Exciting News

Well - what sort of results have I been getting for all my hard work this year?

In January 2007, (when I was within a kg or so of goal weight) I had a skin fold test done at the gym - and it showed that I had 30% body fat. This was much better than what my body fat scales were telling me - they showed 42%. So my aim was to drop fat/build muscle this year.

I've complained all year about how I seem to gain weight so easily - despite eating really well most of the time, and exercising hard - 1 - 2 hrs/day. I've blamed it on a poor metabolism - and not one to just whinge - I've worked hard at fixing that too.

The scales however continue to show 42 % body fat - they're not budging. I've been a bit suspicious of this - I thought that even though they are higher than the results from the skin fold test - it wouldn't matter - I could just use them to see changes.

Well today - I decided I needed to do another skin fold test and really see whats going on. I am now the proud owner of Fat Track - which is an electronic skin caliper - just take 3 measurements and it calculates the body fat for you.

So I did.

Three times in fact to make sure

And there is no doubt about it - my body fat is:













17 % wooooooohoooooooo!!!!!

I even pulled out my results from January and compared the individual skin fold readings, and even allowing for user error - they are significantly different.

So since January, I have:

Gained 3 kgs in weight
Lost 10 kgs of fat
Gained 13 kgs of muscle
And my body fat results put me in the lean category!!!!

Who cares about a 3kg gain in light of this!!!!! I am stoked - I feel like someone has given me a gift from heaven. Even though my image in the mirror is no different to when I thought my body fat was higher - it has changed my whole attitude. It means that I have not worked hard all year for nothing. It means that what I have been doing has worked and I have achieved what I was after. Actually my original goal was to achieve 22% body fat - well I've smashed this! All my whinging was misinformed. I was gaining because I was gaining muscle - not fat.

I still have a soft belly - I don't think I will ever be able to change this without surgery because I have so much excess skin that hangs around my hips at the front like a belt - and I think this is what has stuffed up the % on the scales. It is not fat (using the calipers on this area actually scores a very low reading), it is just skin surplus to my needs as a result of losing so much weight. - but if I disregard this - the rest of me really is quite muscly and toned. I want a more ripped look, but at least I know I'm on the way to this. I'm going to keep at it, and measure weekly (not weigh) and see how long it takes me to hit 16%! (and then.... and then....)


Its so exciting!