Differential rates of fat change relative to weight change at different body sites

As shown in 620 adults followed over a 5-year period, rates of change in outer fat differ from skinfold to skinfold and, to a lesser extent, between the sexes. At each of four sites and for men and women respectively fatness change rates per kilogram of weight change are much the same for heavier and lighter individuals, for fatter and leaner subjects, and during weight gain as compared with weight loss. In both sexes the abdominal and iliac sites are more sensitive to overall changes in weight and fatness.