Bod Pod XV: I am now officially a member of the healthy class

It's been quite some time since Bod-Pod XIV:  49 days to be precise.  November 18, 2011 was the last time I stepped into the Bod Pod naked.  As a consequence of physical injury, exhaustion, the holiday season, and a need to spend money elsewhere, I decided to shutdown the Bod Pod testing for a little while.

That time is now over.  Back to work.

I am generally pleased with my latest results.  I didn't make massive progress, but I made important progress.  A major milestone has fallen:  The Bod-Pod software now rates me as member of the healthy category, rather than a  member of the moderate risk category.

The facts of the case of are these:

1. My body weight decreased from 186.898 to 184.754, a net reduction of 2.144 pounds
2. My body fat decreased from 40.180 pounds to 35.266 pounds, a net reduction of 4.914 pounds
3. My body lean increased from 146.718 to 149.488, an increase of 2.77 pounds.
4. My Body Fat Percentage (BFP) is now 19.1%
5. My Body Lean Percentage (BLP) is now 80.9%
6. My body volume decreased from 80.731 liters to 79.416 liters, a loss of 1.315 liters.
7. As I mentioned before on this blog, any BFP between 15% and 20% is considered a healthy BFP.  19.1% qualifies me as a member of the healthy class.

Now it is time to mount the assault on the 15% barrier.  This next barrier will put me in the officially athletic category.  It is a mark of excellence for a 45 year old man to be ranked as officially athletic by a 100% pure bastard of a testing tool like the Bod Pod.  I want that distinction.  I want them to pin that medal on my chest.

Just to give you an idea of how difficult it is to move the BFP needle downward, consider the following facts.  When I began testing on 5/13/2011, I had 114.09 pounds of fat hanging from my frame.  Today, I have only 35.266 pounds of fat clinging to my frame.  That is a loss of 78.824 pounds of fat.  I lost 69.01% of my total stock of body fat.  At the same time, I only succeeded in moving my BFP from 44.1% down to 19.1%.  I only reduced my body BFP 25%.

Doesn't seem fair, does it?  That just doesn't seem right.  How can a guy lose 69.01% of his body fat and only move his BFP downward 25%?  This even more problematic when you stop to think that I increased my lean mass 4.928 pounds during that period.

Nevertheless, both of these statements are mathematically true by definition.  I lost 69.01% of my total stock of body fat, and it was only sufficient to move my BFP down 25%.  I think this is the best possible illustration of what a bitch the Bod Pod test really is.  This machine is pretty hard to impress.

I am under no misapprehensions about how easy the next barrier (15%) is going to be to breach.  I know it will be hard.  The further I go towards perfection, the more elusive it gets, the more effort it takes, and the more time it takes.

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more!  Cry "Havoc!" and let slip the dogs of war!

In order to breach this next barrier, I am seriously considering taking the CrossFit Paeleo challenge.  You can read about it here and here.  This is all the rage in the CrossFit movement.  I have read pretty outlandish claims for this diet & training regime.  Just this month, the print magazine Fitness-RX pretty much guaranteed a loss of 10 pounds of pure fat and the addition of 10 pounds of lean in just 30 days, if the program is executed correctly.

Now, I have lost more than 10 pounds of pure fat in a single month.  I have done this many times.  During the high-tides of summer 2011, I lost about 12 pounds of pure fat each month, every month, month after month.  I have the Bod Pod records to prove it.  However, I never succeeded in adding 10 pounds of pure lean in any month during this phase of the game.

Many experts will tell you it is damn near impossible to lose fat and gain lean simultaneously.  Believe me, I know it.  My Bod Pod records will show you that I have lost fat and gained lean simultaneously, once or twice, only to see my lean gains evaporate into thin air under the pressure of further weight loss.

Still, I am going to give this a try.  If I succeed, my body weight will remain 184.754 pounds in 30 days, however, I will have only 25.266 pounds of body fat left, and my lean weight will be 159.488 pounds.  This will move my BFP all the way down to 13.675481992270803338493347911277%.  How about that precision?