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?

183.4 and I hope I am not loosing my muscle

So the official score a few moments ago was 183.4, and that is a tad scary. During this post-surgical weight loss period, I touched 181.9 pounds once, but it bounced right back up again. 183.4 is an awfully low figure. I hope I am not losing my muscle.

Lately, I've been cruising around 184.8 to 186.9. That is approximately a 2 pound range. That is a normal oscillation factor. This can be accounted for by body-water and body-waste. I've been bouncing around in that range for more than one month.

But this was before I learned how to cook beans...

What is the big deal about beans? It turns out that beans, all kinds of beans, constitute a diet super-food. Just about every "get-ripped" diet focuses hard on consuming beans. If the rhetoric from countless certified dietitians is to be believed, beans are a magic weight-loss food. They deliver a pretty solid nutrient pop, whilst being low in calories and high in fiber. They deliver a lot of mass with a very small calorie load. You can eat your fill of beans and wind up with a low calorie total... Even if you have a big stomach. If you have a 90% surgically reduced stomach, as I do, your fill of beans constitutes almost nothing in terms of calorie load.

My family never ate much in the way of beans as I was growing up. Bean dishes were frowned upon as "poor-man's food." This fact may well be implied by my former body weight. Consequently, on those rare occasions when I attempted to cook them, it didn't work out well. I didn't know how to cook them well.

It doesn't help that 8-24 hours of soaking is called for my many recipes. That's 8-24 hours of soaking before several hours of simmering. It doesn't help that the "speed method" involves boiling and resting for one hour before pressure cooking. All of these methods are long. In stark contrast, rice can be prepped in 12-30 minutes if you use the speediest methods.

It turns out there is a rapid method. You put 8 oz of raw/dry/hard beans (by volume) in 32 ounces of clean water, and you pressure cook for 31 minutes. My Cuisinart electric pressure cooker needs 31 to do a masterful job. Your pressure cooker may need less. Once the beans are done, you discard he water by draining them in a colander. You then dress them like salad: Olive oil, a tab of butter, some balsamic vinegar, a dash of Tabasco sauce, and a generous amount of sea salt gets the job done.

If you pressure cook the beans with some fresh Thyme, Bay leaves, and Rosemary, you will like the results better. You also need a bit of oil in the brew to prevent foaming.

Speaking of salt, salt was the absolute key factor in my past failures with beans. No salt until they are done pressure cooking. No salt when you soak. No salt when you boil. No salt when you pressure cook. No salt until they are done.

This is contrary to all culinary laws, and highly counter-intuitive. Still this is correct. No salt until they are done. The answer lies in the chemical composition of the bean skin. The bean's skin reacts chemically with the salt. It hardens enormously on contact with salt. This will prevent the bean from cooking. What you get is a rock-hard bean that is inedible. If you forgo all salt until they are done, they come out fine.

Since I learned how to cook them, I have fallen in love with beans. I eat a lot of them now. They are great in pesto sauce also. Coincidentally, beans in pesto makes for a very nutrient rich mixture, especially if you use spinach and mixed nuts to make the pesto. The calorie load goes up a bit, but it still isn't bad. They are delicious together.

This remarkable drop into the 183.4 just might indicate that the bean diet is working.  On the other hand, it may indicate I am losing my muscle.  I sure hope the latter isn't the case.

186.4 and contemplating a fourth surgery

So, the score this morning was 186.4. My weight has been bouncing in a tight range between 184,4 and 186.4 for some two weeks now. Ad meanwhile, my strength has been increasing considerably.

I can now do the Kettlebell Halo with a 45 pound canon ball. A couple of days ago, I dead-lifted 215 for two reps. I also pulled down 190 for a single rep, and military pressed 110 for 2 reps. I really should have gone for three. I'm doing 225 today. The last time I bench pressed, I got 215 for a single rep. I should have attempted a second, but I did not have a spotter, and I didn't want to wind up like Stafon Johnson.

Regarding squats, I am being careful.

I have only been squatting with the Kettlebells, as a part of the face the wall squad. This is a technique where you take 1 large kettlebell, or a pair of smaller ones, position the tips of your toes no more than 5 inches from the wall, and proceed to squat. This forces you to bend your knees and lower your butt, rather than lean forward. Leaning is cheating. If you bend your back while facing the wall, you will smash your nose. You just can't do it. This is the way to develop ideal form in the squat.

