Body Fat Percentage.

Saw the Biggest Loser premier last night. Looks like it's gonna be a good season! That's all I'll say for now. On to Body Fat Percentage!

So I got my Accu-Measure Body Fat Test Clippers in the mail this week and did my first test this morning (I had to practice using them the night before though). They're kinda tricky to use at first, but after a few tries, it got pretty easy.

Unless I totally fucked up the test, my results said I have about 20.9% body fat (or 33 pounds of fat, about 126 pounds of lean body mass). That percentage sounded really high to me at first, but after looking at percentage charts here and here, that actually puts me between the Fitness and Athlete levels. Which is pretty friggin' cool, I think. The number went from being this weird value that, despite my lack of knowledge, still sounded like it meant "You're still fat!" to a perfectly decent value that says, "Hey, you're in pretty good shape!" Now, I know it seems silly to rely on a number to tell me that, but it made me relieved somehow.

Numbers on scales can fluctuate, drive you insane and leave out a lot of information about your body. It's nice to have a more accurate method of determining where I'm at, in terms of being a really healthy individual. And I may be just feeding my own ego here, but I'm actually impressed with where my number fell on the chart. The only level below Fitness and Athlete is Essential Fat, which is reserved (I'm assuming) for those insane body-builder types.

So where do I go from here with these results? Well, I'm not too sure yet. I guess I'll just wait a few more weeks and see if the number changes. My measurement day is going to be Wednesday mornings. I guess it could be any morning really, but I figured since that is my day off from working out, it would help me remember to take the test.

After reading this post, I am anticipating that losing fat versus losing muscle is going to get trickier as I go along. At the same time though, if I find that I'm losing muscle (based on changes in my lean body mass), then I'll know I'll need to make specific changes in my routine (doing more strength/resistance training versus more cardio, for example).

In short, I'm really glad I invested in these little clippers. Of course, I regret not buying them sooner. I'm curious what my body fat percentage was at 248 pounds. Yeesh.