Battle Strategy

Now I have to be honest, this project was supposed to kick off January 1^st. It’s now the 19^th and I have yet to divulge my initial log-in. Reason being, after giving myself a week to acclimate to working post-holiday-season and some time to overcome the classic “Oh hey, I’m your body and I know you are on vacation so WHAM, here’s a head cold. Happy relaxing, jerkface,” I am finally back in the game, and running full speed ahead.

This can only mean that the time is nigh to fess up and disclose my battle plan to cut the crap fat. I will warn you, THERE WILL BE BLOOD DATA! And now, on with the strategery.

The evening of my last post, I tortured myself  bit the bullet got started by logging in my starting total body fat percentage, and other data. You may remember reading last week that body fat %, muscle mass%, total body water %, and bone mass results for BIA scales are more accurate when taken in the evening, before your meal. So I wasn’t procrastinating…really…I was playing by the book…

And the results are in.

As of 1/11/13:

Percent body fat:    29.0%

Total percent body water:    50.2%

Percent muscle mass:    35.2%

Bone mass:    4.4lbs

Phew, I am still alive and haven’t died of over-sharing embarrassment.

And so the question begs—for what percentage of body fat am I aiming (like that fancy English, Mom?) ?

Well, I wanted to be careful about that. I know I want my goal to be both realistic and attainable. I also want it to fall within a healthy range of total body fat for both my age and gender. So I decided to do a little research to figure out what all that might mean before setting a goal.

According to the American Council on Exercise, “normal” body fat percentages for men and women are broken down into smaller categories, as follows:

Percent Body Fat Norms for Men and Women

Description:	Women	Men
Essential Fat	10-13%	2-5%
Athletes	14-20%	6-13%
Fitness	21-24%	14-17%
Acceptable	25-31%	18-24%
Obesity	>32%	>25%
*Source: ACE Lifestyle & Weight Management Coach Manual

  

Ha HA! According to this thing, I’m not so as into the abyss as I expected with my 29% reading! But I’ve never been one for just “acceptable,” damnit. I demand pain, sweat, vomit, and whimpering in the corner for mercy excellence!

I also need to consider the following, but I will have to flashback to my first post for a minute. I would consider myself to be in overall “good” shape—at least I was before my daily run-ins with Nana’s sticky buns over the holidays. Working with a trainer to vary my workouts, we have been able to push my body to develop both a high level of cardiac endurance and some pretty decent muscle power over the past 15 months. Despite that, my aesthetic physical composition didn’t budge much. My trainer would take my measurements monthly, and the lowest percentage of body fat I logged was 25.6%.

I want to beat that. And just because I know my potential in the gym, I also would ideally like to be in the “fitness” range.  So, by my powers of reading, that would put me in the 21-24% body fat range. I would have been inclined to shoot for the middle—23% body fat—until…

I got totally annihilated a good workout with my trainer today. In between gasping for air, I asked him what he thought an appropriate goal for this project might be. His thoughts: 18% body fat. I would have laughed and cried at the same time if I wasn’t already struggling just to stay upright. His logic was that my athletic frame would make this number attainable. As I pack muscle onto my frame, it will take the place of my fat cells. When I said, “that means losing 10% of my body fat as I am now,” he just nodded.

I’m not sure how to take that.  But hey, he’s been a pretty solid resource thus far, so I’ll have to take his word for it. I have to admit, I am a little skeptical that I could get my body to that point—but those of you who have spent an hour playing anything with me know about my competitive issues spirit. Needless to say, I go into a feeding frenzy find it exciting to have a challenge, and instinctively wanted to shoot for this.

But after thinking about it today, I have decided that a range is probably more attainable and mentally healthier than a specific number. Let’s say it is biochemically or genetically impossible for me to reach 18%. I would feel defeated if I maxed out at a higher number, and I wouldn’t want that to shortchange my success.

AND SO THE GOAL!

Attain 18-23% total body fat.

