| 1 Jan. | 1 Feb. | 1 Mar. | 1 Apr. | 1 June | 1 July | 1 August | 1 Sept | 4 Sept | |
| Morning Weight: | 65.5 kg | 65.2 kg | 63.5Kg | 62.4Kg | 64.2Kg | 63.1Kg | 63.8 Kg | 63.4Kg | 63.8Kg |
| Evening Weight: | 66.5 kg | 66.0 kg | 64.6Kg | 63.7 Kg | 65.5Kg | 64.9Kg | 65.1 Kg | 64.3Kg | 64.5Kg |
| Morning Body Fat: | 30.0% | 28.0% | 29.2% | 26.6% | 25.9%* | 28.8% | 28.1% | 29.7% | 28.0% |
| Evening Body Fat: | 31.4% | 30.4% | 28.5% | 26.1% | 25.7%* | 26.9% | 27.6% | 30.2% | 26.8% |
| Measurements: | |||||||||
| Bust: | 33.5” | 34.0” | 34.0” | 33.5” | 33.5” | 33.5” | 34.0” | 34.0” | |
| Waist: | 27.5” | 27.5” | 27.0” | 27.0” | 27.5” | 27.0” | 27.5” | 27.0” | |
| Belly: | 32.0” | 33.0” | 32.5” | 31.5” | 32.0” | 31.0” | 31.5” | 31.5” | |
| Hips: | 40.5” | 40.5” | 40.0” | 39.5” | 40.0” | 39.0” | 40.0” | 39.5” | |
| Thigh: | 24.0” | 24.0” | 23.5” | 22.5” | 22.5” | 23.0” | 23.0” | 23.0” |
I had a serious problem with accuracy when I weighed and measured myself on the first of September. I use a Tanita InnerScan scale, which uses bioelectrical impedance to measure body composition. Body composition is simply the percentage of fat, muscle and bone that make up your body. Essentially, a small electric current is run through the body, moving at different speeds through muscle and fat. Sadly bioelectrical impedance is hugely influenced by hydration levels – my body fat can change by up to 3% between first thing in the morning (dehydrated) and last thing at night (fully hydrated).
Apparently I was massively dehydrated on Friday, as despite my lower weight and smaller measurements, it was showing my body fat had gone up between 1.6 and 2.6%! As my weight hadn’t gone up, this is only possible if I had lost muscle mass. However, I’m still hitting the gym regularly and continue to get stronger (slowly) so I really doubt this is the case. As it happens, my husband and I had celebrated the end of the week with cheese, pate and a bottle of red wine. Normally I’m quite careful to drink plenty of water with my wine, but apparently I neglected the water on Friday evening, which could be why my body fat was way up!
Just to make sure I wasn’t imagining things, I reweighed myself in both the morning and evening yesterday. And no, I didn’t spend the weekend crash dieting. As anticipated, yesterday’s body fat values were much closer to the ones I’d had at the start of August.
Moral of the story: Unless you are measured by a BodPod or DEXA scanner in a lab, take all body fat measurements with a pinch of salt! Good thing I have my next BodPod appointment on Monday to see where we really stand.
*Dubious values as I was not using my own scale.
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