Incidently, I am using a Rubbermade storage box (slightly shorter than my knees) to measure the depth of my squat. This is what some people call box-squats. The objective is to chose a box slightly shorter than your knees, place it immediately behind you during the squat, and make sure your butt makes contact when you squat. In this way, you will hit the ideal 90 degree angle; no more, and no less.

Last time around, I grabbed a pair of 20kg kettlebells, cleaned them, held them in the front-squat position, and squatted 12 reps. It was good. The next day, I was mildly sore in all the right spots. Tonight, I am doing a pair of 24kg kettlebells. This will be very good.

Remember what the comrades say: A 45 pound Kettlebell is a lot heavier than a 45 pound dumbbell. That's because the little bastard is alive and squirming in your hand. It will bite your wrists also. Lifting that Kettlebell requires much greater concentration and stabilizer activities. It's very dynamic.

With all that said, I am facing a fourth potential surgery event. My injured shoulder is not recovering properly. I still feel winces of sharp pain in the right shoulder. My right hand is numb all the time. It is as if someone shot Procaine into the first three fingers of my right hand. Numbness comes and goes intermittently in my left hand.

This develops to a critical level when I lay down and sleep at night. I frequently wake up in the middle of the night, and early in the morning with numb tingling sensations killing my arms. It begins to go away when I get up and work the Kettlebells. As I mentioned before, it never goes away completely.

This does not seem to be circulation related. My skin stays pink. The flesh is usually warm. It might be cold in exceptionally cold surroundings, but that doesn't make my hands any different than those belonging to anyone else. This has something to do with the nervous system. I believe it is a pinched nerve in my right shoulder.

There does seem to be some evidence of inflammation. I received a size 10.5 Saffire blue ring as a birthday gift this past September. It was away too big for my ring finger. It sloshed around on my hand quite a bit. Now it fits perfectly. It's a little hard to take off. I did not have it re-sized. How in the world has my finger grown so much? Maybe its just inflammation?

My Chiropractor has done a series of 6 adjustments to my back and neck. So far, no dice. He believes that a protruding disk somewhere between my 3rd and 5th cervical vertebrae is the culprit. If true, I may be going in for a neck surgery like Peyton Manning.

One way or another, it looks like I am going in for surgery. I have decided I cannot live like this. It is becoming debilitating. I am fatigued and exhausted through the day due to a lack of good sleep. I have to fix this.

We'll see what Dr. Bachner has to say about it. An MRI on my wrists, shoulder and neck are in order.

Bod Pod XIV: Dreadful

So the results of Bod Pod XIV are in and they are dreadful.  Why are they dreadful?  Because I lost more lean weight than fat weight over the past three weeks, that's why.  I can't view that as anything other than a terrible results.  Without further ado, here is the summary grid showing my key changes over the past 21 days.

	10/28/2011	11/18/2011	Diff
BFP	22.8	21.5	-1.3
Fat Weight	44.56	40.18	-4.38
Lean Weight	151.14	146.718	-4.422
Total Weight	195.7	186.898	-8.802
Volume	84.781	80.731	-4.05

Just to summarize that in English, here are the bullet points.

1. My body fat percentage decreased 1.3%, which is good, but my BFP remains at 21.5% which is not healthy.  I am still more than 1.5% away from moving the check-box, and I remain 4.5% away from the ultimate goal. 
2. My fat weight reduced 4.38 pounds, which is a paltry average of 0.2 pounds per day.
3. My lean weight diminished 4.422 pounds, which constitutes a larger average of 0.211 pounds per day.
4. My total weight decreased 8.802 pounds, but most of it was bad loss.
5. My body volume decreased 4.05 liters from 84.781 liters to 80.731 liters.

Naturally, anytime you are losing lean faster than fat, you are clearly doing something wrong.  Now, I have been dealing with a shoulder injury that has kept me out of the CrossFit gym for the past 7 days.  This does not mean I have ceased my workouts.  I have continued with the ROM and the Kettlebells, and a few aerobic workouts.

I am hard-pressed to explain how my lean weight could have diminished this way at time when Kettlebell & ROM overload should be providing the stimulus necessary to make Trifecta do it's thing.  Understand I am also under the influence of a pro-hormone stack.  I should be building lean right now.

Perhaps, I am just not eating enough.  Perhaps the solution is more food, not less.

