I went to my gym this morning to have my measurements and body fat profile checked. It has been 10 weeks since I last had it done. I am having a real hard time believing the profile summary, and would like to know if these results are humanly possible.

When I seriously started eating differently, I cut back on my exercise. That was March 3, 2003. My starting weight was 248 and my body fat was 44%. My lean body weight was 138. My fitness test was rated excellent because I did 30 modified push-ups, and 28 sit-ups in one minute each. I lost 20 pounds and plateaued for the entire month of June.

To kick start my metabolism, I did 3 weeks of a modified version of South Beach Phase 1 (and it worked.) When I started, I had my measurements and fat% done again on 7/7/03. My weight was 228, BF was 41% and according to them I had lost 15 inches overall. My lean body weight was 135. I also started lifting around that time but just fooling around with it.

Today my weight is 209, and according to today's numbers, my body fat is 28%, and I supposedly lost 20.75 inches overall with a 1 inch gain on my right upper arm (bicep). My lean body weight is 151. In 10 Weeks?

I honestly don't think this gal today knew what she was doing and I will go back Monday to have it done again. Or should I? I don't know anything about this stuff, so what do you all think?

dip

ok it TOTAL honesty - go and get it checked again - a second opinion always helps! It does seem hard to believe at first glance but stranger things have happened! Go have it checked again and THEN you can start to try and figure it out.

Let us know what happens.

JC

Hi DIP!

I just have to respond because so many of our numbers are the same! AND March 3 was the day of my fattest ever photo (yes it is in a bikini but I doubt anybody will ever see it!!! EEEK) My start weight is 240 40.8%BF, lean body weight 140. I'm 10 weeks into C1. I have an appointment at the end of the month to get my finish numbers - I will come back and post them and we can compare. I can tell you that my weight is down to 220 (same scale) and I have lost 7 inches off my waist alone.

BF% and measurements can really depend on who is taking them. I really tried hard to get the best data I could when I started my C1, so when I wrote down my waist measurement, for example, it has the number, 41", and it also says that that is not sucking in my belly at all and standing relaxed, breathing normally. I wrote down as much info as I could so I could be more accurate. Also, I committed to getting the same person to measure my BF%. I'm only going to do it 2x per year; I have heard from several folks with letters behind their names that your body fat takes a while (6 months to a year even!) to adjust to what you are doing, so taking the measurements too often might not show what your body's adjustments to your new WOL are doing.

It seems like no matter what measurements you take there's room for error, unless you do the water displacement tests. It looks to me like you are doing very well and sticking to program! I'm glad you found a way off your plateau, thanks for sharing that info.

No matter what the numbers say, you are truly an inspiration. Thanks so much for posting!

Hi Jennifa, and thanks for responding.

I am definitely going back tomorrow AM and have it redone by someone else. I wish I had paid more attention back in July to what that gal was grabbing with the calipers instead of writing down the numbers. For example, my problem area is definitely my belly/butt. My belly is more skin than fat now, but my butt is still quite large, although has gone from hard fat to soft fat. Most of my overall fat was soft fat except for the upper part my butt. Although I am down to size 18, they are still tight across my belly/butt. And I am just beginning to see signs of a waistline, which JC commented when I asked, will become more noticable with more weight loss.

I wasn't going to have my measurements done again until November, 6 months, but I wanted to make a judgement if I should continue what I am doing and continue to concentrate on losing weight BEFORE going into BFL for a 12 week challenge.

When I look at it this way, it seems feasible, but the Fat%, from 41 down to 28, a total of 13% just doesn't ring true: 20 pound loss and -15inches; 19 pound loss-20 inches. That equates to 39 pound loss and 35 inches gone. Can I have been possibly burning up that much fat? Between 7/7 and now, I decreased my weight resistence and increased my cardio from walking a track to a treadmill. And I began liffting with real weights, graduating from hand weights.

I have been as true to the 10 Commandments http://bodybuilding.about.com/cs/get.../aa061803a.htm as I possibly can in my eating and exercise. I also think I had good muscle to begin with inspite of being so fat/body heavy. I have a big house and a big piece of property, and it requires alot of heavy work, most of which I do myself being a stay at home domestic goddess. We also literally built this house ourselves 8 years ago, and for 18 months, I was a construction worker. And we lived on fast food.

If I can be any kind of inspiration to any one person, I am flattered. But I also whole heartedly agree with Meg that each individual is an individual and has to find their own thing to make it work.

