body fat

Woke up and weighed myself again this morning... still sub 175 so that's good. I shouldn't weigh myself every day... but I'm kind of doing an experiment with watching my water & salt and seeing what kind of water I'm holding vs if my actual weight is different.

My scale has some cool features that are actually the same properties as those hand held body fat testers... you just have to stand on it barefoot. Thing is, I don't think it's very accurate. Today it said I'm still over 27% bodyfat... I'm thinking I'm around 21-22, but that's why I need to test several times a day throughout a week and take averages. See, with this kind of testing your hydration level can throw it off: if you're dehydrated, it says your BF% is higher than it really... so THIS is likely my problem most of the time because I don't drink enough water!!

You can read about body fat testing on a number of sites if you google it, but here are some links:
Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis
5 Test Methods compared
Various Testing Method ratings

I would really like to find somebody who has a pinch test caliper so that I can compare that reading to my hypothesis and what my scale is telling me.

Well... off to pick up some cheat day goodies to spend Sunday Funday at the pool... going to TRY to be as good as possible, but it's my planned indulgence day so that means HELLA cardio tomorrow and NTC.

back and better than ever

Well, it's time. Time to keep myself accountable again so I've come back to the blog. 100dayshapeup was a bust as I let some of life's hurdles become road blocks that I saw as brick walls rather than just a challenge I could jump over and move past. But now, I'm back... I have a whole new life and I'm SHAPING IT UP! I moved to Chicago at the end of 2012 and early in 2013 (about March) I decided it was time to REALLY focus on what I was eating and what I'm doing to get the body I want and I know I can achieve. I stopped using a calorie counter ap that was telling me to eat too little (My Fitness Pal) and consulted with a nutrition expert. EAT TO LOSE was a whole new concept for me. I had no idea that the diets I'd used in the past weren't working because my body was slowing down into starvation mode. So... for the past 2 months I've been pushing myself to eat clean and train hard. No more 500 calorie elliptical workouts. I am training my entire body using High Intensity Interval Training techniques and weight lifting circuits. I will share details in later blog posts. If you read back to my old posts, you'll know I've struggled with Compulsive Over Eating. This addiction never goes away. It's like being an alcoholic or a drug addict... except that my addiction isn't a substance I can cut out of my life-- you can't NOT eat! So, I'm still working on ways to keep myself away from my trigger foods and stay on track. I'm going to use this blog, again, to keep track of my daily food intake as well as my workouts. I will weigh in on Wednesdays and try to get my body fat % tracked as accurately as possible (this is tough). I started at 196.6 lbs. My current weight is around 175-177 (depending on water/salt/sleep). I will do my best to keep my posts honest and accurate. I am going to look for some honest photos so I can show progress (and history).