You may remember from my post about my fitness goals, that I was planning on going to the bod pod to get an accurate estimate of my body fat percentage. Well, I went.
Whew! Was I surprised!!
My Personal Fitness Baseline: Just the Numbers
Let me break this down for you. I weigh 131.72, and with 30% of that being fat, that means I’m carrying around almost 40 pounds of fat. The reason I don’t like these numbers is because, if you turn the paper over to get an understanding of your body fat percent, you will find that the “acceptable”range of fat for women is 23-30%. Above and beyond 30%, you are entering the “excess fat” range and the “risky” range. The “risky” range is more than 40%. “Risky” is essentially defined as “too much body fat [that] can lead to serious health risks.”
So. I’m 10% away from that!?
My Personal Fitness Baseline: Gathering More Info
Ok, ok, I can’t bank it all on these flat numbers, because I know there are a lot of other things that come into play. For instance, I also took a fitness test at work, and I got some pretty darn good reports from that one.
*The body fat percent was taken with a handheld monitor. For me, these have notoriously been about 4% less than my fat percent recorded with the bod pod. In my experience, the handheld monitor fluctuates quite a bit, and my research indicates that the bod pod is a more reliable indicator
I’m very happy with my blood pressure and resting heart rate—which happens to be much better than compared to four years ago. As are sit ups, pushups and flexibility.
BUT. When I look at my fat percent report from the bod pod, I look at pictures of myself in shorts or swim suits, and then I consider what I’ve been reading more and more of—about the importance of lifting weights . . . and the fact that too much cardio can actually eat up your muscle (and lets face it, training for a marathon requires a LOT of cardio), I realize I need to get really serious about two things if I want to keep a fit, youthful appearance (which I do), and if I want to stay strong and healthy into my old age.
My Personal Fitness Baseline: Moving Forward From Here
The two things I need to work on are resistance training and food.
I have already added in the resistance training, and I’m happy to say that this is my fourth week of doing it fairly consistently (even though this week I’ll only be able to record 2 days in my weight room, but still). I’m comfortable with how I’m progressing here, given the fact that I’m running too, and can’t expect to be She-Ra with the weights while I’m being She-Ra with the running.
BUT. Food. I decided it’s time to get into clean eating, and to do it for a life-style. More to come soon on HOW I’m going to go about that.
Fitness Inspiration At It’s Finest
In the meantime, going to the bod pod gave me a baseline to start. This is fitness inspiration at its finest: having a solid understanding of where you are, and where you want to be, knowing the first steps to getting there, and being mentally prepared to take those steps. I’m at 30% body fat. I could cry about that, or I could look at it and just think about all the improvement I’m going to be seeing in the near future. I’m going to think about the improvements. I’m keeping my eyes on the goal.
What about you? Do you know your “baseline”—whether that’s a fitness baseline, or a knowledge baseline—whatever your goal is, do you know where you stand with it? Second, do you know the first steps you need to take? And third, are you mentally prepared to take on the challenge of those first steps?
Hey there Bethany girlfriend… I don’t think I am getting your email updates. I saw this post on Facebook or I would have missed it.
Cheryl, you will get this update in the morning, as I have these scheduled to go out in the mornings.
If you want it sooner, you will just have to check my blog every hour. Bahahaha!! Yeah, like that’s going to happen. 
You are right. I received it today. Woo Hoo!!! I hate being late to a party.
Haha! You weren’t late–you were the first one here.
Hey Bethany…I have lots of women who come to me and get on our Tanita (reads body fat%) scale and are quite surprised at their body fat percentage. It is way more important to be in a healthy range of body fat vs. ‘scale weight’-which can’t tell the difference between fat free mass and fat. I can personally attest to lifting weights (and eating clean)! You are on the right track and I am so excited to see your progress and your body fat percentage dropping!!
Hi Kim! Thanks for commenting and being so encouraging. Do you know how accurate the Tanita is? I have thought about getting a scale that reads body fat too, but have never researched which one might be best. And yeah, body fat vs. scale weight is a much better criteria to follow. –and I can’t WAIT to see it dropping too!
i think its amazing that you were proactive enough to go and have all of these things checked! that is definitely something that i should do, and have never even thought about it! BAD ME! thank you for inspiring me and for sharing this! SPA LOVE!
Thanks Jenna! I am always happy if I can inspire someone. Finding your baseline is definitely one way you can watch your improvements–and I think you can do that at any point in your fitness journey.
SPA LOVE!!
I’ve never had an official body fat reading done, but between the handheld and the floor scale, I usually take an average to at least see if I’m making progress or not!
Those work results look awesome!! I think that’s neat that they tested and retested so you see progress. I can’t wait to see what your plan is for the food!