I guess tomorrow will tell the story. . .

dip

Dip, you wrote:
"And I am just beginning to see signs of a waistline, which JC commented when I asked, will become more noticable with more weight loss."

It's funny that you mention that - it just occurred to me yesterday that I really don't have a waist! It was JC's photos, and a couple of others' that made me come to that realization.

It's good to know that it may *eventually* appear, but I'm afraid it will be quite some time before that happens for me - I was trying to feel for where my rib cage ends, and unfortunately it was fairly difficult to determine!

Actually, this whole journey is kind of like a treasure hunt - I have no recollection or photos to help me remember what my body was like when I was smaller, so each change is a surprise to me.
Cindy

Cindy - believe it or not you may have a waist - you just need to get lean enough to see it but it depends entirely on your shape. I think Mel is the best person to talk about waistlines since it's the biggest bone of contention she has on her figure (mine is my thighs!)

I feel the same way about my new figure - I can't remember ever being lean when I was younger so this feels like a 'new' experience to me too!

JC

It's been so long since I had a waist, that I'm not even sure where it's suppose to be. What they measure as my waist at the gym is about an inch below the bottom of my bra. What they measure as my abdoman, I've been measuring as my waist! And I sure don't pull the tape measure as tight as they do.

I had this site bookmarked and had forgotten about it. I put in my stats, and it came up with 32%BF. Why don't you gals try it and see what you get.

http://dietlowcarb.com/resources/bodyfat.php

PS - Cindy, you SURE don't look 40!

mine came in at 32% as well??

JC

And THIS, gals, is EXACTLY why I don't do that BF% testing thing. Haven't in well over a year (Feb 2002 to be exact).

The only numbers that *truly* matter to me are:

Clothes size
Blood Pressure
Bloodwork numbers

IMO bodyfat testing - all types of testing - are so arbitrary that I decided not to even bother with it.

Just my two cents

Yep mine's 32% also!! And now I'm considered obese!!!!!! I beg to differ...

There is something extremely out-of-whack with that calculator. Just play with the numbers and you'll see. For example, I put in 120 pounds with a 22 inch waist, 6" forearms, 33" hips and 10" upper arms (sounds like Barbie's stats, doesn't it?) and it came up with 31%! Come on! (those are not my measurements, BTW )

I've always gone by a nine-site calipers test, done by the same experienced person. I haven't seen an on-line calculator yet that's even close. When you play with their numbers, you generally find that it's impossible to get them to say that any woman has less than around 20% BF, no matter what crazy numbers you plug in.

And, as Mel just said on another thread, don't even think about a Tanita or electrical impedence -- way inaccurate.

Meg

definitely out of wack. I put in lots of different #'s and it was between 29% and 32% each time. NO matter what I did.

I've seen a few calculations with tape measures that will give you a progress indicator, but I wouldn't use anything as the absolute on bf%. We have calipers but haven't really got a clue on how to use them properly, so I don't go by that. .. and my tanita is very good.. as a SCALE, and that's it.

The formula that I've seen is HIP +thigh - 2x Calf - wrist.

The pfa does a calcuation using Waist and Wrist and Hip, but they don't publish the formula. I use this # these days as it works as well as any other.. I am looking for a trend with it, plus the PFA is going to use it for scoring. But really, what makes/breaks my day is looking in the mirror and how my clothes fit.

Hello Everybody!

I went to check the site and am SO HAPPY to know I have lost that much fat % in such a short period of time!!! (of course this is sarcastic....)

The site states that
"Note: these calculations are based on averages.
Your body shape, type of measuring device and the way you measure could make these figures vary somewhat."

I believe this is a typo. The last part should say "make these figures very some.. WHAT?!?"

Well, nice to know that the on-line caluclator(s) can't be trusted.

I went back this morning and got re-measured by a gal whom I know has been there for awhile. We agreed on the sites to be measured and pinched. The result was -10.25 inches, 20 pounds in 10 weeks, resulting in 32% BF. I have decided to continue doing what I have been doing to lose more weight. I probably won't go for a re-measure til I hit my goal date of 4/17/04.

I really can't determine how my clothes fit because all of my clothes are incredibly too big. Today to go out, I had to borrow one of my husband's T-shits because mine are ridiculously too big now. And yes, I felt great.

Dip !! Good for you on the clothing being too big... Now whatcha waitin' for to throw them OUT girl!!!! Keep one for reference tho...