BIG Update Pt.2 (and Slight Change in Approach)

So, last night, I got on update on my vitals. I was a little surprised (not in a good way) with the results, which introduced a slight amount of skepticism in my view of the test. This led me to go back this morning to see if certain aspects of the test would be consistent. Obviously, the time of the day, recent meals, amount of water present in the body, recent exercise can skew the results slightly. But several things that should remain relatively constant are dry lean mass and skeletal muscle mass. It turns out that in the span of just under 17 hours, my body composition was capable of some fairly drastic changes.

Let's start this off with last night's data.

Total body weight:............173.9 lbs
Lean body mass:...............150.4 lbs
Skeletal muscle mass:........86.9 lbs
Body fat mass:....................23.5 lbs
Body fat percent:..................13.5%

These data actually present decent progress. Now, one would generally surmise that, while on a get huge quest, total body weight would increase. This is generally true. However, in the past couple weeks, I've been eating fewer carbs, which could lead to loss of a fairly substantial amount of water weight. And according to the data, my lean body mass remained constant and my muscle mass increased by 0.3 pounds, both of which are perfectly reasonable. Here is where my problems (and skepticism) come into play. First of all, bioelectrical impedance devices send small electric pulses through the body. Electrical pulses travel at different speeds through fat than through other tissues, like muscle. Based on the amount of time the impulses take to return to the device, it determines how much fat, muscle, and other tissues make up the body. If this theory was reliable, my body fat mass results would've remained fairly constant (or maybe even increased slightly) since I'm not on a calorie deficit. But, alas, my body fat mass apparently decreased by almost 5 pounds. This would be an incredible fat loss, considering it has only been 18 days, in addition to the calorie thing.  

Now, the next nail in the coffin of bioelectrical impedance analyses occurred today. Out of shear, morbid curiosity, I went back and got another analysis. The only reason I went back was to test the consistency of a value I know for a fact would remain relatively constant. This value would serve as sort of a barometer of accuracy of sorts for the other values of the test. What I'm talking about is skeletal muscle mass.

The results are in, and they're not looking good. In just under 17 hours, I apparently lost over 2 pounds of muscle. There is simply no reason that I would lose that much muscle in that amount of time. Yes, there are many variables that can skew the results. But I didn't do hardly anything between measurements. I didn't eat excessively right before today's test. I didn't excessively guzzle water directly before today's test. I didn't exercise right before today's test. I wore very similar clothes. What I'm really attempting to convey is that the results should've really been similar. I'm not expecting identical readings, but come on. The other results will further explain my skepticism:

Total body weight:............175.7 lbs
Lean body mass:...............146.8 lbs
Skeletal muscle mass:........84.2 lbs
Body fat mass:....................28.8 lbs
Body fat percent:..................16.5% 

So really, moving forward, I think it best to take these results with a grain of salt, and rely more on the Mirror Test. That being said, here is that update, along with the previous:

The first one (left) is from January 4th, 2016 and the second one (right) is from today, January 23rd, 2016.