The only really positive note in this report is that my total body volume has reduced to 80.731 liters.  When I began testing in May, my body volume was 117.111 liters.  This means my volume has decreased some 36.38 liters.  That is equal to 9.61 gallons of loss.  Think of nine and a half big milk bottles coming out from under my skin and vanishing.  That's pretty impressive.

185.0 exactly, with Bod Pod XIV on the horizon

So the score this morning was 185.0 English pounds on the Tanita bathroom scale.  Tomorrow is the big day of Bod Pod XIV.  I am anticipating a weigh-in of 184.15 on the Bod Pod due to the inaccuracies & short comings of the Tanita.  The Bod Pod is always lighter.

Three weeks ago, the Bod Pod placed me at 195.7.  If everything goes as expected, I will have lost some 11.55 pounds of gross body weight since that time.  That constitutes an astounding 3.85 pounds of loss per week over the course of the past three weeks.  I thought the hay-days of 3.5 pound fat weight losses were gone forever.  This was just a phenomenon of one good summer, never to be replicated again.  

Nope!  Everything old is new again.  I credit CrossFit, and more importantly, the Kettlebells for getting the cannon balls rolling again.  This new training method is truly astounding.  I just wish I wasn't a pile of training injuries because of it.

We have yet to see how all of these facts and figures plays out in the fat/lean ratio, but hopefully, there will be a big improvement.

This could be the week where the check-box moves to the "Healthy" zone.  I just might be under 20% body fat this time.  Frankly, I should be.  Last time around, I tallied over 151 pounds of lean mass.  If I have simply maintained that much muscle, I should have only 33.15 pounds of fat left on my frame.  33.15 / 184.15 = 18.0016%.  18 < 20, and that moves the check-box to the healthy zone.

186.9...?

Just a few moments ago, the score was 187.0 English pounds on the Tanita scale.  The scary thing is that it flickered back and forth between 186.8 and 187.0 half a dozen times before rounding up, as it always does.  Never have I seen the Tanita round down; it's always up.  My scale will only display read-outs in increments of 0.2 pounds, which is sufficient accuracy for a simple bathroom scale.  Presume I am stuck in the middle at 186.9.

Naturally, this means my weight would be lower on the Bod Pod scale; perhaps even lower than 186.0.

I must say, comrade Kettlebellers, that this is pretty scary stuff.  I have never been this low in my entire adult life.  I am looking downright skinny now.  Were it not for the presence of an abundance of lose skin, I would be skinny-skinny.

This continued precipitous drop is puzzling in the face of some basic input/output analysis.

1. Do you know that I had not one but two Macho Bacon and Egg Burritos yesterday?  According to some rumors that would 2,060 kcal right there.
2. Further I had two chocolate milk protein drinks, fortified with whey & mega-3 fatty acids.
3. Further, I enjoyed the hell out of a sizable helping of nachos, with all the fixings: steak, chicken, black beans, salsa, guacamole, sour cream, cheese.
4. At approximately 151.14 pounds of lean weight, my RMR/BMR is probably right around 1,860.
5. Aaron and I did a back & biceps workout at approximately 10:00am yesterday morning.  I returned to the apartment afterward and crashed (I slept) on the couch until 2:00pm.
6. I vegged out on the couch, watching college football, until the end of the Oregon vs. Stanford game.  [What an upset!]  
7. At that time, I proceeded back out to 24 Hour Fitness where I performed a pretty damn decent aerobics work out: 12 minutes of elliptical (232 kcal), 12 minutes of Olympic rower (152 kcal), 12 minutes of treadmill (142 kcal), and 12 minutes of bike (161 kcal).  In total, this was 48 minutes of work for 687 kcal of energy.

We have only a rough approximation of my BMR/RMR.  We have only a rough approximation of my food-intake.  We have only a loose idea how much energy I expended in exercise.  Still, you would be hard-pressed to argue that those figures balance.  You would suppose I ate more than I burned.  The scale says figures don't balance.  Obviously, I lost weight.  I was in negative figures yesterday

Why such remarkable weight loss?  I have an idea about that.  Yesterday, it occurred to me that the recent cold-snap here in Los Angeles may be factoring into the equation.  In the past two weeks, the Winter has come, to the extent that winter ever arrives in Los Angeles.  We have seen dark overcast skies, lots of rain, some wind, and plenty of 50 degree weather.   That's about as cold as it gets here in la-la land.  The RKC comrades would not be impressed by these temperatures, though.

