Tag Archives: uplift studios

My Run-In With the Body Fat Machine

Yesterday, I walked into Uplift for my fat-measuring as part of their Strengthen Up(Lift) Challenge. 

I weigh myself fairly regularly, and my scale measures body fat.

It typically tells me I’m around 20% body fat. Prior to last night, I didn’t really know where that stood, but when I first started losing weight I was at 42%…so, that was all I really needed to know.

I know scales aren’t the best way to measure body fat percentage, but a few years ago, when I embarked on what I called Theodora 2.5, my trainer, Joel, measured my body fat percentage and it was around a 19.5. I’ve gained 5-8 pounds since then, but I’ve also been doing more strength training, so I thought that Official Measurements would have me fairly close to there.

I walked in to Uplift, all happy to see all of my favorite people, and I walked up to sweet tiny Helena, who NBD, was on the Today Show yesterday. 

She asked me how tall I was, how much I weighed and how old I was. I wish I could say I didn’t let numbers define me, but I sheepishly told her I weighed 145ish pounds, and I was 30. (I’m totally cool with my height, for the record.)

Omron Fat Loss Monitor

She had me squeeze one of these bad boys.

The top number read out 29 and the bottom read out 24.

I thought maybe she gave me an extra year or something, and the 29 reflected my “age” and the 24 reflected my body fat.

“What do those numbers mean?”

 She told me the 29 was my body fat percentage, and the 24 was my BMI.

OH.

I walked over to Chelsea to have measurements done. They are all relatively similar to the last round of measurements I had done a few years ago, which was a relief.

I’m not thin by any means. I consider body relatively “average” with a little extra pudge around the middle from my love of wine and carbs. 

 

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They handed out this chart, and I was actually surprised to see that 29, for my age, fell squarely in the middle of “average” range. However, my BMI (I know, I know, BMI isn’t the most accurate measure, but still…) is on the higher end of healthy.

Five years ago, I would have been thrilled to have been in these healthy ranges at all. I don’t know if I’ve even ever talked about this on the blog, but I tried Wii Fit for a little bit before getting my act together. All I remember is that mean little Mii telling me I was obese. And with a BMI of 31.4, yeah, I was. Overweight is 25-29.9, so I was on the lower range, I told myself. I was just overweight, I wasn’t obese.

I try not to rationalize like that with myself any more and short change myself with excuses. 

Again, I’m not lean by any means, and I’m doing this challenge to challenge myself, but this number came as a huge surprise and was disappointing, since I thought it would be much closer to what my scale said.

I was texting with Jen, who talked me down from my ledge. I had a bowl of ice cream on Sunday night, you know, so that my body fat percentage would be up, and I could lose a ton. In all seriousness, I doubt that made much of a difference, but maybe being sick and not working out Tuesday – Saturday had some sort of effect…or maybe the machine was off a bit.

I can run marathons. I can push through a tough year. I work out often. I know this number doesn’t define me, but it was still hard not to be disappointed. 

Especially because I work out often. I think that’s why it stung the most. It was a harsh reminder that so much of your health and weight/fat loss is diet. And that my diet isn’t stellar. I don’t think I eat particularly poorly, but I could certainly stand to have more vegetables and less wine.

So…I have my work cut out for me in these two months. 

You guys know I’m obsessed with everyone at Uplift, but I’m really glad my team’s coach for this challenge is Michelle. She lost 40+ pounds a few years ago, maintaining it until having her cute little muffin late last year. She gets it. 

Michelle mason katy widrick

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And just because I’m the creepiest, doesn’t she look just like Katy?? They’re both new moms, and so nice and so real…so they’re basically twins.

I can’t wait to hear what kind of wisdom and fun Michelle has for us.

Let the games begin. 

What’s easier for you: diet or exercise? It flip flops for me, but given that I work for a fitness company and love running races, it’s definitely fitness currently.

2013 Lessons: When to Push and When to Let Go

I’ll admit, there’s parts of blogging I’m totally over, especially writing posts that feel forced, like Thanksgiving and Christmas posts. Do you really care about my Christmas when everyone else in your reader is writing about their Christmas? Probably not.

I try to be as real as possible on the blog, while not dwelling on the bad, but last year, the idea of a year-in-review sorta post felt so freaking forced to me. Yeah, there were some good times in 2012, but I was still in the midst of some STUFF in the beginning of 2013 and just didn’t have it in me to put that happy face on. I was in St. Croix, and I was trying my best to unplug and be in the moment of a beautiful vacation.

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I was lucky enough to have the best friends in the world who took me to Puerto Rico to celebrate my 30th.

Immediately after I got back from Puerto Rico, things changed very quickly in my life, and I went through a long, difficult job search.

Through these months, I learned when to push, push, push through my life, and when I had to let go. Let me tell you, it’s so much easier to push than it is to let go.

But I credit a great therapist, yoga and meditation with teaching me when to let go, and I found the first two through sheer luck. Thank you ZocDoc for helping me find a great therapist the same day I wanted an appointment without calling every therapist in the city and potentially waiting weeks to see one, and thank you Laughing Lotus for helping me learn to let go. I freaking love that place, and I can’t say enough good things about it.

I pushed, pushed, pushed to get a HUGE PR at the D.C. Half. (Thank you to RB Fiona for being by my side for it!)

I pushed, pushed, pushed to get through my open-water fear at the Franklin Lakes Triathlon.

I tried to push, push, push as running through the hot summer felt impossible…but then I just had to let it go. I could push against something that wasn’t changing, or I could embrace it and just go through it.

As I let it go, it slowly started getting easier.

One particularly harrowing day in the job search, I called Emily, frustrated beyond belief. I did a fair amount of whining but trying to stay strong, and I’ll never forget what she said: “you don’t have to be strong. It’s okay to cry.” I started blubbering, and I felt so much better getting a good cry out. She also said something about letting go, and I fought back and then realized I sorta had to, at least for a few days.

I did, and you know what? I found the posting for my current job just three days later, and I am so incredibly happy with it. Sometimes that cheesy stuff people say about things happening for a reason and things being worth the wait is true.

After running the Philly Half and having some Real Talk with Meggie, I was still really focused on my goal, obviously, but I also tried so much harder to let the fun back in and run more relaxed, rather than fight and berate myself if I didn’t hit goal pace. And, OH HEY, sub-4, and I did NOT bust.

It’s worth also noting that for as many times as I’d tried in the past to make myself a Person Who Liked Yoga or a Person Who Liked Strength Training, forcing myself never helped. But this year? I fell in love with yoga, and I found an amazing community of people at Uplift, and I really enjoy strength training now and, whoa, miss it when I take a few days off.

2013? You ended on a fabulous, fabulous note, but good lord, did you teach me a lot of lessons along the way.

I’m so, so thankful for good friends, good family and an awesome friend/coach who put up with all my #runcrazy to get me to two awesome big PRs.

What did you learn about yourself in 2013? What did you discover once you started letting go?

(On a side note about meditation, my girl Heather released her own meditation album yesterday! Go check it out. I supported her KickStarter, so I downloaded it yesterday but haven’t listened yet.)