Progress Photos/Charts: 2014.10.03 – B.I.A. B.I.T.E.S my B.U.T.T
Progress Photos: 2014.10.03
Where I started – Me on Jul 26, 2014
Me at my computer on July 26, 2014 at my heaviest weight of 333 lbs.
Where I want to be when I reach my target fitness level:
Fit me from back in the day! – All Cowboy’d Up!
This gives you a good idea of what I’ll look like when I’m fit and healthy.
This week on my “Journey to Health & Fitness“
Weight at home: down!
Weight at Jenny Craig: down!
Total Inches (chest, waist, hips): down!
Perceived level of fitness: UP!!!!
I even lost inches in my neck and my calves!
But that nasty body fat measurement AGAIN was being weird.
I have always known that B.I.A. (Bio-electrical Impedance Analysis) is a rough estimate of body fat percentage.
I have always known that things like time of day, whether or not you’ve just exercised, how much water you have in your body or your bladder can all throw things off and give you a false reading.
To accommodate this “rough guess-timate” of body fat… I use two different measuring devices: (1) a hand held device by Omron and (2) an Omron scale with body fat monitoring capacity AND I measure myself two times a day. That gives me FOUR daily measurements which I then average.
THEN because I know that from day to day, even THIS number could be funky… on Friday, my official “end of the week” day and the day on which I post these photos, charts, and progress reports, I look at the weeks AVERAGE, the MEDIAN and then the actual number for Friday. I do this for both weight and for body fat.
Then and only then, do I take the lowest number of the three and count that as my official weekly number. Usually that is the actual weight. Though every once in a while it is the average or the median.
So… that method has always worked in the past and has allowed me to use BIA as a rough, but fairly accurate measure of RELATIVE changes in body fat.
Long time readers of my blog (meaning more than 2 posts) have probably figured out by now that if I’m going on at such dramatic lengths there is about to be DRAMA!
OH GURL! LET ME TELL YOU WHAT I FOUND OUT TODAY!!!!
It sucks. There is simply no other way to put this but “It sucks!”
B.I.A. has a built in error rate of up to 8 percent.
Eeeeeeekkkk!!!! Urk! AAaaaaaaaarrrrrrrggggghhhhh!!!!!!!!
Basically, for most folks and most situations, and most of the time you can use BIA and everything is groovy.
While not 100% accurate, it is usually a good relative indicator of fat loss — The key to using it effectively is CONSISTENCY!!!!
HOWEVER every once in a while if you mess around with some of the things that can throw it off… like changing your base hydration levels, it can go wacko on you!!!!! And you get weird JUMPS in the data. For no apparent reason.
There is absolutely nothing you can do about it. It is the nature of the beast.
The only thing you can do is to not use BIA as your ONLY measurement of your fitness level. And I’m not. Which is a very good thing!
EVERY other indicator I have says that I’m getting more fit and more healthy! So, I am just going to keep on keeping on and hope that the body fat percentage issue works itself out.
Of course there is a supposedly more accurate, and far more expensive, body composition monitor made by Tanita which is supposed to give you a more detailed picture of body composition . Unfortunately it costs over $400. So unless I find myself a sugar daddy who wants to buy me one…. Hmmmmm….
Anyone want to be my Sugar Daddy? [batting my eyelashes furiously and pouting my lips…] If so, here’s the link to my “Wish List” on Amazon… just whip out your credit card and Amazon will take care of the rest. Woot!
Yeah, like THAT’s gonna happen! LOL
But at least we had a moment of amusement entertaining the image of Tony having a “Fitness Sugar Daddy” — Well, I was amused. The rest of you fine folks may have been horrified!
but I digress.. I do that ya know…
Other news from the Fitness Front:
This past week marks a milestone:
For the first time since I began my journey there were two different days where I actually recorded EVERYTHING that I ate. Folks this is BIG!!!! Not until I began attempting to record every calorie, did I realize just how hard it is to do so.
I’m getting really good at reading nutrition labels! Whew!
This week marks the beginning of my October Fitness / Movement Plan
I have had a storage unit ever since I moved into my current apartment. I moved from a 2 bedroom 2 bath house into a single bedroom and a bathroom. And I have kitchen privileges. Basically my best friend is “renting” a room to me. I don’t really rent though. We just split the bills. Well when I moved in I sold a lot of stuff, but there was some stuff I hung onto.
This month, I’m going to get rid of 90% of that stuff that I kept, thinking that I’d need it someday. I’m tired of paying for that storage unit. So I rented a smaller unit, about the size of a closet (and MUCH cheaper) and I’m going to put a few things which have sentimental value to me in there and sell everything else.
