The handheld is probably more accurate than your scale... so you're probably somewhere between. Remember, BF% is everything. Your belly has some fat on it but other parts of you are leaner. If your belly is the highest and everything else is lower.... that makes a difference.

And that's what people need to do more often with trainers... ask "why?" Trainers like to spurt out nonsense just b/c they're the authority when the majority of the time there's no rhyme or reason for what they're suggesting. I'd love for him to debate his way out of the statement that full body sessions are pointless. Oh how I would love that.

Another prime example of what you get in most gyms.

I appreciate the fact that I've educated myself. I used to be a sheep and in the past I might have changed up my entire routine due to this guys "advice". Might have even dropped quite a few hundred to get his advice too... amazing what research and obsession can do for you.

All of his talk was taken with a boulder of salt but I was being cordial due to the fact that I have been using the gym lately and I'd like to use the handheld more frequently to track progress.

DP, your transformation is incredible and has been a source of inspiration for me. I was just wondering a couple things, if you don't mind me asking. Do you still feel like you're at your heavier weight? By that, I mean, when you look at yourself in the mirror, is it difficult to understand the person looking back is you? I'm just wondering because a lot of people who lose a ton of weight sometimes still imagine themselves being their heavier weight. Even having lost only 53lbs, I find I do things like sit too far away from tables now.

The other thing I wanted to ask is about loose skin. I know it's different for everyone, but have you had much of a problem with it? Did you lean out before you started building muscle? And if you had loose skin and toned it up, how long did it take?

Sorry if I'm being nosy... I've just had these ideas bouncing around in my head and needed to get them out.

I was wondering about these BF meters, so I did a little looking around. It seems to me that the way they work is to send a very low volt of electricity through your body to read the resistance. Water and fat and lean all have different resistance, so that's where it gets the %. The problem is that it goes by your height. If you have long or short legs for your height, then it will be off. The same for the hand held one for arm length. It also will measure the resistance along that path. Everyone stores the fat differently, so if you carry it more up top or down low, all that makes a difference. That's why they say it's just an indicator. If you use the same methods and same stats it should show you how it's changing.

There's other problems with it too... such as hydration levels and what not. And that's why the more electrodes the better. Some of those handheld devices have electrodes that you can stick to your lower body too, which will obviously give you a more accurate reading.

All in all, nothing is extremely accurate unless you're ok with getting a autopsy

But the side effect of an autopsy generally isn't fun.

Hey JD... I never mind discussing anything about this. Like I said earlier, I am obsessed

As far as the heavy thing goes, yes, I look in the mirror and just see a big old fatty, or assume I won't fit into certain clothes because of how small they look. This was pretty much ALL the time, but lately, I will say things are getting different mentally... around the 75-80 lb mark, it became less and less mentally depressing (just because you want it to happen all so quickly and you want to see progress progress progress and instant change). However, now it's a matter of my arms look too small or my stomach is still flabby (which I am working on currently). But, yeah around 50 lbs I was in a real bad place and thought I was still close to 300 lbs.

As far as the loose skin goes.... this is just a gray area no matter how you slice it. I've gone through the emotional stages of this thing about 7 times over too. So, it all depends on a few things like you already know... first off, age and genetics are the best factors for "snap back", younger you are, more elasticity your skin has, I am 28 and in the "danger" zone of not being able to bounce back better than early 20 year olds (not to say being in your early 20's = snap back either, so now you see why it's such a gray area). Genetics too plays a crucial part in terms of collagen and other cells that help "repair" damaged or stretched skin. Creams like cocoa butter are not proven or effective but people will swear by them. I currently have a decent amount of loose skin... nothing to be disgusted over but nothing to be entirely confident over either. I used to think it was ALL loose skin, but realized, if I can pinch INCHES than there is some FAT sitting in those folds, so the last few weeks I have been focused on losing BF (the topic currently at hand within the thread) and maintaining lean muscle mass. Sure enough, with a clean diet I've managed to shed about 4 lbs in two weeks along with 2% BF which as Ali and Steve can tell you, marked an improvement in my loose skin area. Nowhere near tight now, but the "hang" as I like to call it... has definitely decreased some. There are days when I wake up that I can see my six pack (it feels weird to even type that out). So, I am not currently building muscle, just reshaping what I already have and making sure I don't lose any while on a caloric deficit. After my wedding in July, I plan to go onto a Clean Bulk diet, which actually puts me at more calories than my maintenance level, but I will change my lifting routine to add more muscle than fat (adding fat is pretty much going to happen while in a bulk, but doing it clean via unprocessed foods and avoiding the junk foods will minimize fat gains).

Wow... What a fucking rant! Sorry...

Hope somewhere in there I answered a question... or something.

Keith, I hope you don't mind, I am going to throw my uneducated two cents into the ring...

JDhd - I just started to see myself as a thinner person, and I have lost almost 80 pounds. I think that there is such a mental component to losing weight and I think that you end up having a 'warped' sense of how you look. I had people telling me for months that I looked so different and I never bought it. It was only until very recently that I was able to see that I am not the person I was. I still get amazed by some of the changes, like sitting at a table or buying clothes that I didn't think I could wear.

It is amazing most days.

I have a totally different skin problem than Keith and while mine is riddled with excess fat, I know that I will probably have to have mine surgically addressed. That is because I, unlike Keith (haha) was pregnant (strike one), had a C-Section (strike two) and am older (not by much, but strike three). I am going to wait and see what happens, I have 35 pounds to my official goal but I am thinking of revising it downwards approximately another 15 pounds once I get to that point.

My skin has gotten smaller but not tighter, which I think is a function of the things I have listed above combined with the fact that almost all of my excess weight is in my stomach area.

Sorry to jump in but I thought you might enjoy another perspective.

Don't apologize you tool.

I myself go back and forth on whether I would need a surgery or not.

I have been given the blessing by my girlfriend to get a surgical evaluation.

Now I'm a tool??? Thems is fightin' words

I don't know that you would need a surgery but it is good to know that you can research it to see if it is right for you. I am hoping I don't need it but I just look like a disaster zone from the chest on down

No pity for self-inflicted wounds, right?

Hehe- tool.
So underused in daily life.....

Especially when there are so many floating around, unabused.

Let the abuse commence!

Twice in one day I've used it... the first time was actually being serious and nasty. Not with my Ali obviously.

Thats b/c I am too cute to be nasty with

Ohhhhh...that was loaded...opps (nah.)

Too cute not to be nasty with you mean........



Just playin along...

Actually, I like that much better. Way more accurate