I want to know how accurate is the Tanita body composition instrument.

back in January, my body fat was 18.3% measured using that machine, then until today, the bodyfat increased to 20.2%, while at the same time, I lost 2kg. This implies the muscle mass has reduced, however this is weird, because over the past few months I been doing some strength training, now my arms and abs have started to show some definitions, still not satisfiable but it definitely look differently than in the past. My tummy has also become smaller (not sure its the psychology effect or not ) But even if I do not become fitter through these few months, definitely I do not become fatter as well, then how come the sudden rise in BF%

is it because I have taken lunch, drink water just about an hour before the measurement?

my current weight: 71kg, been doing regular cardio, closed to balanced diet

This post has been edited by dattebayo: May 5 2009, 07:14 PM

got another question, how to reduce bodyfat at the sametime maintain the muscle mass? My bodyfat is found to be around 20%, I dunno it is accurate or not but the errors won't go that much anyway. My bodytype is ectomorph, aka "small bones" gene, however I grow quite a lot in recent years. I do a lot of sit-up crunches as heavy as 40lbs on the situp crunch bench, the abs is quite tough now, but the muscle definitions are covered by layers of fat

the problem now is, I want the bodyfat to reduce to at least 17%, but not at the cost of muscle mass, which is the thing I afraid if I live a calorie deficit diet.

supplementary info:

height: 179cm
weight: 70.5kg
BMI: 22
Basal Metabolic rate: 1620 kcal
Fat mass: 14.5kg
Fat FreeMass: 56 kg
Total Body Water: 35.7kg



This post has been edited by dattebayo: May 16 2009, 10:58 AM

21% is pretty normal for a girl, while quite flabby for guy