There seem to be so many small variables with each clinic, coach and persons needs.

Do all coaches use a Tanita or similar scale that uses impedance to tell you your %body fat and water weight at your weekly weigh in?

I feel much better knowing my coach can discuss the water weight in my body and am amazed that sometimes I'll have a small overall loss and large fat loss, then the next week have a large loss that is mostly water.

I don't think that it is 100% accurate, but most of the time the numbers feel like they are for me.

if all clinics don't have this, they are missing out. Is it standard?

My clinic doesn't use the Tanita scale body fat, just for weight. They use a hand held, computerized scanner thingy that prints out percentage of fat/muscle/water and I'm not sure what else.

My coach just got one this week. Sucky that the weight is off by almost a pound not in my favor since we now weigh on it! But the data is amazing

Mine uses the hand held device as well. I find it fluctuates considerably week to week...the only interesting reading is the water reading.: it does seem to correlate to the feeling of bloat around TOM. I don't take the week to week readings to heart because of the fluctuations but I think the overall/ longterm trend is something to watch.

I am a bit untrusting of the hand held device to be honest. Although a size 12 i have a 38F bust - was a DDD cup even when I weight 121 and its all mine. So here I am pointing this thing AT MY BOOBS as per her instruction and saying to myself, how can this possibly work? My boobs can't POSSIBLY have the same composition as the rest of me???? At that moment I decided I would pay NO attention to those body composition numbers. My priority is how my clothes fit and how I look when I catch a glimpse of myself in a mirror.

My center uses the Body 520 (see: http://suzideanne.files.wordpress.co...inbody-520.jpg). I use a Tanita at home.

Ours is the tanita tbf-300a.

similar to this with printer, etc.
http://www.tanita.com/en/tbf-310gs/

it always weighs 1lb in favor of me over my home scale, so I like it.

the data seems pretty consistent and as was said above, the trend data seems to correlate to how you feel pretty well.

they are about $2000, and reading some people's comments here on the board, I was afraid that some clinics don't do as much analysis which I think would not provide all the data you need to understand your situation and progress.

My clinic didn't do ANYTHING other than weight you and measure. There was no BF analysis or anything like that. Which I was a little surprised by and didn't like. I tracked my BF and LBM at home. It may have changed since I went (in 2011) - but that's how they use to do it.

The key to BF% is not to get too hung up on the #'s and look for a trend. It will fluctuate so much on any given day - but looking for a downward trend is what is most important.

All bio-impedance measurement devices are inaccurate. In fact they are so inaccurate they are not even good for tracking progress week to week.

When you use them at home, under ideal conditions, they are much more accurate. (Still not accurate but better)

The only way to measure fat lost vs LBM completely accurately is dissection after death. DEXA scan's are the second most accurate, then hydrostatic weighting.

Well John -

I'm glad to see you qualified dissection with "after death" I would hate to think of the alternative.

Actually had a question for you: Had my blood work done at the doctor and my total protein is low : my dr. does not seem concerned and my coach said it makes sense to her because this is not a high protein diet - doesn't it well with me - think there should be some followup -

My concern is twofold : I know they use that as a marker of liver function and know this diet is hard on liver and kidneys and also thinking maybe my body is not absorbing the ideal protein properly - could a high fiber diet lots of psyllyium husk to fight the big C be effecting protein absorption?

Sorry you've hit the limits of my knowledge here except that fiber doesn't affect absorption that much.

If your doctor isn't concerned - why are you? There are different ranges for blood tests. "Low" could mean many things. Does the doctor know you're on a restrictive diet? I'd speculate that if you were not dieting the results could be different.

You can relax. The total protein test does NOT measure how much protein you are getting from food. It measures the presence of Albumin and Globulin, two proteins that are found in the blood. Albumin helps prevent fluid from leaking out of the blood vessels. Globulin are part of your immune system. Deficiencies in these proteins have NOTHING to do with the protein you are eating, but can point to liver issues (albumin is produced in the liver) or immune deficiencies (globulin is produced by your immune system). Because IP can cause the liver to work a little harder, your bloodwork may be showing low albumin levels. It doesn't mean there's any long term issues going on but it is something you want to discuss with your doctor.

Thanks John and Scorbett -

Its the globulin that is out of range dragging the total down with it.

There are other things that are showing low - white blood cell count and cholesterol (It's not the HDL so I think that one's a good thing)

He knows I'm on a restrictive diet and have lost >100 lbs rather quickly.

That' why I've been having my blood checked every 3 months.

I guess I'm concerned because I'm a bit of a worrier and think he's a little too on the relaxed side. I guess with 4 things out of range on the low side I need a little more info from him. I will call him on monday and ask ask him