During this time, I haven't changed my wardrobe that much at all.  I have taken to wearing an Under Armour shirt under my football jerseys, but I am still wearing shorts and a jersey these days.  Yeah, it's a little chilly without my fat-layer to protect me, but I have not caved in.  After the U.S. Army performed unethical human medical experiments on me Germany back in 1990, I swore I would never say it was cold in California again.  Quite frankly, it isn't.

The kiss of this chilly weather may be the explanation for my recent weight loss.  Thermo-energetics are terribly important in biology. They are more important in weight loss than most people would ever admit.   The kcal is just a measure of heat energy, by the way.

Ordinarily, I do lose weight in Winter time.  I know many people are the opposite:  they put on weight during winter.  Not me, I usually lose a few pounds.  Prior to gastric bypass, I was like a bear.  I would fatten up in summer, and lose fat during the winter.

I think half of this long-term pattern continues right up until this moment.  If so, I am pretty excited.  The cold weather--such as it is--should help me to make my ultimate body fat goals a reality.

187.2 and the week without a Bod Pod

The score a few moments ago was 187.2 English pounds on the Tanita scale.  The digital read-out wavered between 187.0 and 187.2 several times before rounding up, as it always does.  Let's presume that I am 187.1, and the 2/10ths digital display simply cannot indicate that fact.

The Bod Pod would place me somewhere 186.2-186.25 this morning.  That is without any special prep.  I did not do an extensive areobic workout last night.  I did not do 30 minutes in the saunas at 24 Hour Fitness.  I did not purge my intestines with Magnesium Citrate.   An official prep for the Bod Pod would put me lower this morning.

I mention all this, because this is the end of another two week Bod Pod cycle, and I have officially missed the test.  It was a tough week of finishing Jury Duty and trying to catch up at work after 8 days out of the office.  I never found a spare moment between 9:00am and 5:00pm to call the California Health and Longevity Institute to make an appointment.

I mention all of this because two weeks ago, my body weight was 195.7 pounds on the Bod Pod scale. The indication is that I have lost some 9.45 pounds in the past two weeks.  This is shocking.  When last I blogged on this subject, we were speaking of the point of inflection.  We were speaking of that moment when my body weight would cease decreasing, and begin increasing... hopefully with lean-mass only.  Low-and-behold:  we have a massive 9.45 pound decrease in gross body weight at the end of this cycle.

God only knows what this did to my Body Fat Percentage (BFP).  I wish I knew.  I bitterly regret not having a test this week.  It might have been a dandy. Presuming that this was all fat weight, my body fat would have dropped from 44.56 pounds to 35.11 pounds.  35.11 / 186.25 = 18.85%.  This is astounding.  I might actually have moved the check-box to Healthy territory, and I might be just 1.85% away from my final and ultimate medical goal.

This is all the more shocking because I have largely abandoned the aerobics machines that have brought be most of the distance.  I only walked on the tread mill once last week.  I only got on the bike twice last week.  I only got on the Elliptical Cross-Trainer once last week.  I only did the Olympic Rowing Machine twice last week.

To make matters more interesting, I did ZERO CrossFit workouts last week.  Now why the limited amount of work?  Because I encountered a substantial training injury to my right shoulder doing head-stand push-ups last Saturday at the CrossFit gym.

I did train last week.  I did a dumbbell workout with Aaron on Thursday, and I did a killer WOD routine here at the apartment with my ROM machine and some Kettlebells that I have recently purchased.  Those were brutal workouts.  My heart rate went over 170 during the Kettlebell swing, I am sure.

I am going to add one more piece of complexity to the picture for you:  I have fallen in love with the Del Taco Macho Bacon and Egg Burrito all over again.  According to one source, this burrito contains approximately 1,030 kcal per shot.  That's a load of kcal energy, buddy.

Yet at the same time all of this has been going on, I know my strength has been increasing.  I am officially swinging, cleaning, and rowing the 20 KG kettlebell, doing orbits with 16 kg, and doing the Turkish Get Up with the 8 KG bell.

The Kettlebell has become my new obsession, and a powerful one at that.  If you were to read Enter the Kettlebell! by Pavel Tsatsouline (an August 23, 1969 Virgo guy from Russia) you will find that a simple regime consisting of 5 minutes of Kettlebell Swings and 5 minutes of Turkish Get Ups done once every other day is all he recommends for a beginner.  Don't count reps, go for 5 solid minutes with good form.  He claims that is enough to get your strength moving northward and your body fat moving southward.

