Low fat diet and gaining fat %, why?

[pcmabs]

For a quick background I am 32, 5'9" and for the past 2-3 years I have been 143-145 pounds. I have done a low calorie diet, like 1400-1600 a day, along with 5-6 days a week of cardio and 3-4 days a week of weights and abs. My body fat, according to a scale, is 16.5-17%. I have not gained any muscle during this time, I have been able to lift about the same amount despite efforts to increase.

People pointed out on here that I was not eating enough and that I needed to do a low fat, higher calorie diet. I looked up various meal plans and started rigorously tracking my intake. What I decided on is a 1800-1900 calorie diet where I keep my fat intake to 10-20%.

An example meal(s) for a day are things like:
Oatmeal, banana, non-fat yogurt, orange, 99% fat free turkey on wheat bread, orange, chicken/fish /w green beans/other veggies. You get the idea.

For 6 weeks now I have done this diet, around 1800-1900 calories a day and 10-20% fat. I do about 20-30 minutes of cardio 5-6 days a week. I do 2 days of abs, one day of back/bi, one of chest/tri and one I throw in some shoulders. This is the same routine that I've been doing for 5+ years and I enjoy it.

Here is what has occured so far over the course of 6 weeks:

More ab definition (yay)
Lifting considerably more with weights (yay)
Weight actually dropped to 141-142 and is very consistent (yay)

The fat percentage has creeped up to 18%, OH NO.
I'm starving almost all the time.
I got some bad gas all the time.

So my big questions are:

- How long before I see the fat % start going down?

- Why did it actually increase to 18% Today is the highest yet at 18.2%

My goal was to lower my body fat to see a defined ab region.

 

[CoBra666]

Scales are garbage. Go buy a caliper... Also I don't know why bad gas is in the negative list.

 

[ppgfreak]

Agreed. Scales are shit. You want to know your body fat. Not the weight.

Sent from my ADR6350 using EliteFitness

 

[pcmabs]

Please give some more detail on why the fat scale thing is terrible. For my example, 5 years ago I was 190lbs. The fat scale read up in the 20s. As I lost weight over two years it slowly went down to 16.5-17% and stayed there.

I don't dispute that the number could be wrong but there is no disputing that as I lost it went down. So why did it suddenly start creeping up as I began this new diet?

What local stores can you get the caliper at?

 

[CoBra666]

They are inaccurate. When u were in the 20% range it was wrong as it is now. I read on a box once for a 140$ scale that it was +-7%. I laughed. I have no idea what is local to you so idk.

 

[pcmabs]

Exactly, I don't claim the number is correct. However, as I lost weight the fat % consistently went down and stayed down. Now that I've changed diets it is slowly going back up.

I need someone to explain to me why it would go back up after all this time, if it is "wrong". I'm not asking if the numbers are correct or accurate, we both agree that they are not. I'm only looking for information about why it would go up if things are really going down.

 

[CoBra666]

Exactly, I don't claim the number is correct. However, as I lost weight the fat % consistently went down and stayed down. Now that I've changed diets it is slowly going back up.

I need someone to explain to me why it would go back up after all this time, if it is "wrong". I'm not asking if the numbers are correct or accurate, we both agree that they are not. I'm only looking for information about why it would go up if things are really going down.

Idk. Without correct numbers we will never know. Either you're gaining fat or the numbers are that fucked.

 

[Matthersby]

For a quick background I am 32, 5'9" and for the past 2-3 years I have been 143-145 pounds. I have done a low calorie diet, like 1400-1600 a day, along with 5-6 days a week of cardio and 3-4 days a week of weights and abs. My body fat, according to a scale, is 16.5-17%. I have not gained any muscle during this time, I have been able to lift about the same amount despite efforts to increase.

People pointed out on here that I was not eating enough and that I needed to do a low fat, higher calorie diet. I looked up various meal plans and started rigorously tracking my intake. What I decided on is a 1800-1900 calorie diet where I keep my fat intake to 10-20%.

An example meal(s) for a day are things like:
Oatmeal, banana, non-fat yogurt, orange, 99% fat free turkey on wheat bread, orange, chicken/fish /w green beans/other veggies. You get the idea.

For 6 weeks now I have done this diet, around 1800-1900 calories a day and 10-20% fat.

I think you need to do some research on dieting and look into eating 'good' fats and solid complex carbs. Maybe get some real solid carbs first couple meals prior to weight training and immediately after. Drop them lower on off days. Fats are impotant, especially unsaturated fats and mct's. Now, most avoid saturated as much as possible, myself included... However I notice almost very little difference in bf when I go high or low w fats. It's really all carbs for me. Nasty refined carbs, some fruits, or too much carbs outside of fueling or refueling workouts.

 

[pcmabs]

I read many articles about the importance of doing a low fat diet. I also read some articles along with calculators to try and determine how many calories I should put in a day. I also used a book called The Abs Diet by David Zinczenko which I used to get the foods I should be eating that are low in fat and good carbs.

Today my Accu-Measure caliper arrived. On the single location abs test I got 9-10mm every time which lands me at 12-13%25 body fat. On a 3 location test (chest/ab/thigh) I landed at 9.28%. I'll have to get my wife to help me with the other ones.

This shows how far off the scale is but obviously doesn't explain why the scale started increasing upon my diet change. Only monitoring with the caliper over the next few weeks will reveal that I suppose.

My goal is to have a well defined 6 pack. You can see the outline of one especially if your standing a few feet away but certainly not where I'd like to get.

 

[CoBra666]

i dont think anyone can say why the scale went up. but if your abs were showing more it should be goin down