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Increase in BF% and weight


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I am post-w30. My off-roading has been kept to a minimum. As part of the w30, I broke up with my scale, choosing only to do once-monthly body fat tests with the handheld analyzer. I chose this because I know that I could weight 115lbs and be "skinny fat" with a high BF% or I could weigh 150lbs and have 18% body fat, so obviously the scale doesn't determine our health level. I went to the gym this morning for my analysis. I did it under the same circumstances as last time I had it done. My weight was up 3-4 lbs from the end of my w30, about 5 weeks ago. I tried to not freak out until I did the body fat test, knowing (& hoping) that my BF% could have gone down. But it didn't. It went up 0.8%. Wtfrick?? I would expect something like that had I just completely blown it and reverted completely to my old ways. But I haven't. I've kept up with the meal templates, occasionally off-roaded, and picked right back up at the next meal/next day.

I am in marathon training (not quite to my peak, but last weekend's long run was 15 miles - during which I made it through with only my pre-WO meal and coconut water during the run) and I'm breastfeeding my 4 1/2 month daughter. I also recently increasing my meal sizes/fat intake slightly only last week because her weight gain was not satisfactory to the doctor. Instead of supplementing with formula, I've been feeding her more frequently and trying to boost the quality of my milk. I wasn't necessarily expecting any drastic drops in weight/BF%, but I would have hoped to at least *maintain* (maintenance is my main goal for now at least until I finish breastfeeding).

So, can anyone explain WHY these numbers would have gone up, aside from completely bingeing on junk food? Is there any logical reason why they would have gone up? Is my body just trying to hold onto extra fat right now between marathon training and breastfeeding? I'm looking more for either real-life experience answers, factual knowledge, and hopefully less "it could be this..." speculation.

Thanks in advance.

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Bethany,

 

It sounds like you are really active and very committed to getting your body back in shape after pregnancy, which is all great. I'm so impressed that you're running 15 miles at 4.5 months postpartum - that's amazing!! Breastfeeding does take a lot out of you, though, and if you aren't giving your body enough calories to produce the milk your baby needs, your body will try to fight back, and your milk supply could get really low. I'm new to the Whole 30, but I've had three kids and breastfed them all.

 

My advice would be to ease up a little right now. Eat as much healthy food as you need to feel satisfied, drink a lot of water, and worry about losing the extra body fat in a few months. Don't worry about what the body fat analyzer says - it's all about how you feel, and how your baby is doing. Give yourself a break - you're doing so much between the marathon and the new baby. Be proud of all you're accomplishing and maybe you should extend your scale break-up to include that body fat analyzer? :)

 

Good luck and take care of yourself!

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So, can anyone explain WHY these numbers would have gone up, aside from completely bingeing on junk food? Is there any logical reason why they would have gone up? Is my body just trying to hold onto extra fat right now between marathon training and breastfeeding? I'm looking more for either real-life experience answers, factual knowledge, and hopefully less "it could be this..." speculation.

 

Sure thing! The handheld body fat calculators are NOT accurate. The only accurate test out there for body fat calcs is the DEXA scan, and even those aren't 100%.

 

There are a ton of confounding factors that can mess with the readings on the tool that you're using, differences in hydration levels, time in your cycle, blah blah blah.

 

It's not a good measurement to judge your results.

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I was going to say the same that body fat calculators are not accurate, especially the hand held ones. Also you have to take into account that your hormones are still a little crazy after having a baby, and add in breastfeeding and marathon training - you are asking quite a lot of your body right now.

I think it's amazing you are marathon training with a 4.5 month old. I think you should just focus on all the good you are doing with getting your nutrition right and marathon training, not to mention nurturing a baby! I have 4 children, and with each of them I carried more weight until I stopped breastfeeding - whether that was increased appetite or hormones I don't know, but I held onto an extra 8-10 pounds which just dropped off once I had finished feeding. It takes 9 months to grow a baby so you should allow at least the same amount of time to get back into shape.

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Your body is working really, really hard between breast feeding your new baby (congratulations!) and marathon training on top of that! You need the extra calories and fat-your body knows what to hang on to to take care of you and the baby. Relax. Enjoy your baby and let your body do what it needs to do right now. If you are feeding it whole foods, you have nothing to worry about!

