Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Hmm...

Today's Weigh-In: 223.8 lbs.
5-day Average: 223.93 lbs.


So, I went ahead and bought on of those electronic body fat analyzers. I bought the same one that I used in the gym when I first measured my body fat. My original reading was 27.3% and yesterday's reading was 24.5% (an average of a few readings), so I've lost almost 3% body fat thus far. I did some calculations based on my weight and the percentage, and it looks like instead of losing lean mass, I've actually gained 2 pounds of muscle. The problem (if you can call it that) is that if this reading is accurate I have almost 170 lbs. of lean mass. If I were at 10% body fat that would mean I would need to weigh 189 lbs. Seems a little high for my height (5' 10") but I am really stocky, so maybe I have less to lose than I thought. Or maybe as I continue to shed fat I'll lose some muscle and need to be lower. To be honest, I don't really care how much I weigh, as long as I'm muscular and have a body fat percentage < 12%. This doesn't change anything, but I may have to reevaluate my goal weight as I approach it and make reasonable adjustments. One day, when I get closer to my goal, I'll get hydrostatic weighing done and find a more accurate measurement of my body fat percentage, and use that to adjust my goal.

As far as everything goes, my weight is going down steadily, my diet's been spot-on, and I hit the gym yesterday. I had to skip out on my cardio, though, since I began feeling nauseous. That tends to happen when I do heavy squats and deadlifts, I guess I should do the cardio beforehand on days when I do heavy compounds. Lesson learned.

7 comments:

Jim McCoy said...

Keep rolling, Geoff. If it's coming off then you're doing something right.

Ripx180 said...

Sounds like you are really getting it done. If you are getting the puke factor while doing the big compound movements then you are hitting the cardio in a sense. I think most people would advise to continue doing your weights up front with cardio following to get the most out of your strength training.

layla said...

i just read a couple of fitness articles regarding workout intensity and it pointed out that working out hard is relative to our previous efforts. most of us think we're working hard when we're actually being pretty lazy. one of the best indicators of a truly good hard workout is feeling nausea after hitting the weights hard so you're right on track buddy! keep it up!

Rob Tucker said...

As far as everything goes, my weight is going down steadily, my diet's been spot-on, and I hit the gym yesterday.

This is how you get it done.

Nice work - keep it rolling!

Brian said...

I know what you mean about that nausous feeling. That's exactly why I always to my cardio first. Well, I also do it first because I want to get my heart rate up.

nice work so far. Are those body fat tools expensive? I've never checked mine so I'd be interested in having it checked out.

Geoff said...

Brian: The body fat monitor I bought was not too expensive. Here's a link: http://www.amazon.com/Omron-HBF-306-Body-Fat-Analyzer/dp/B00006WNPU

It's not the most accurate thing in the world, but it should be within 1-3% of the actual percentage. I like to take a few measurements and average them, as they tend to vary a bit.

Brian said...

thanks, but your link appears to have gotten cut off.