Vague advice re muscle/fat

delta_bravo

Hi,

I am currently undergoing a weight loss program. This involves a weekly weigh in and I have had good results so far. I stand on a scales and they print out some sort of slip of paper that states my weight and body fat percentage based on age and height. However lately the person is telling me that I am losing muscle instead of fat (obviously they have a supplement to sell to aid me of this problem). I am quite sceptical as I am noticing a clear improvement in muscle tone in my body. She has said this for 3 weeks in a row so I asked her how does it calculate that since I am only standing on the scales. She gave a very vague reply just saying that "Thats what it says on the paper". Its a fancy looking scales but can it actually calculate these things accurately?

daithieoghan

Does it calculate your Body Mass Index or Your body far percentage.
If it is your body fat percentage then she could well be telling the truth depending on your results.
If your weight is dropping and your body fat percentage is rising then yes you could be losing muscle instead of fat. The improvement in tone could be down to losing fat in those areas and now being able to see the muscle better.
A scales that calculates body fat as well is an expensive machine so I assume it's a well set up group.
Also there is no supplement she can sell you unless your working out and taking protein or something similiar.
You need to lose the fat by using/building/toning your muscles and eating correctly.
Body fat percentage is a much better indicator to go by than a scales I feel.

Dotcomdolly

There are home scales (I have this one) available that measure body fat so what they are using might be an industrial version of these "impedence" machines