Friday, February 5, 2010

Body Fat and the Dreaded Bathroom Scale

Knowing your body fat is important. So many people think they are healthy because their weight is “in the charts”, but their body fat % is surprisingly high.

I have NEVER owned a bathroom scale and never WANTED a bathroom scale. I tend to be a little obsessive about weighing myself or I bag it all together because weighting myself frustrates the crap out of me. I’ve been thinking for a while though that I should probably get one (knowledge and accountability). So, at the beginning of the week I purchased a Health-O-Meter scale. There was a coupon in the Sunday paper for $10 off. I paid about $20 for the scale (not bad) and was surprised to see that the body fat estimate was off by exactly 1% (that’s only 1-2 pound for an average healthy adult) so the scale was actually pretty accurate.

The most accurate way to test your body fat % is by the hydrostatic weighting, second is by using body fat skin fold calipers and third is the estimated hand held devices or digital scales.

Thanks for the tip on Greek Yogurt. I bought some, but I’m not sure if I bought the right kind. Darlene, where do you get yours and what is the brand name? I’m excited to have a new option for adding protein to my diet.

For now my main goal is just to work on my abs. I have some pretty strong abs. I can do crunches and sit ups all day long. The problem is… You can’t see them through the layers of fat (the kind of fat that only a mom can understand) I’ve given myself 3 months to see some major definition in my abs. Tips welcome.

What do you guys know about sweeteners? Particularly Splenda? I have heard so much good and so much bad about them and I just don’t know. Darlene, I’m thinking maybe you can help me with this. That reminds me… I have a great healthy protein carrot cake recipe (maybe I’ll post it later).

How are you guys doing on your goals? Britt? Stacey? Darlene? Andy? Ashley? Your success stories are so inspiring.

3 comments:

  1. Me and ash just bought the same kind of scale. Yours sounds a little better than mine though, mine was off by about 3%. I have no idea about sweeteners. My goals are going good. I'm up to about 50 push-ups and my running time is coming down. I ran 5 miles last night in 38 minutes. I also had a question. I stretch before running but my hamstrings are always so sore the next day. Any tips for that? I also started going to a spinning class two times a week to help me get ready for some triathlons this year. My mom said she would get on her and post about her greek yogurt she uses. I think her trainer at crossfit told her about it.

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  2. To get defined abs, you need to do cardio to take off the fat over them. It sounds like you already have the muscle. Yes, this is coming from someone chunky, but I do know what I'm SUPPOSED to do! :)

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  3. Thanks Kari, I think a HUGE part of it is eating too. I notice a big change when I eat "clean" and stay away from processed food. AND YOU AREN'T CHUNKY! You just had a baby.

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