Second pass at: Circumference measurements as a poor man's composition estimate posts 61–69

Changes during titration: measuring body composition during active titration is less useful than measuring after dose is stable. Titration causes fluid shifts that confound body composition.

Answering the question post #59 raises rather than the one it answers.

Lean mass in these measurements includes water, so a change in hydration appears as a change in lean mass.

One of those cases where knowing the mechanism does not help the decision.

The arithmetic in post #63 is right; the assumption feeding it is the part to check.

For anyone finding this later: the short answer on Circumference measurements is that it depends on one thing, and the rest of the thread is people identifying which thing.

Worth separating Circumference measurements as a question about the compound from Circumference measurements as a question about the documentation. They get answered by different people and only one of them is answerable here.

The most useful protocol is the one you will actually repeat identically. An imperfect measurement repeated consistently beats a better one repeated carelessly.

Adding the caveat now so it does not have to be extracted later.

Post #63 describes the usual case. This is about the unusual one.

Circumference measurements at marked sites, taken consistently, track composition change better than most people expect for the cost.

Resting metabolic rate: body composition affects metabolic rate. As fat mass decreases and lean mass is maintained, metabolic rate is usually maintained better than with simple weight loss alone.