Body fat and Time of the month?

Is it normal for you're body fat % to increase when you have you're period? I wouldn't have thought so. Water % yes, but fat??

On Friday my body fat % was 20.6%, this morning it was 28%. That's a big difference. I'm trying to figure out if my scales aren't wokring, or if this would normally happen.

Opinions ??

If it's from a scale, it's probably wrong.  I've not read positive things about these scales that supposedly calculate your hydration and body fat, etc.

My understanding is the only accurate ways to calculate body fat is with calipers or the water test.  And both these tests have to be administered by trained professionals to get accurate results.

The scales are often off - in the course of a normal day I've found that it can fluctuate as much as 6%. Body fat won't change at TTOM unless one overeats by a lot over several days, and even then the difference would be too small to be accurately determined by the scale (like 20% to 21%).

Also, I've noticed that my reading is always highest in the morning because of overnight dehydration - that's 8 hours without drinking anything (I don't drink anything for 2 hours before going to bed, so I don't wake up and have to go to the bathroom) and likely sweating a little. For tracking of body fat changes over time it's best to use readings from the same time of day each day. Even if the numbers themselves are artificially high from dehydration, the changes over weeks will be fairly accurate.

there is absoloutly no way you can pass from 20% to 28% in one weekend :)

lol, no i didn't think so! especially as i had a pretty good weekend! I do weight myself at the same time each day. It's always when i get up. A few times last week and the week before my reading was between 20 - 21%. which is fine, i don't mind changes like that. But then this morning it was way off. That's why i was wondering if it could have something to do with my period.

They were giving very similar readings for over a week. I always weight at the same time, in the same place etc...

Were you dehydrated more than normal this morning?  My scale will give inconsistent readings if this is the case. 

Also, from my scale's manual (Tanita), it recommends measuring bf% in the early evening or at least three hours after you wake up.  I never measure in the morning because it's just not reliable at that time.

thanks danielle860. I think I might move my weighting to evening time. The only negative with this is that i weight more, lol! I usually weight about 4 or 5lbs heariver in the evening. But at least I know that, so I can take it into consideration.

by the weight, I checked body fat % this morning, out of curiousity - 24%! I'll check in the evenings from now on, and take a note of changes and see what the story is.

 

I can't weigh myself until after my morning workout. I tend to drink a lot of water during the day and I retain it way too well. I noticed I was getting much more accurate and consistent readings after the work out so now I stick to that.

Also, scales Body fat readings don't work unless you have a specialized scale that costs way more than the average person can afford.