Evidently, the Kettlebell Swing and the TGU are the two master exercises in the Kettlebell regime.  They are just as important in Kettlebell training as the Deadlift and Squat are in the Powerlifter's regime.  These are the two exercises a Kettlebell student must master and perform all the time.

Further, this two exercise regime will trigger plenty of fat loss without "the dishonor" of aerobic exercise.  Pavel is very derisive of those metro-sexual machines.  Men should be playing with cannonballs, not girly bikes and treadmills.  The comrade-ladies should also be using Kettlebells to meet their fitness needs.

It sounds preposterous, I know.  That just can't be enough work to get the job done.  However, in this week of recovery from injury, I seem to have inadvertently proven his point.  Now, I did more than that.  There were other Kettlebell exercises.  Further, there was the good 'ole ROM machine.  However, the Kettlebells in my living room were the big, big, big change item.
I am in love with Kettlebells!

189.8 Revisited

For the record, my weight this morning was 189.8 pounds on the Tanita scale.  Naturally, it would be lower on the Bod Pod.  May hap even 188.9.  I am not particularly concerned about this for... errr... embarrassing reasons.

Sometimes I forget I am a gastric bypass patient and I mistake myself for Superman.  Such was the case last night.  I had some movie popcorn and some Crunchabunchas together.  This was a bad mistake.  It resulted in a horrendous case of diarrhea.  This forced me out of bed in the middle of the night twice.  Fortunately, it was over and done by the time court resumed this morning.  I am stuck on jury duty, incidentally.

The moral of the story is that I still have relatively sensitive digestion, and I need to be very careful when combining junk foods in odd ways.  The sharp reduction under 190, is probably a temporary phenomenon due to the fact that I was fairly dehydrated this morning.  People dehydrate sharply due to diarrhea.  In some parts of the world, they even die due to dehydration and electrolyte imbalances.  It happens.

I won't speculate about Bod Pod XIV based on these temporary findings.

Bod Pod X: Moderate Risk

So I had my 10th Bod Pod test this morning. It was pretty good. As per usual, it was not everything I had hoped, but (all things considered) it was a pretty damn good milestone. Just like Super Bowl X once was once regarded, this was the best one ever (thus far).

I apologize for the wet-spots on the paperwork, but I spilled some water on the documents.

In summary, the facts of the case are these:

1. My total weight was 196.731, a little higher than expected, but a reduction of 7.003 pounds
2. My fat-mass went down from 55.912 pounds to 48.964 pounds; a reduction of 6.948 pounds
3. My lean weight decreased from 147.821 to 147.767 pounds. This is scarcely 0.05299 of a pound, or 0.86 of one ounce of loss. This is within the margin of error.
4. My Body Fat Percentage decreased from 27.4% to 24.9%. This is a reduction of 2.5%, and just barely enough to move me into the Moderate Risk Category.
5. Conversely, my lean percentage increased from 72.6% to 75.1%.
6. My body volume decreased from 89.135 to 85.61 liters; a reduction of 3.525 liters.

Since I began testing with the Bod Pod on May 13th, 2011 I have done all the following:

1. I have reduced my body fat percentage 19.2% from 44.1 to 24.9.
2. I have lost 65.126 pounds of pure fat, down from 114.09 to 48.964 pounds.
3. I have increased my lean weight 3.027 pounds. I am still net-positive on the lean weight front.
4. I have decreased my total weight 61.92 pounds, down from 258.651 to 196.731 pounds.
5. I have decreased my body volume 31.5 liters, from 117.111 to 85.61 liters.

As we were finishing the test, the fellow conducting my test related a horror story to me. He said he had just performed a test for a woman who showed virtually no change in a month of work. She burst out in tears and challenged the whole Bod Pod methodology. He then asked if he could introduce me to some people and show them my chart. I said "sure!" After all, what would I want to hide?

We walked over to where a television production crew was setting up cameras. Evidently, this was the crew of Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition. The CHLI rep introduces me to a pack of three beautiful blonds. I was a bit shy. They were just two pretty. He shows them my chart and explains the situation. They congratulate me profusely. I took a bow. I was a little overwhelmed.

