Yeah, keep it simple is my motto. Weight and body measurements might be old school but it works.
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Agreed, unless you’re going to go get regular dexa scans then weight, measurements, and the mirror (better yet, progress pictures so you can compare) might be the best options.
They just talked about these body fat scales on the Stronger By Science podcast. They are basically not very accurate and vary by large percentages based on hydration. They said to maybe look at the trend lines over time but don’t take any body fat percentage number as gospel.
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That’s good advice for weight management and health/fitness metrics in general. Long term trends are generally more accurate and insightful than a singular measurement, and any metric is only as useful as the context you put it in.
I used to have a handheld bodyweight meter 25 years ago, with that old thing I could at least somewhat predict what its results would be, it would measure something and calculate a lean weight given your age, sex and body height and from that a body fat percentage. That calculated lean weight could vary a bit dependent on hydration or having a pump but never on the entered weight but these new scales just pull numbers out of their ass. It’s absolute nonsense what they tell you because if you stand on the scale with a dumbbell it shouldn’t tell you you have more muscle just fat but they do
Just on the scales, my renpho ones matched a dexa on all the stats. Admittedly, that’s one point in time, but I don’t think they’re necessarily as off the wall as is suggested.
fwiw Oatmeal/ Porridge and Whey is what I do (cook the porridge with extra water and/or milk, mix in the whey then. Similarly, mix whey with Greek Yogurt or Skyr. I personally find it hard to hit my target protein without supplementation, but rarely resort to a straight shake with porridge and whey for breakfast, and yogurt and whey as a snack with fruit, cereal or nuts.
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I have now a few times the renpho agreeing with other sources…
Agreed re the yoghurt and porridge mix - healthy combo!
This is me too.
Whey with my porridge and the snack on chicken breast to get me to the 1.5g/2g per kg of body weight on harder days.
I’m not sure how people are eating too much protein. I was below 1g per 1kg of body weight until I started focusing a bit more on it.
anecdotally, I think getting more protein in has made a difference for me
Probably just me, several times 
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I mean, that’s not really a design parameter of these scales. They assume that it’s just you standing on it with minimal clothing. So if you purposely try to fool it then it’s gonna give you bogus data. From what I’ve seen, if you have consistent hydration and food and you weigh yourself in the same conditions (same time of day, after you pee, before you eat) then they can be relatively accurate (or is it precise), at least from a longer term trends perspective.
I think of it like virtual power with a dumb trainer. You might not actually be putting out 200W but as long as you use the same tire, with the same pressure, and same flywheel pressure you should get similar power readings from day to day.
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That’s exactly how I’m doing it. Same day, same time, same circumstances and ONCE A WEEK only. Even the same time of day on different days is likely to induce some uncertainty (I used to be a metrologist in a prior life, All about measurement and repeatability.)
I am upping my protein game for sure. Yet another thing to track if I want to know WHAT is happening so I can get to the WHY.
Thanks to all that have contributed to the thread so far.
Too much protein.
How much protein are you getting?
It could be a massively incorrect assumption you are making?.
Well if you go the low side of the requirements for endurance athletes of 2g per kg, I’m not getting anywhere near 180g a day. Maybe 100g on a day where i’m skewing what I used to think as a “high” protein day.
So yeah I gotta up my game
Pretty certain that ‘2’ is per pound of body weight.
Anyway that is the high side…
I’m also months shy of 55, so I have the age factor too.
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If you get enough Carbohydrate then this won’t happen, assuming ~1.5 - 1.8g per kgbw of protein, and it helps with your performance which is why I was questioning you assumption to ‘up your game’ in regards to protein.
I understand being towards the top of the protein recommendation being a bit older, much like myself.
If you are getting 100g typically, yes you do need to increase to IMO 150 - 180g
This isn’t a recommendation just what I used when training with a very high load for a Marathon, ignore the Carbs 12g per KgBW as that is for Carb loading in the last 5 days. I put 91kg in as the weight for it re-calculate.
After just listening to a segment about “Are Recovery Drinks Really Necessary?” the takeaways are…
- I’m low on my protein
- I’m on target with fueling during workouts as in I get an eat prompt on my head unit, I eat. I use a bento on my bike so that I’m not fishing for the right food/bloc/gel in my pockets. When on the trainer I just have them laid out on my wahoo kicker desk clone. I used to skip the last prompt if I was within 25 minutes of getting home, but I don’t do that anymore.
- I should be able to make up my 50-80g gap by paying attention to the protein in my between meal snacks.
Things aren’t as bad as I thought, but the thread has been great for talking this out and preventing a gross (literally and figuratively) over correction.