Need proof that the scale lies? Read on

[aevans410]

This past weekend, my lovely wife and myself enjoyed ourselves (child free! woot!) in Ohio's beautiful amish country. If there is one thing that Ohio's amish is famous for, it's the cooking.  I made a conscious decision this past weekend to go on a 'food vacation' in hopes of doing two things, confusing my metabolism, and restoring some of my sanity. What I didn't expect was the opportunity to prove that the scale is a slimy, no good, lying... ok, maybe I'm getting a little carried away, but here's the thing :

 

 

When I left friday, I weighed in at 227, and the bioelectric impedance scale read 27.5 % body fat.  I ate a ton this weekend. Nothing healthy, drank a lot less water than I'm used to. Weighed myself this morning, I weighed 238, that's a 11 pound increase (WOAH!).  Alas, I should be freaking out (oh noes, I gained 11 pounds! My life is officially over as my 14 year old drama queen daughter would say), however, here's the rest of the story.   The body fat number read 27.2. Its math time (we're nerds, most of us love math)

 

227 x 27.5% = 62.42 --- 227 - 62.42 = 164.58 pounds of lean body mass

238 x 27.2% = 64.73 --- 238 - 64.73 = 173.27 pounds of lean body mass

 

 

Woah, so, of the 11 pounds 2.2 pounds were showing up as fat, and 8.5 pounds were showing up as lean body mass! Now I know 2 things.

 

1. I did NOT eat 7000 extra calories this weekend, so the 2 pounds of fat gain did not happen, I'll chalk that up to scale inconsistencies. 

 

2 I was recovering from a lifting session, but i also did not gain 9 pounds of muscle in a weekend (Yea, I wish!)  So that "lean body mass" has to be retained water from increased salt intake, undigested food, etc.

 

(Also my body fat caliper readings (24 percent bodyfat) didn't change, and my waist circumference went down half an inch)

 

All this being said, If I relied on a number on the scale to give me an accurate picture of my body composition, I'd have been crying.

 

Long story short, scales lie, don't believe them.