Of course, there was a connection point unstated there. I am sure the woman who cried was (is) one of the subjects of the show. I am sure she was pissed at her lack of progress and public embarrassing. I am sure he was bolstering the credibility of the method by showing me off. Still, it was fun. I got another ego stroke out of that.

I just need to stop being shy around the beautiful blonds. I am not the same old fat guy I used to be. People I know don't recognize me anymore.

One other factor: The Bod Pod was undergoing routine maintenance and certification yesterday. The crew was not undergoing training. Maintenance was the reason the Bod Pod was unavailable to me yesterday. Interestingly enough, I weighed in at 197.2 pounds on the Tanita this morning and 196.731 on the Bod Pod. The gap of 0.85 pounds has now closed to just 0.469 pounds.

Interesting... one day after routine maintenance the gap has closed from 0.85 to 0.469. My Tanita is closer to accurate than I originally suspected. The Bod Pod is a little less accurate than I suspected. In any case, the gap is there, but smaller than suspected.

196.6

So the score this morning was 196.6 on the Tanita scale. The Bod Pod would place me at 195.75. This constitutes a loss of 7.99 pounds thus far in this cycle. This is shaping up to be a very, very good Bod Pod test indeed.

Not much time to gab about it. I have a very full night of training ahead of me. I need to belt out 60 full minutes and then do my hydro therapy. I am also going to break tradition and hit a second full-cycle ROM workout in just one day. That will begin in just a few moments. This will get my blood pumping.

Just one quick story to relay. I went to Fry's Electronics today after work for the first time in a couple of months. I haven't been visiting there very often lately. I have had a lot on my plate, and very little time for recreational electronics browsing.

I purchased just one item, a copy of Code Magazine, and headed for the door. The guy working the security angle at the door is a dude I've talked football with a hundred times (both college and pro). I haven't seen this guy in quite some time. I think the last time I saw him, we were talking about the demolition job the Ravens did on the Chiefs in the playoffs. This was immediately after the game. That was before the surgery. It's been more than 7 months.

As I approached, I expected him to be shocked by my weight loss and make some comments. Nope, no reaction at all. He didn't recognize me. I wasn't wearing one of my trademark football jerseys to help him out either. I had an Under Armor shirt on. As I handed him my receipt for examination, I expected him to tweak at any moment. I thought he would figure it out.

Nope, there was nothing there but a completely blank, vacuous stare. He wasn't giving me the shine or anything like that. He just didn't recognize me. I was just one of a thousand nameless and faceless customers who go out the door with an item.

I decided it would be awkward to tip him off, so I just walked out the door. As I walked to the car, I was flipping out. I've had a hundred conversations with that dude, and he flat-cold didn't recognize me. There was no trace of recognition in his face at all. That was a completely natural miss. It wasn't forced at all.

I can't say I blame him. You don't ever expect to see a 330+ pound dude drop to 195 in just 7 months. I have changed dramatically in a relatively short people of time, and that just doesn't fit the cognitive model we humans have. We don't ever expect to see that.

Well, my own cousin Justin told me the following "If I didn't know it was you, I would never know it was you."

197.6

This morning the core was 197.6 pounds on the Tanita scale. The Bod Pod would have me at 196.75. This means I have lost some 6.99 pounds this cycle with an evening of workouts and a full day ahead of me. The battle goes well.

If all of that was fat loss, I should currently have 48.93 pounds of fat on my frame. 48.93 / 196.75 = 24.869%. Of course, the implication is that I have already gone inside the 25% BFP marker. Accordingly, this would mean that I have already (unofficially) moved into the moderate risk category.

Let's hope I have put on some lean to re-enforce these numbers.

Is there any perceptible change in the way my body feels as I make this transition in medical categories, or is this just an arbitrary boundary marker the doctors have invented? I must say that I am starting to feel awfully different that I have through most of my life. As I mentioned in a previous blog-post, I feel like I am transforming into Superman. No amount of exercise seems to be too much. No exercise challenge seems to be too great. The only thing that kills me is missing workouts.

There is this amazing and boundless energy that seems to be welling up in me. I get these surges during the workout where I feel I can intensify and go forever. I'm even beginning to experience greater energy first thing in the morning, something I have never had at any point in my entire life. I move rapidly everywhere. I walk fast without intending too. I jog down the stairs with ease. I feel far more agile than I have since I was in my early 20s.