Side note: Did you lie to the Dr or lie to your work about your age..?
Haha! You are funny Jennifer
I didn’t lie about my age. I think they just didn’t update it. I wonder if that would make a difference on my report? I’m sure it wouldn’t make a difference on my fat percent though.
My work place is very health oriented–which I think is great! We get a lot of health and wellness benefits–as well as tons of activities, contests and other things throughout the year. We have a health and wellness committee, of which, I have been on for two years. gotta love it!!
Ours recently started a Health and Wellness committee, and I’m hoping they come up with some more fun things to do! Or at least interesting things.. So far, I really can’t think of anything they have done that was any bit of interest to me.. but it’s still new!
I like what your work did with the whole fitness test; was it through a company? or did you guys put it together on your own?
Our parks and recreation center for the city of Westerville came in to our company and did this fitness test for us. It is pretty cool, isn’t it–that my company does this sort of stuff. We also have a small gym, we just got rubber floors, and we have equipment, and fitness classes and we also have a personal trainer come in . . . and more…
If your Health and Wellness committe wants advice or inspiration, let me know and I can get them in touch with the lady who leads our committee at work. She’s pretty awesome and motivated about keeping our employees healthy and I’m sure she would love to talk about it with your leader. Our company has been receiving awards for the last three year for the state of Ohio–i.e. awards for companies who are health and wellness minded.
I’m pretty impressed that you made so much improvement on your test at work. It’s also awesome that your workplace instills such programs.
I agree on the importance of knowing a solid baseline so you can figure out how to improve on it. I need to go check out a bodpod so I can start making positive changes, too!
Yeah, do the bod pod, do the bod pod!!! I think I’m going to video tape mine the next time.
If they let me.
I think you are being a little too hard on yourself. Those numbers are pretty great! But I understand that striving to improve is something we all hope to do. Good luck with your new plan!
Awww… thanks Betsy. I think all the numbers are great, except the fat percent. I don’t think it’s horrible by any means, but the way I’ve lived my life when it comes to health and fitness, is to be proactive–I’m thinking it’s harder to lose 40 pounds than if you just maintain in the first place. And as I age, I have noticed that it is harder to maintain. This is mostly just me being proactive–plus, I have an idea of where I want to be–and I’ve wanted it for a long time, so I’m just ready to go for it now.
Thanks for stopping in!!
I am so impressed. I would be very afraid to find out what my number are right now. But to your point, that is a very good question. I am working on a flow chart of what tasks need to be completed to publish an eBook on Kindle. Once I complete that I will have a pretty good idea of what I know, don’t know and what needs to be done and when. I want to published it before Christmas. If I work at it. I really think I can get it done.
Susan, that is awesome and I would be very interested in seeing your flow chart. It does make all the difference, doesn’t it? Finding out what you need to do, how much there is to do and having a plan and being ready to take those first steps. I’m so interested in seeing your new book!!!!
I think fitness tests, while important, are tricky for us girls! Women just naturally carry more fat, thanks to genetics. But I think you’re doing the right thing – sounds like your plan is a good one!! Thanks for the blog comment(s) this morning
you are so welcome, Leah–and thank you for stopping by as well.
Yes these are tricky, but when it comes down to it, you can’t deny what a fat percent means. Weight on a scale is one thing, but fat percent is another. As I age, I just feel it’s important to keep my eye on that.
I think it’s great you got the bodyfat tested. It’s a great starting place, and so much more relevant than the scale. Perfect that you intend to begin with weights and food. PERFECT!
Aw, thanks Cassye! That is fantastic encouragement to me.
The weights are already starting to do their job too. I’m starting to see a little definition in my arms and belly that wasn’t there before. After the marathon, I bet I will see more–for now, though, I’m happy!
Ugh. I’ve been jogging about 16 miles a week (on the good weeks) for almost a year now, but I’m still pretty much where I started. I think I will send this post to my husband and maybe we will do our baselines together.
That would be a good idea. It always helps when you have someone to do it with. Also, I’ve been running for 5ish years and after not losing any weight, I realized I must be doing something wrong. I knew in my head that I needed to change the way I ate, but I kept thinking, I’m running–expending all these calories, that should be ok. It’s not ok. Running pulls from your muscles and eats away at them. Less muscle you have, the slower your metabolism. In other words, you need to add strength training to your regimen and eat a healthy diet. I’m working on eating “clean” which I will also post about soon. But either way, if you don’t incorporate all of the above, you will only see minimal results. That’s just my take on it from what I’ve read and what I’ve experienced. Hope that helps.
Thanks for your comments by the way. They made my day!!