Hey all! So starting early this year my work had a weight loss competition I joined. I started at 211 and when the competition ended yesterday I was all the way down to 192.6 - so all in all I lost about 19 lbs. Which was good for me cuz it was a 20 week competition When we started and ended one of our coworkers who is a fitness instructor offered to do measurements and everything for us. SOOOO overall I lost 9 inches all around and then using calipers we took measurements and calculating my body fat lost with the formulas I went from 31.81% BF to 29.25% BF. A total of 2.56% lost.

I'm like really only that much of the 19 lbs was fat? What was the rest?! Shouldn't the number be higher? I'm reading about people who lose like 10 lbs and like 8% BF I'm like am I doing something wrong? I drink at least 2L of water a day- more on days I work out, I eat pretty well (South Beach Diet), I've started taking multivitamins, I use weights a few times a week, etc.

Any insight into pounds and fat lost would be great

You lost 9% of yourself. And 9% of 31.81 is 2.86. Subtracting that from 31.81 you get 28.95%. I don't know if my logic is very good or not, but that's not far off from your 29.25%. In fact, it's pretty darn close. In other words, you lost 9% of your body weight and you lost 9% off your percentage points...I think.

I think you're comparing apples and oranges.

Congrats on your success!

At 211 lbs, 31.81% of your body weight was fat, or 67.1 lbs.

At 192.6, 29.25% of your body weight was fat, or 56.33 lbs. That means that of your 19 lb loss, about 11 lbs were fat.

Keep in mind, though, that fat can't be the only thing we drop as we lose weight. For example, you need less blood and plasma volume to support a body that is 20 lbs lighter, so you drop some water weight. You need less muscle to carry around a body that is 20 lbs lighter, so you lose a bit of muscle. It's fairly impossible to lose ONLY fat without losing any water or muscle. Your loss was about 60% fat, which is actually a pretty good ratio.

Thanks Eliana- I knew I was doing something wrong. I guess I never thought that I'd lost 9% of myself lol.

Mandalinn thank you! I knew I did the math wrong!

Yeah I definitely now realize that of course it's going to be other things but I was mostly worried about losing too much muscle- there were two girls in the competiton who flat out starved themselves to win- I refused to do that! And I'm not saying that to be mean either- they TOLD ME they were not eating anymore about 2 weeks into the competition ending.

For a workplace competition? Can you say "competitive personality"? Wow! I think you were wise and of course, you'll be the one who keeps it off. So who's the winner now?

Yes! This was at work, I mean I guess the pot was worth it to them ($500) but I entered into the competition for motivation and averaged a pound a week which was good for me

At the end the two of them look SCARY. Like biggest loser finale scary!

And afterwards while I ate my normal breakfast and lunch that day they went out and had pancakes for breakfast THEN pizza for lunch. PFT.