There are other factors. My entire back, arms, neck and calf muscles have become ripped and cut, with muscularity, vascularity and tendons beginning to show. This is not typical of my entire body, as I still have plenty of flab around the middle and on my butt. Still, several regions of my body have reached near-depletion of their local fat supplies. As I reach lower and lower levels of body fat, but abdomen and butt will empty their fat cells also.

There is another point of interest: I am learning that most of our SoCal population is carrying more than 25% body fat. I am shocked that I am now much leaner, smaller, and harder than many men my size at the gym. Remember, I am still around 25% BFP, yet I am beating these guys across the board in a clean sweep. They are chubbier and softer and less able to do exercise than I am.

There are two kinds of guys at the gym: Those who really need to be there, and those who are just showing off. The show-offs are around 10-15% BFP. Those are the muscular and ripped dudes who where the spandex costumes. They are the minority. Most of these dudes show up to maintain their fitness levels, and allow the ladies to hit on them.

Hit on them they do. I have been impressed by how many ladies I have seen approaching these guys lately. They are much more forward than in my day. I am not a member of this club yet, but it won't be long...

The remainder, and by far the larger population, are the guys struggling to improve their fitness levels and get healthy. These dudes constitute about 70-75% of the inhabitants of any given gym. Regardless of age, I am beating most of those guys.

Perhaps there is some empirical fact and logic behind these medical categories after all?

198.0 Exactly

This morning the score was 198.0 according to the Tanita scale in my bathroom. You know this means the Bod Pod would have me at 197.15. This means that I have hit or surpassed the 40% mass reduction point. This should also mean that I very, very close to going below the 25% body fat level.

This also indicates a loss of 6.59 pounds during this cycle with two full days to go. I had 55.912 pounds of fat on my frame as of the last test. If all 6.59 pounds of that loss come from my fat weight, I will now have 49.32 pounds of fat on my frame. 49.32/197.15 = 25.017%. I am so, so, so close! The moment I go below 25% BFP, they will officially move me from the high risk category to the moderate risk category.

The weight mark, the BFP, and the risk category are all major milestones in this process. Bod Pod X is shaping up to be a major landmark in this process.

I need to re-double my efforts in these last three evenings. A major, major milestone is in sight, and I can't miss it this time. Especially not when I had 15 day in this cycle to bring home the trophy.

199.2 and so close

Today the score was 199.2 pounds on the Tanita scale. This means the Bod Pod would have me at 198.35. I am so close to the 40% mass reduction point it's not even funny. I am also very close to the 25% body fat percentage I have been seeking in this two-week cycle.

For the record, I weighed in around 330 pounds on January 15th, 2011. My orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Evan Bachner, had ordered me to lose 30% of my gross body mass (permanently) or face the wheel chair. 30% of 330 is approximately 99 pounds. I passed his directive when I crossed under 231 pound mark.

Since then, I have been pursuing the goals my general practitioner and my gastric bypass surgeon set for me. It's one thing to avoid crippling arthritis pain by loosing weight. It's quite another to reach a healthy body fat percentage.

40% of 330 pounds is 132 pounds. 330 -132 = 198. As you can see, when I hit 198 pounds, I will have reduced my gross body mass by 40%. I am so damn close it ain't even funny. I am just 0.35 of pound away from that target. That's just 5.6 ounces folks.

There is a double bonus. I have reason to believe my lean mass has been increasing. Why? I can see my muscles growing. Furthermore, it ain't just me. Others are noticing too. I just had the car battery replace in my Sonata, and the mechanic asked me the following question:

"Have you been doing some body building lately?"

"Yes I have."

"I can tell! You're getting more muscular. You were a little chubby a few months ago. You're getting knobby now."

Incidentally, for those British members of the audience, knobby doesn't mean sharp elbowed bastard who makes stupid comments. It's a local euphemism for a dude whose muscle definition is showing. Of course, I am very flattered by this comment.

But I digress.

If my lean weight should finally reach 150 pounds, and if my total weight should be 198 or less on Bod Pod day, I will have officially made it under the 25% BFP mark. That's easy math folks.

Bod Pod X is promising to be a significant landmark and milestone in this process. The landmark is the 40% mass reduction, and officially crossing under the 200 pound mark. The milestone is the fact that I will officially cross over from the High Risk health category to the Moderate Risk category. That's big news folks. Team Quilici just might declare victory at this point, although I doubt it. They still want me to hit 17-18% BFP.