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Thanks for everyone's feedback... One of the frustrating things is that I don't know if my increase in body fat % is due to eating too much or too little. So I don't know how to adjust (and I hate to adjust one way only to find out its the wrong way when my BF% increases even more).

 

One interesting thing I noted was that, when I calculated my lean body mass, I actually gained 1.7 lbs. So of the 3-4 lbs that my weight went up, 1.7 of those lbs was in the form of LBM. So, I suppose you could say I'm partially moving in the right direction. My the bottom line is that my BF% still went up.

 

I love how the Whole30 format is to get you away from calorie counting, weighing/measuring food, etc, but I still wish there was something like that to fall back on... even if it were just macros for prot/fat/carbs to aim for each day.

 

Does anyone else track macros or calories or anything else?  Yes I know, it goes against the spirit of the program, however I know that I've got more than just my own well-being depending on getting enough calories.

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Bethany...did you read Renee's response? There is every chance that your body fat didn't go up a lick at all. Those handheld electronic things are wildly inaccurate even from usage to usage. Heck mine tells me I'm still 40+% body fat but I had a water submersion test and it came out 32.8%...which is still not 100% accurate but a heck of a lot more accurate than electronic capacitance. Do you take regular tape measurements? I use the average of 3 different measurement calculators (their results are also wildly different) to kind of keep track of my moving average. 

 

I will also say that from everything I have read it is hard to reduce body fat while training for endurance running. This will be less true for those of us who are fat adapted because we will burn more fat in our recovery runs as long as we are staying below are lactic threshold for heart rate but marathon training is still pretty stressful on the body and your body will respond in kind.

 

Like other have said I would focus on your baby and your marathon and eat your template meals to satisfaction and trust that your body will do what it needs to do. 

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Amberino, while that's true...it's for incredibly specific and low bf% goals. Generally bodybuilding or figure competitors, as well as weight class athletes (during comp times anyway).

 

The average person really shouldn't worry or think about calories, because it's not a healthy endeavor. 95% of people will get where they need/want to be by freeing themselves from the calorie/weighing mindset, eating good food and following the meal template for a gauge of food quantity.

 

After the 30 days, people usually have a better understanding and knowledge of what they personally need for their context and can tweak after that.

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I love the discussion. I have read all of the responses... I hate that even the handheld monitors aren't completely accurate.  The OCD in me wants needs to have some sort of accurate measure of progress that doesn't involve stepping on a scale (this just makes me anxiety-ridden and neurotic about food/calorie intake for the rest of the day!). From the beginning to the end of my W30, my measurements didn't change, except for about 1" off my waist.

 

I know that I need to just let my body do what its going to do and just focus on fueling it for my baby as well as for my running, but its difficult to let go of that. Once I finish with the marathon, I'm going to focus more on lifting. My husband is a powerlifter, so I'm going to let him train me for awhile as well as participate in the Beast Mode (imitation CrossFit --- same effect, much less costly!) classes 2-3x per week. My hope is that those two things will help in the areas that long distance running cannot/will not.

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I agree with you Renee - Bethany seemed adamant on hitting a specific target though. After just 20 days of not counting, I've already freed up my mental space and enjoying not having the stress of measuring/counting/weighing food (and myself)....but I know if I had a goal to reach, I'd need to monitor in some way what I'm putting in to my mouth.

Bethany - I think changing up your workouts like you've mentioned is definitely going to help

Change your physique dramatically. Until then, perhaps focus on nurturing your bub, fuelling yourself to achieve your marathon goal, and leave off worrying about whether your BF has gone up or down!

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I think it's worth trying. I've always had doubts about those Fat checking gadgets as much as calorie counting based on BMI. 

I weigh 13 lbs more than 10 years ago (I used to be on no workout starvation diet -_- ) but my dress size now is slightly smaller than back then.   ;)

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I wish I could find the article now, but maybe the fat gain (if your device was accruate and you really did gain) is due to the marathon training? I'm not a "smart" person and I'm by no means good at nutrition and don't know what I'm talking about, but I read that long-distance training can do crazy things to your hormones, especially for women. Couple that with the increase in bf'ing and maybe you body is saying, "Holy crap, I have a ton of energy demand right now. Better step on it and make sure I've got enough going on for the winter!"

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