You may have noticed that I'm "trying" to lose weight and am challenging myself to hit a personal goal by not letting myself change my picture until I do. You might think I have a lofty weight loss goal considering how long I've been trying to get off this weight. Oh no. My goal isn't so terribly lofty. It vacillates between 3.6 - 4.3 pounds, which in my world is not much. It's one freaking stomach virus away from hitting that goal! I'd really like 10 more pounds on top of that. But I'm not gonna be picky, I'll take the 3-4 pounds happily and then (mostly) shut up.
I named my scale Stella when I got her two years ago. About 18 months ago, I got to the weight I'm at now, and Stella stopped moving. She'd add 2 pounds occasionally, subtract 2 pounds (but only if she added 2 pounds first). I've changed her batteries numerous times, and I even bought a second scale because I thought Stella was STUCK. Every time I got on her, I got the same stupid reading.
I wish the point of this post was to say that I'm finally un-stuck. Of course I'm still hanging out at the same exact weight I've been for the past 18 months.
No, the point of this is that Stella also gives you your body fat %. This is totally different than BMI. BMI is based on your height and weight. I don't really focus on this number because, like any girl, I focus on the stupid weight number. A month ago Stella told me that my body fat % was X%. Yesterday morning Stella told me that my body fat was X-5%. My weight was exactly the same both times. The X-5% figure puts me in the "fitness" range on the body fat% scale, which is under the "average" range. The X% figure puts me at the top of the "average" range. Note that both of these figures don't say I'm overweight although my BMI is technically overweight by a few pounds.
Now I'm just freaking confused. Are body fat scales unreliable? I Googled that, and basically what I found said that the most accurate method is the underwater method, which is really expensive. They say that if you use the same scale each time that it is comparable even if it's a little bit off from the underwater method. And calipers have operator error. So basically I took from it that unless Stella is having issues or smoking crack, it should at least be a gauge to see the direction my body fat is going.
In the past month, this would all make more sense if I had been focusing on strength training. Sure, I lifted some weights, but no more than usual. I actually focused more on the elliptical.
This morning I'm weighing myself just to see that body fat %. Maybe today it will back up to X%. Maybe it will be a little less. Of course I'd be thrilled to find out that I'm in the X-5% "fitness" range. I'll try not to get my hopes up and will report back.
UPDATE: Body fat % was the same as yesterday's (X-5%). I'm the same weight though. I guess I'm cautiously whooping for joy that I have a body fat % that is in the "fitness" range. Who would have thought I would ever have a body fat % that was less than the average person? Weird.
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