Hubby is 6’2", and weighed 230 pounds.
According to our Tanita bf scale, his body fat was 24%.
He now weighs 223.5 pounds and the Tanita says his bf is 22%.
Soooo, how much of the weight lost is fat and how much is muscle, assuming for the sake of this example that the Tanita is accurate (which I know is a big assumption). Is it 6 pounds of fat lost and .5 pounds of muscle?
Help!
Julie
Quick math:
Your husband was at 230 pounds and 24% bodyfat. That means he had 55.2 pounds of fat and 174.8 pounds of other stuff.
Now he’s at 223.5 pounds and 22% bodyfat. That means he has 49.2 pounds of fat and 174.3 pounds of other stuff.
If he’s been exercising, that’s a reasonable outcome, although I don’t trust a Tanita scale anywhere near as far as I can throw it. You might want to invest in a pair of Accumeasure bodyfat calipers.
I’ve got a Tanita, and I’ve experienced the same problem.
One thing that affects Tanita’s impedence measuring is hydration. The more water in your body, the lower the impedence and the less “body fat” it reads you as having. As soon as I wake up in the morning I read 28% BF. When I get home from work, I’m 23%.
I called their help line to ask which is the most appropriate figure to use. The answer is to use the figure from the late afternoon when you’re most hydrated.
So it’s not a bad measure, but make sure that you’re measuring under the same circumstances each time.