Body fat vs pounds

[BrandySue]

I weighed in last night after a month and was surprised to see I had only lost 1.3% body fat and I had lost 5 #'s. This is my first month of going hard and am wondering if this is the rate that my body will loose the body fat or will it increase over time. I was dissapointed to see that 5 #'s was only 1.3%.

Thoughts?

[WaltTN]

The two numbers are not directly related .. that is they are not necessarily propotional.  If you are doing resistence training as well as cardio, you will see less change in the weight, but maybe more in the % of fat.  If you are only doing cardio, you might not.  

[BrandySue]

Ok, thank you....I'm doing Zumba so I guess its mostly cardio.

[Heybales]

If just cardio, and big deficit, and not enough protein - then your are losing muscle mass too.

So that would explain the scale reading too.

Also, depending on your hydration level, those BF scales are at best 5% accurate, usually worse. But they are usually more consistent as long as you are when you use them.

So don't trust the numbers too much.