Earlier this week, I was obsessing a bit over my body fat percentage reading.
You all left awesome comments, so thank you for that.
Meghan wins for best comment, though. She told me that there was an athlete mode on the body fat machine AND she told me about the Racing Weight book, which I immediately downloaded.
I was curious, too, what the athlete mode means. According to Tanita, a scale manufacturer:
Q: Why is there an “Athlete Mode”?
A: The Athlete mode was developed to provide a more accurate reading for athletic body types. Athletic body types are physiologically different than standard adult body types, due to muscle mass and hydration level differences. Athletes tend to have greater muscle mass and tend to be more dehydrated. These differences would skew the body fat reading high, when taken with the standard Adult mode.
- Tanita defines “athlete” as a person involved in intense physical activity of approximately 10 hours per week and who has a resting heart rate of approximately 60 beats per minute or less.
- Tanita’s athlete definition includes “lifetime of fitness” individuals who have been fit for years but currently exercise less than 10 hours per week. Tanita’s athlete definition does not include “enthusiastic beginners” who are making a real commitment to exercising at least 10 hours per week but whose bodies have not yet changed to require the Athlete mode.
I don’t fit the 10 hours per week right now (and probably only fit that when marathon training, and barely), but I can get behind the rest of it.
I’m just a few chapters into the Racing Weight book so far, but I’m really enjoying it, because it focuses on how to fuel your body for running or endurance sports and be as lean as possible. He developed a Diet Quality Score system, which scores each food to give you a score at the end of the day. Foods are classified as either high quality or low quality. You earn points for the high quality foods and subtract for low-quality foods. I despise counting calories with the fire of a thousand suns, so this seems like an interesting way to better monitor what I’m eating, and also to compete against myself a bit, much like I do with my FitBit.
I also spoke with Michelle, our coach for this challenge. She reminded me not to obsess over this reading, that it was just one measure of health. She checked on their body fat thingy, and they do have an athlete mode, so we’re going to try that as well as calipers and take the average. Whether that figure was accurate or not, I guess it gives me a good starting point for this challenge.
Last night, Michelle and I were texting. I told her I was going out to dinner and drinks for Laura’s going away party and my goal was to not have more than 4 drinks over the course of the night; 2 at dinner, 2 at the party after. She suggested if I did go over my goal, that I should plan on an extra 10 minutes of exercise for each drink. Over 6 hours, I ended up having 7 drinks. Since that was roughly a drink an hour, I never felt more than a little tipsy, but I managed to drink an extra 700 calories (at least.) It’s kind of gross when you think of it like that. So, I’m going to run 7 miles today.
Also, this post needs a picture so here is one from Laura’s party last night. Leaving NYC is dumb.
Also, this is happening. (It’s technically not ING any more, but whatever.)
On New Year’s, Gia mentioned she was going to do the Miami Half in the beginning of February and asked if I wanted to go.
When the Polar Vortex hit NYC this week, I decided that yes, yes, I did want to go to Florida in February, thankyouverymuch, and booked a ticket.
Have any of you done it? Do you have any fun trips lined up? Let me live vicariously through you.
I manage the Team Challenge South Florida team and we are doing the Miami Half Marathon! I will be sure to look for you and cheer!
@Tracy Schwartz: Oh yay! You’ll have to let me know where you’ll be.
@Theodora Blanchfield: At the finish line
I definitely know how you feel in terms of seeing your bodyfat %. I felt that way when my old boss took mine because, like you said, I DO work out a lot…but my eating could be better I suppose.
Those machines aren’t as accurate as calipers though and could be off by a few %s, so just remember that!
I wish I could go to Miami for that race…that would be awesome..I seriously hate winter
I ran the Miami Half during a girls’ weekend a few years ago! Far more people run the half than the full and it was a lot of fun… plus, I was back at the pool with a mimosa by 9 AM. I have such great memories of that weekend — have a blast!
I don’t understanding how holding a body fat machine would be different than a scale – they must be taking the same type of readings, no?
My gym in SF brought in a dunk tank (not the official name, but essentially what it is) – and it measured my actual body fat vs lean weight…and you know what – it was like 5-6% off from my scale, which is a huge difference for someone who is not so tall! Are there places in NYC that can do that? The once in the bay area is in a truck they drive around to different gyms 🙂
The Miami Half is totally calling my name! I haven’t done a run trip in too long… Also, I agree, leaving NYC is dumb.
Yay! Miami Half is such a great race. Not my favorite course but my PR course, so there’s that. Lots of great energy throughout. Enjoy yourself and let me know if you need any recommendations of places to stay / eat. I used to live a half mile from the start, so it’s also the only race I was able to sleep in my own bed the night before. Coincidence that’s my PR? 😃
My family and I are going to our time share in Mexico in March! I’m really looking forward to it this year. I need some sun!!
Yeah, the caloric content of alcohol is a total bummer — the extra exercise trick is a good one, I might try that. I do something a little different. Last year a good friend dropped a little extra weight quickly and I asked him how he did it. He said during a routine physical he mentioned to his doc that he usually liked to have a couple of beers after dinner and his doctor said it is easy to forget about liquid calories but calorically, having a couple of beers is like having a couple of sandwiches. That was kind of a lightbulb moment for me…so now I always think about drinks in terms of a food equivalent (a cocktail = a cupcake, a beer = a sandwich) and that helps me do a better job of keeping it all in check.
I ran the Miami half 2 years ago! I live in NH so definitely welcomed the warm weather break! Though it wasn’t beach weather for that kind of frolicking it was like 90% humidity race morning and drizzled off and on (which was nice) but was a struggle for sure! My boyfriend swore off FL races after that one, heh. I was not that negative about it!
So instead of going there, we are headed to Breckenridge for skiing next week! 🙂
Florida in February will be amazing!!! I think all of us who had to experience this whole vortex thing should be given free vacations 😉 I’m heading to Jamaica in mid-February and I CANNOT wait!
Ugh I wish alcohol didn’t have calories. Or at least if they were nutritional ones that would be nice haha. Hope you’re staying warm in NYC!
I cringed when you did the math re: the drinks. I’m having what I’m calling “Sober January” and that just affirmed my commitment to not drinking until at least February 2. Fingers crossed I’ll be skinnier by then because I’ll definitely be richer! 🙂
Can you please do a post about bloating? I would love to hear what you have to say on the topic. I have been eating healthfully, working out regularly and adding protein supplements into my diet and how is it that I gained four pounds in two weeks??? ughhh. Makes me want to go back to not working out much and not eating much.