body mass fat

SHARON F

Full Member
I am following an intermittent fast diet and didn't really want to get into the whole weighing myself routine as i usually become obsessed put a few ounces on and loose all hope. so the scales went in the bin and i vowed only to weigh when at the chemist for whatever reason.
well weighed in after 6 days weight loss a good 2lb and body fat 1lb yay but had to go to the chemist the following day to pick up some of my prescription so couldn't resist the scales 4oz on that's ok i can deal with that...but 1.5kg of body fat mass off, surely 3lb of body fat mass is a lot in 1 day. can anyone explain please as i am not very good at this kind of thing
 
Those fat scales uses something called "Bioelectrical Impediance". It is based on something called "Two Compartment Model". Electricity passes through water, not fat. When one of those fat scales measures a person's weight, it sends a electrical pulse through the body. How much (or little) electricity goes back into the machine's little computer tells it how much fat the person is carrying, and from the person's body weight, it calculates the fat mass.

The good thing with these devices is that it can give a reading very quickly, but to get a sensible readout all the variables need to remain the same or as much as possible. Such as only taking a measurement at the same time every week, before any food and drinks, BM, standing up, lying down, etc.

The down side is that it is easy to fool the machine - just drink a lot of water immediately before you take a measurement and watch how much lean mass you have "gained"!!


For me personally I use the US Navy's (I am not in the military!) system. There are android apps for it. Just look up "US Navy Body Fat Calculator". It just needs tape measure for neck, waist, hip circumfrences, and your body weight. The app works it all out and I think a tape measurer is a bit more foolproof than a set of scales where you have no idea of how it's been mainted, serviced, caliberated etc.

Just my 2 cents.
 
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