The Battle Plan:

• Continue working with trainer to vary workouts—each one of which I call a “Card.” This will help me increase my cardiac endurance, maximize my muscular strength, and avoid the potential for plateauing.
• Engage in cardio activities varying in intensity on “off” days (non-Card days). This will keep my blood pumping and calories burning whilst my muscles rebuild.
• Take some classes. I have tried Zumba and Kickboxing before, and they were really good ways to get cardio in while fooling me into thinking I’m having fun shaking up my routine. I would like to keep trying these two classes, and add in Spinning, Power Yoga, or an Extreme Sports class here and there.

Tools:

• Heartrate monitor—I have used this guy for the past three years, and it is essential for my workouts. I feel naked without it when I’m in the gym. It’s a great way for me to say focused during my workouts, ensuring that I stay within my desired “zone” for optimal results. It also logs my workout time, calories burned, and generates the type of workout I just had (maximum performance, fitness improving, or fat burning)

My Polar FT-60 Heartrate Monitor

• Livestrong.com—For those of you who don’t know about this site, it’s amazing. It’s “MyPlate” feature allows users to track food using an extensive nutrition database, and then breaks down your daily consumption into nutritive specifics (calories, fat, cholesterol, sodium, carbohydrates, protein, etc.). It also allows the use to log water consumption, fitness activities, and weight trends in order to reach a desired goal. The website also features various fitness articles for the user to gain information on basically anything health, food, or fitness-related, and several forums in which to discuss with other members. The best part is that all of those features are FREE! Woot! I will be using Livestrong primarily to log my food consumption, assessing my diet not only for calories, but also for any holes or excessiveness in my nutrient breakdowns. I will also log in my fitness and weight daily to assess my overall trend in the coming months.
• BIA Scale—I’ll use this puppy to generate my data: % Body Fat, % Total Body Water, % Muscle Mass, Bone Mass, and weight. I’ll weigh myself daily, but only take the other readings weekly so I don’t drive myself crazy from day to day if I’m not seeing the downward movement I want.

Handy-Dandy Scale

• Excel spreadsheet—this will serve as a way for me to log all the specific data from my scale readings. I want to track not only my body fat percentage, but also keep an eye on my total body water for hydration purposes, and my percent muscle mass to see how much fat I am converting into Grade A beefiness. (Also, all you women out there, it’s important to know your bone mass over time, as dipping numbers can point toward osteoporosis. )
• Photos—My lovely assistant boyfriend will be snapping pictures of me monthly for visual representation of my progress. I will NOT be posting these. I don’t want to blind you.  
• TONS of Support—I am lucky enough to have debatably masochistic people around me who want to join in on the fun. They drag my butt to the gym and partner with me on my Cards, keep me motivated to stay on track, and sometimes rub my poor feeties after a tough workout (or at least listen to me moan on about it). 

Here's where I got that...Credit where credit is due: Me!

And there we have it, a plan! Naturally, this will be tinkered over time, as I get into the swing of things and find what is working for me, and what needs alteration. But I’ll be talking about all that later.

Last, but not least, an update! I’ve put the pedal to the metal this week, and it’s time to punch in my second reading:

As of 1/18/13:

Percent body fat:    28.1%

Total percent body water:    50.7%

Percent muscle mass:    36.4%

Bone mass:    4.4lbs

So, down 0.9% body fat—cool beans—but what I’m really happy about is my percent muscle mass went up by 1.2%. You know what that means…OLGE AND INGA ARE MAKING A COMEBACK!!! (that’s what I named my biceps in high school. It stuck.)

Happy weekend-ing, everyone!

Fat is Phat!

Speaking of trying to bring justice to things that don’t always deserve it—fat (body fat, not food fat) is also getting a bad rap, my peoples. Well, maybe not so much of a “bad rap” as just misunderstood. So, in order to prepare for my mission of reducing my overall percentage of body fat, I thought it might be helpful to do some research to help better understand that which we consider to be that other nasty little f-bomb.