Well that is going to take a LOT OF EFFORT also known as movement also known as the evil “exercise” — wish me success. I should definitely be fitter and healthier at the end of October than I am now, at the beginning of October! Woot!
Progress Charts
Body Composition Ratio: 2014.10.03
Total body weight down which is good, but check out the huge drop in the Lean Body Mass — that’s because of the wacked up readings from the Body Fat Monitors… Urk. We’ll see what the coming week brings…
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Physical Measurements: 2014.10.03
I lost “total inches” again this week — that makes FOUR weeks in a row! Woot! The big looser this week was the hips!
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Weight: 2014.10.03
Total body weight dropped this week, both at home and at Jenny Craig — second week of weighing in at J.C.
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Body Fat Percentage: 2014.10.03
I really think that what this chart is showing me is NOT correct. Based on what I’m eating and what I’m doing in terms of movement, this SIMPLY CAN NOT BE TRUE! And all other indicators that I have contradict what is shown here. I’ll continue to monitor it but I’m trying to find a cheap place to do an underwater body composition test and/or a skin fold test so that I have some other Body Fat measurements to compare the BIA numbers.
See ya on the dance floor!
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Posted on Sat, Oct 4, 2014, in Progress Photos and Charts and tagged after, bad, before, before after, before after photos, before and after photos, Body composition, Body Fat, braums, cats, Chest, cowboy, fat, fit, fit and healthy, funny cats, getting fit, getting healthy, good, good bad, Hips, inches, journey to health and fitness, LOL Cats, Lolcat, losing weight, progress, progress charts, Progress Photos, progress report, skinny, thin, total body mass, Waist, water, water weight, weekly progress report, Weight loss. Bookmark the permalink. 3 Comments.
5-6-7-8 Dancing My Way to a Healthy Me! 
Congrats on the progress Tony!
I agree those body fat analyzers can be a little weird, however, what are you doing for strength training? Are you resisting more weight than your body is accustomed to? You may not be at that stage yet but here’s an article that may shed some light on the aspect of fat burning while protecting muscle.
If you have a good strength training program (this can be in the form of resistance training with bands too, I noticed you had some in your garage sale:) then, you’re right, don’t worry about that silly little machine.
Here’s an article you may (or may not) enjoy. Of course, he’s talking weight lifting but he has some really good points in his article.
http://www.aworkoutroutine.com/how-to-lose-fat-without-losing-muscle/
He says, “When that caloric deficit is present, your body is forced to find some alternative source of energy on your body to burn instead. Ideally, this would ONLY be your ugly stored body fat. However, it can also be your pretty lean muscle tissue.”
Good luck!
Carole
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I’ll take a look at the article. Thank you!
You’re right. Ideally I should be losing only body fat. And until this weird thing with the body fat measurement (I’m still convinced that it is a error from the device) I have been gaining LBM while losing fat which is awesome, but with the huge jump in body fat, that threw the LBM number into a nose dive. Urk! Eeek! Arrggh!
As for resistance training, right now, my resistance training is VERY VERY light. I do 3 or four of those lean against the wall push-ups 3 days a week, I do whatever lifting there is to be done around my apartment (e.g. I moved 8 boxes of old papers which need to be sorted then either filed or shreaded from the dining room to my bedroom where I can work on them a little at a time)
And I move my body. Carrying around as much weight as I am, every step up or down a stair is “weight training” LOL
Horrible puns aside, literally, my legs are “lifting” 323 lbs with every step. And then lowering it with every step downward. I can really feel my quads engage on the steps going up and my calves are getting a big workout on the steps going down.
And on that front, I know that my legs are getting stronger. Back in August, each step either up or down was a one step at a time affair where I got both feet on every step. Now, after two months of increased movement I can go up and down the stairs alternating steps and feet — one foot per stair. Unless I’m carrying groceries or a load of laundry. Then it is back to one step/two feet.
This month, in my “clean out the storage unit and sell all that stuff I haven’t looked at in years” effort, I will be doing a LOT of lifting of boxes (and other stuff) for an hour a day, 3 days a week for the first two weeks then 1.5 – 2 hours, 3 days a week which should help build some muscle.
I am trying very hard to not do anything that is “exercise” solely for the sake of “exercise.” Eventually weight lifting for the upper body may be the exception but I’m trying to find ways to incorporate not only movement but weight training into my actual daily activities so that the “lifting” whatever it turns out to be is just something that I need to do anyway, rather than distinct activity done for its own sake. Hmmmm Maybe I can get a part-time job with UPS? They lift a lot of stuff! Ever see a fat UPS guy? And if you did see a big one, then he was still fit! Woot!
And thanks again for the advice and the support.
Cheers!
-Tony
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