With those tanita results I definitely wouldn’t focus on body composition at all, just pure power.
I’ve got double your fat and I’m still focused on power.
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thanks for the advice!
SO would you suggest despite what TANITA says its still ‘safe’ or rather ‘advantageous’ to try cut a 1kg (2-3lbs) ?
OR just focus on getting FTP up
i’m at 4.2w/kg with a meagre 251 FTP 
250w means i have to go over threshold on most climbs ATM
thanks so much for the advice btw!
You’re in single digitals in non-athlete mode. I’d go for more power if I were in your cycling shoes 
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thanks Nate …
i’m following the plans closely and ftp keeps going up so i will definitely keep going to try bump it higher over the coming months.
i won’t worry about weight … but thanks for helping answer that as i know you guys talk about cutting weight a lot, so it’s great to have your personal input for my case.
MyFitnessPal is awesome btw - thanks for the tip off on that one … really helps to keep the 5g /kg of weight in close check!
Sold! Was looking at replacing my current scale with the Nokia scale, but using another app seems like a hassle; much easier to have everything on Garmin Connect for me.
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Tanita’s “athlete mode” looks very iffy to me.
When in shape, I’ve been sat around the 5% fat floor, supposedly, for about a decade or more. I’m naturally very lean but simply don’t believe those figures. I’m middle-aged, ride a bike, walk a dog; I’m not some cage-fighting super specimen, so the for me personally, that athlete mode scale simply isn’t credible.
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I never look at the athlete mode stuff. I want to see my full fatness
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Yep, so-called “athlete” mode == vanity mode.
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Yury, looks like it’s in athlete mode. I had a similar Dexa and similar body fat when the scale was in the wrong mode.
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you should still be able to perform at a pretty high level assuming your short power numbers aren’t very low. A very good mountain biker around here has similar W/kg as yours, Depending on the length of the climbs, you might see that everyone is going over threshold if they are relatively short. Depending on the grade of the road it might be completely unavoidable.
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Think that’s me sold on the Garmin too. Hopefully the calendar expansions continue, but as of now, Connect is my main repository for all data. I was relunctant to go the Tanita or Nokia route and adding another app and still have to manually enter on connect.
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Nope. Athlete mode was off. I’ve tried to turn it on, the scales showed 3% 
I guess I’m out of the bell curve of population where the scales and dexa match. Given that I have very similar complexion to sandilandscycles, I don’t really care about loosing weight and focus more on raising power.
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As i said when i had Tanita in athlete mode i never measured at anything other than 5% … but now i switched it is consistently between … 6.1-6.6%
It can be confusing as at just shy of 6foot and 59-59.5 kg (130-131lbs) it is comparable or less than many pros - as you are … BUT i always feel awful comparing to pros as don’t want to seem complacent/smug etc.
I have now switched my drive to just focusing on :
- power gains (after Nate’s advice yday)
and
- making sure i get enough grams carbs per gg of bodyweight
hopefully we both see some power gains !! 
Does the Garmin have similar athlete/regular setting? Does it track to Tanita regular or athlete?
Does the Tanita scale measure bf% accurately below 5% ? On both normal mode and athlete mode I come up at 5.0%. I’m quite lean, always have been, but wondering if this means the scale doesn’t read below 5%. Ie. Maybe I’m less than that. Recently I got quite fatigued and a little burnt out. I’m wondering if too low body fat may be partly to blame.
I don’t know but it sounds like it does based on this forum…I’ve never experienced it 
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On athlete mode in 4 years I’ve always been 5% no more no less.
Switched to non-athlete on @Nate_Pearson ‘s advice on podcast. Now 6.1-6% … my feeling is that is influenced more by hydration than body fat.
I’m not really sure what to believe - would love a DEXA but hard to find in UK and not cheap.
I too am pretty lean - but not skeletal. Especially when compared to some of my old running team mates.
Hard to know what to think tbh.
After posting on here though - decided to just maintain weight and get power up plus MORE CARBS!!! 
Yes, I suspect Tanita scale doesn’t go below 5%, previous poster @yury noted a 3% measurement but it was a withings scale. I am in Canada, so also hard to get a private DEXA, regardless the BF% is low and I completely agree with focus on power not weight. I’m 5’10" 145lbs, with FTP of 271.
A concern of mine and thus a question for the group is advice on adequate nutrition to maintain power and not lose weight (Ideally not gain too much either). I don’t want this to sound trite. (yeah me, I can eat cake and Ice cream all day!!!) I try to eat a balanced diet, but when putting in hard weeks, the caloric need skyrockets and it’s hard to get it all in and not feel like you are stuffing yourself all the time. Any ideas on guidelines of carbs/proteins to avoid the burnout but not pack on extra pounds?
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I was worried about this too. And so don’t worry about sounding trite- i do too - fully empathise.
i am 5’11, 130-1 lbs FTP probably around 250-55 atm.
I have realised you have to eat a LOT if you eat pretty clean food. (grains fruit veg etc)
I have always eaten food cooked from scratch and my meals (esp. post workout) look stupidly gigantic. BUT if it were ice cream and cake NOT quinoa and brown rice you wouldn’t need as much quantity i guess.
1 thing i found (and this is v much n=1) is that i actually run a caloric deficit of nearly 500-1000 cal a day but don’t actually loose any weight.
i have been using MyFitnesPal to track my calories for about 3-4 months and if anything i probably eat more than i log , it always says i am not eating enough BUT actually as long as i stay on topby feel if it kinda averages the same despite showing very negative totals.
I have started to believe your body kind of finds a homeostasis of sorts. But this is super individual.
Kenyan distance runners, (or even US collegiate distance runners running 100+ mile weeks) must have to so much … but actually sometimes its not as much as one thinks.
Thus my n=1 thoughts.
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The big question is - with a mid teens Dexa are Nate’s abs comparable to Mr 17% up there?
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