While we might cringe at the word, fat is actually vital to the overall health and efficiency of our bodies.  Body fat not only serves as a way to keep us warm on those cold wintery nights in the tundra, it also protects our internal organs, aids in vitamin absorption, helps us maintain a stable level of energy, and helps to regulate hormone production. There are even different TYPES of body fat, designed to keep you in tip-top form. If you’re curious about specifics of that, click on me.

So, fat is phat! (You know I needed to make that joke.)  Without enough, we wouldn’t be able to function properly. But too much of it can also be bad news bears.

By now, we (should hopefully) all know about the obesity epidemic in the United States. According to the CDC’s study of obesity in 2009-2010, 37.5% of adults and 17% of children nationwide were obese—meaning they had a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 30 or higher. Obesity has some nasty consequences, increasing your risk for: coronary heart disease, type II diabetes, hypertension (i.e. high blood pressure), dyslipidemia (i.e. high cholesterol), stroke, sleep apnea, osteoarthritis, even infertility. If you’d like to read the CDC’s most recent findings, have a look, and pretend like it was me who wrote it.

Keeping our percentage of fat is thus super important. Too little—we don’t work right. Too much—we don’t work right. But how to keep track?!

There are multiple schools of thought for how to measure and interpret an individual’s body fat composition. As with any health-related testing, there are positives and negatives to each method, and each varies in its accuracy. So, it’s important not only to choose selectively, but to test consistently to assess long-term trends and progress.

• Body Mass Index—uses height and weight to calculate an estimated body fat. Does not take into account muscle mass, or measure actual percentage of body fat. Less accurate results, but is a repeatable method. 
• Skin Fold Caliper—the classic skin fold test from high school Phys. Ed. Compares thickness of fold measurement to a chart based on age and gender to generate estimated body fat. Dependable measuring is challenging, but results are accurate and repeatable 
• Bioelectric Impendence Analysis (BIA)—sends an electrical current through the body and measures opposition to the current’s flow to determine body fat percentage. Easy to use, repeatable, but results vary depending on hydration level. 
• Anthropometric Test—the “circumference” test. Measures circumference of waist (for men) or thighs (for women), neck and height, then compared to a chart. Repeatable, though does not directly measure body fat, and results are often inaccurate.
• Hydrostatic Weighing—individual is submerged in a special water tank and her weight is taken underwater to determine total body fat composition. Incredibly accurate (+/- 1.5% error), though tests cost upwards of $100 and has to be done in specialized setting like a lab or hospital. Not repeatable without dropping mad $$$. 
• DEXA Scan—a medical scan which determines a body’s mineral composition, lean mass, and fat tissue mass. Also determines body fat distribution. Incredibly accurate, though testing costs $250 on average and can only be performed in a specialized setting. Not repeatable without extreme cost. 
• Here's more on those methods.

So, which is right for me? I know I want a method that is relatively accurate and repeatable, since I will be charting my progress over time. I’d like something easy to use (aka—no potential for operator error), and a method that directly measures my total body fat percentage.

Now, I know my friend the Whale would definitely argue for hydrostatic testing—I mean, come on, messing around in water AND accuracy?! Score! But since I don’t have a water tank handy (shocking) or hundreds of dollars to repeat that test on a weekly basis, I’ll have to pass. I guess that also rules out the DEXA scan. I don’t want to go for BMI or Anthropometric either, since I know those don’t directly measure my body fat and are the least accurate forms of testing.  A skin-fold caliper seems the most logical choice until I realize the potentially high margin of error due to incorrect measuring technique—and we all know I’d be the one to measure that one millimeter too low…

Ergo, by process of elimination as well as ease of use, direct measurement, and repeatability, I’ve decided to go with the BIA method.

Behold!

Meet my new scale. This sucker uses BIA technology not only to determine my total percentage of body fat, but it also calculates my percentage of muscle mass, percentage of total body water, and my bone mass. And as a super-special technological revolution, it also measures my WEIGHT! Oooooo!

