The Bod Pod

Well, I did it. I was fully expecting my body fat percentage to be between 40-42. Wrong.

I came in at 39.1%!!! Woo hoo. I was thrilled with that number.

My weight was 205 (it was afternoon, not first thing in the morning when I normally weigh). I have 80 pounds of fat on my body and 125 pounds of fat-free mass. Not bad at all for my weight!

I didn't even score in the Risky category, I came in at "Excess Fat."

So, the Bod Pod man came up with a game plan for me. This game plan scares me because it's not what I'm used to.

First off, he wants me eating 125 grams of protein daily. For the past few days, I've been freaking out about that because that's a lot. He told me I couldn't eat that alone, I'd have to have a protein shake and eat bars. Well, surprise, surprise...thanks to my handy dandy Calorie King, I went back a couple months and my average protein intake is 110 grams per day. So I don't have much to up that at all.

My RMR, or resting metabolic rate, is 1611 calories. That's what my body uses to do nothing, lie in be all day. My TEE, or total energy expenditure, is 1998. That is the caloric amount my body needs to use to have a "sedentary" day. He wants me to use that number, 1998, to base my daily caloric intake.

He wants me to take that, and he rounded to 2000, add the calorie burn from my workout, then subtract 500 calories to lose a pound a week. So if I do a workout and burn 450 calories, I'll be eating 1950 calories a day. For ease, I'm just starting out with 1500 calories a day and adding in my calorie burn. Same number, easier to compute. On days I don't work out, I'm to eat 1500 calories a day.

He says I've been starving my body.

Okay, so this is scary. It's more than I'm used to. And I may not eat *all* my workout calories, but will definitely eat some--at least up to 1950. I was worried about this and a personal trainer/fitness video designer I kinda/sorta know has recommended I try it for a month. So I will.

The Bod Pod test itself was quick and painless. Change into a sports bra and spandex shorts, get weighed, hop in the pod, sit still, the guy opens the door, shuts the door, I hold still, and repeat a couple times. That's it. I did have to wear a cap to cover my hair but it wasn't tight like a swim cap.

The test cost $40. It was well worth it. To me, it proved I'm doing very well with muscle gain/fat loss.

In the book Where Did All the Fat Go by Rob Huizenga, M.D., he used an example of a 200 pound woman who is an inch taller than I am. Her body fat percentage was 46--mine was 39. She had 92 pounds of fat and 108 pounds of fat free mass. I have 80 pounds of fat and 125 pounds of lean. At the end of the section in this book he states, "A woman who is 5'6" tall with 108 pounds of lean tissue is quite athletic." That made me smile, because I'm an inch shorter and have 17 more pounds of lean and 12 less of fat than his example. Does that mean I'm athletic? My husband took exception to the term athletic. He stated a better word would be muscular. At any rate, both are what I'm going for.

So the month of August, I'm going to try this. I was told to give it three to four weeks--and I will.

The bottom line is that $40 was was an inexpensive way to boost my confidence tremendously!

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p.s. I do not follow the plan in Dr. Huizenga's book...he would have me eating no less than 1276 calories a day. That's NOT going to happen. This book is the basis of The Biggest Loser, a show I do not watch, I was just curious about the science behind the show.