Skinfold vs. Waist descrepancy

[David1991]

Looking back throughout my journals of the last 4 years or so my skinfold/caliper measurements seemed to generally be around the same total for a given waistline (for instance between chest+abdominal+thigh would be around 45mm total when i had a 32inch waist, for example). But in the last year or so that's changed and I'm not sure why. I understand that the springs in calipers can become worn out and overall they become less accurate but the precision should still be about the same.

So for example, last summer I had a 32in. waistline and total skinfolds added up to 46mm. This last week I had a 34.5in. waist and am very clearly fatter than I was over the summer, yet skinfolds added up to 45mm. Now i understand that over a long period of time, as in years, one's waist can grow by gaining muscle overall, but we're talking about 9 months here and I have maybe 5lb more muscle than I did then. As for accuracy of the calipers, I've had them for about 4 years so I'm sure they're about as accurate now after 4 years as they were after 3.5 years. Finally, it's not as if I get the same measurements all over. Chest I consistently get about 13mm, abdominal about 11-12mm and thigh about 20mm almost every time. So it does pick up differences and you'd think from more fat gain those areas would get thicker but its almost as if these areas just aren't changing, and I'm very consistent with how I take them.

Anybody know why this would be? I always considered calipers to be a better gauge than waistline because they'd be less influenced by food bulk, water retention, etc...so I'd like to be able to trust them but as mentioned they're telling me I'm as lean now as last summer which clearly isn't the case and it seems waistline is more accurate in this case, it's strange.

 

[bmcjames]

A wiseman once said,

"Throw the calipers out and go by the mirror!"

just saying...

What does it matter how thick your skin is? If you look fat, your fat. If you look lean, your lean...

This game is all about looks so who gives a hoot about anything else?

 

[David1991]

"Throw the calipers out and go by the mirror!"

just saying...

What does it matter how thick your skin is? If you look fat, your fat. If you look lean, your lean...

This game is all about looks so who gives a hoot about anything else?

I agree that on the day of a competition or whatever event then it doesn't matter what measurements are and it just matters how you look but, as I'm sure you'd agree with, on a week to week basis there are tons of variables that can make you look soft/flat/dry/etc so it might not be representative. I like to use measurements to get a gauge of weekly progress.

 

[bmcjames]

I agree that on the day of a competition or whatever event then it doesn't matter what measurements are and it just matters how you look but, as I'm sure you'd agree with, on a week to week basis there are tons of variables that can make you look soft/flat/dry/etc so it might not be representative. I like to use measurements to get a gauge of weekly progress.

Actually no, I prefer the mirror always. Well the mirror and my trusty cell cam.
Take pictures in the same place at the same time on the same day of every week and have everything consistent.

All those sophisticated tools and all still won't make me look any better.

Say I'm walking in the gym and someone says I'm looking softer I pull up my shirt and show off some glazed abbs, but say "yo bro, I'm still 9% bf, the calipers say so..." Yeah maybe you can go get a caliper test right then to show that your "9% bf" but who gives a darn when you look like 15% or more?


Perhaps the hot girl will bring pair of fat calipers with her and do a 9 point skin fold test before she agrees sexy time with you. If so then you got it made!

I know for me, I always read low on calipers, I'll read 5-7% bf when in reality I'm really pushing 11-13%. So what's really more accurate?

 

[jimmyjones]

Youre clearly wasting your time, with these so called fat calipers. They are almost as useless as a weight scale.

The mirror doesnt give 9 racoon assholes whether your fat calipers read 45mm or 90mm, nor does the mirror give 17 turtle ballsacks if your scale says 205.9lbs or 245.3lbs

Who the hell cares about what your fat calipers say? Only YOU and your obsession of trying to see a smaller number.

 

[bmcjames]

Youre clearly wasting your time, with these so called fat calipers. They are almost as useless as a weight scale.

The mirror doesnt give 9 racoon assholes whether your fat calipers read 45mm or 90mm, nor does the mirror give 17 turtle ballsacks if your scale says 205.9lbs or 245.3lbs

Who the hell cares about what your fat calipers say? Only YOU and your obsession of trying to see a smaller number.

:yeahthat:

The meaner way of what I was trying to say.

I'm sure someone will come in here and get even nastier before long

 

[jimmyjones]

Wasn’t trying to be mean, I was simply giving it to him without the sugar coat. Im never grey, I only rock black or white

 

[David1991]

lol it's cool, no feelings hurt

Basically my point is, lets say from one week to the next your calipers go down, your waistline decreases, you've gotten a little stronger, but you look like shit compared to last week's pics because maybe the day before your sodium intake was high or it was a high carb day or some other factor....wouldn't you think it was absurd if things we're changed based on pics from that day even though all indicators suggest good progress? Now you did say try to keep things consistent, so I agree with you there completely....I'm just pointing out that pics and the mirror can be deceiving, especially the mirror.

Either way, I try to gauge progress on multiple factors and just thought it was very odd how my calipers could read the same now as when I was clearly leaner and was wondering what could cause that.

Oh and yea most people seem to run low with the calipers, people tend to say you need to add 3-4% on to what it tells you.