So, the upside is I get a ton of information about my body composition that is repeatable and chartable. The downside is that the results vary due to hydration levels, and as % fat, muscle mass, and water are most accurate before your evening meal, it makes remembering to step onto the scale for data a little challenging to remember. CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.

I’ll be using this little guy to log in the official reading later tonight. I have to admit, I am a little unnerved. But we all have to start somewhere! After that torture session, I mean, “informative learning opportunity” has passed, I’ll develop the overall battle strategy for OPERATION: Percentage Fat Loss soon thereafter and check back. Game on!

As Close To A "Statement of Purpose" As We Are Going To Get

When you think about it, whales are pretty awesome. They are powerhouses of strength and endurance. They are respected “ballers” of the ocean, and everyone in the marine world likes (or fears) them too much to mess around with them. They get to roam the world and see all kinds of things. They like to have a good time—mainly by cannonballing everywhere and judging one another's splash radii. And I like to think that while they wail and click and whistle to talk to one another, they also do that just to sing a song for no reason at all...

But sometimes whales catch a bad rap because, despite their strength and general badass-ness, they are big dudes and dudettes that don't exactly meet the aesthetic characteristics generally associated with power and strength.  So, we humans have taken poor Mr. and Ms. Whale and made them into a simile/metaphor to describe extreme instances of size and scale: “I had a whale of a good time;” “That’s a whale of a problem;” etc. Recently, I have to admit, I have also taken it out on these misfortunate giants to express my #1 complaint of late: “Uhhhh, I feel like a beached whale.”

Poor guys, you don’t deserve that.

You see, I am one of those individuals who has dance-battle-royale’d with my weight and overall body composition since pre-pre-pre-pubescence. Call it genetics, poor diet, lack of exercise, or blame it on the whales, it’s my reality. And while I’ve earned success and earned regression, my body fluctuation has been a sometimes-not-so-silent partner riding shotgun on this journey I call life (ewww, sorry). And while I know that that’s just a part of life, I sometimes feel like that pesky rascal is trying to drive my car! How rude!

Then I got to thinking (OH NO…). In a lot of ways, I AM like a whale. I like seeing new things! I like flailing around in water! I like being respected and/or making other creatures run scared! I especially like clicking, whistling, and wailing and calling it “singing” because no other word quite fits! And I also know what it’s like to have attained a level of strength and endurance that is not necessarily reflected in my aesthetic appearance and body composition. Ah ha! Connections!

I am a pretty fit individual. Over the past 18 months, I have worked individually and with a trainer to reach new thresholds of strength building and cardiac endurance of which I previously didn’t think I was capable. While my body is responding in terms of performance, for reasons I plan to explore in the coming months, my body isn’t responding aesthetically.

So this year, I’ve decided it’s time to superglue this body composition/weight issue to the passenger seat. It’s been yammering on for so long backseat driving that it’s probably just grouchy because it needs a nap! So, the time is nigh!

However, rather than aiming for a specific weight goal, I’ve decided to try for something a little different—lowering my body fat percentage.  Here’s my rationale: I have an athletic frame and I like looking strong. How does one assign a number to this? It’s not like, “Oh, at 140lbs, I’ll look like Beyoncé.” Furthermore, oftentimes we tend to select an “ideal” weight in our minds that may not actually be realistic or healthy for us. So, rather than reaching for the horizon (“Oh, another five pounds…okay, maybe ten…maybe twelve…), I will focus on reaching a healthy range of body fat percentage for my sex, age, and ability. Hopefully, this will be a friendlier, more realistic, and debatably healthier way to track my progress.  

I plan on using this blog as both a means of “superglue” and fun during this process. Writing about my goings-on will not only hold me accountable, but will hopefully also entertain all of us a little with the crazy antics I intend to engage in along the way! Oh, and there will probably also be some cat memes because I think they are funny. You have been warned.

So, without further ado, join me whilst this White Whale learns to run aground, rather than settling for being beached!

BAHROOOOOOOOOOO CLICK CLICK WEEEYOOOO! (Whale for “Thanks for reading!”)