UP!

Protect that muscle people!

(Edith) #4

Yeah, that’s why I gave up standing on the scale long enough to get a body fat percentage.

(KM) #5

I loved the fact that I apparently lost 5 pounds of fat by taking a bath, but yeah, when not in delusion mode, it was simply a good indicator that I wasted money on my scale.