One thing is for sure, when I walk through the door at Dr. Quilici's office, I'm not going to look like one of his typical patients. They will notice that fact, I assure you.

Speaking of Bod Pod X, I just called a little while ago to make my appointment for this Friday. I was greatly dismayed by what I heard. The Life Measurement trainers will be visiting the California Health and Longevity Institute on Friday, to conduct certification training for the Bod Pod. The Bod Pod will not be available at all on Friday.

The alternative to was to move it to 10:00am on Saturday. I was not pleased with this move because it breaks the perfect rythm I have established. Still, we have to recognize that life happens, and this not my fault. I would have done it on schedule if I could.

Recognize what this means: I get 15 days in this cycle instead of 14. This is an opportunity to lose an extra half-pound of fat if I play my cards right. An extra half pound of fat should just about do it this time. If I don't go under 198 with 48 pounds of fat, I have no one to blame but myself.

I'm going on the record and predicting all of the following for Saturday Sept 17th, 2011:

1. The Tanita will weigh me at 197.7 pounds
2. The Bod Pod will have me at 196.85
3. I will have 48 pounds of fat on my frame
4. I will have 148.85 pounds of lean on my frame
5. My body fat percentage will be 24.384%

I am being a bit pessimistic and conservative on the lean weight. I would greatly prefer a 150/46.85 ratio, but let's be cautious.

199.6

The advent of a major historical moment for me. I just went inside the 200 pound mark for the first time since summer of 1989. This was a more than a year before my dear little Leo girl was born, and she is now a junior at USC. [She likes to boast that she had classes with Clay Matthews III in her freshman year, incidentally.]

The score this morning 199.6 on the Tanita scale. The Bod Pod would have me at 198.75. Wow, man... That is already 4.99 pounds in just one week. I am absolutely surging again. The sweat lodge was something else, but I don't think I scrapped off a pound.

What is even more interesting is that I am scheduled to take a walk in Burbank today with a Pisces woman I met online at Zoosk. Allegedly, she was born 2/23/1972, but she seemed to know her planet lineup and she disagreed with the one I presented to her. She shouldn't have done that. This tipped me off that the year was wrong. I suspect she's fudging about her age.

I understand that women never lie. They don't lie about their weight. They don't reduce the number of relationships they have had, and they never, ever, ever lie about their age.

Anyway, I am looking forward to it anyhow. What a surprise that the first girl I meet online just happens to be a Pisces. Who would have thunk that? A Pisces and Virgo together? Nah! Can't be.

The trouble is that we have some remarkable thunder pealing out across the sky right now. Storm clouds seem to be moving in on the San Fernando valley. This is a most unusual atmospheric event during Septembers here in SoCal. Have you ever seen one of those bad romance movies [like the Notebook] where the boy and the girl meet in the pouring rain?

Bod Pod IX... Meh!

The results of the Birthday Bod Pod are in, and in the famous words of Tedy Bruschi, that ain't what were looking for. That is probably a Bellichick saying.

The findings of the study are these:

• My scale weight was 203.734, down from 209.340,
• This is a loss of 5.606 gross pounds
• I now have 55.912 pounds of body fat, down from 62.414
• This is a loss of 6.502 pounds of fat.
• I know have 147.821 pounds of lean weight, up from 146.926 last time
• This is scarcely 0.895 of one pound increase of lean. I guess that beats a poke in the eye.
• My body fat percentage is now 27.4%, down from 29.8% last time.
• This is a 2.4% reduction in Body Fat Percentage, matching my BFP drop last time
• My body volume is now 89.135 liters, down from 92.042 liters last time.
• This is a decrease of 2.907 liters of body volume.

I guess anytime you increase you lean and decrease your fat, it's a pretty good week. The BFP reduction is equal to the one during the previous cycle. Still, I can't help but think it is a mediocre, mediocre, mediocre showing. I have done better before. I was hoping for my best cycle ever. This did not happen.

I should balance that sentiment out by meditating on the look of awe displayed on the Bod Pod operators' faces when they see my progress charts. I must admit that the purple trend line on the BFP chart is as constant as the Northern Star. It just keeps going down and down and down and down on a straight trajectory.

They openly say they wish they owned a trend line that looks like mine.

Still the pronounced saw-tooth pattern on my lean-weight is a spoiler and a bitch. I need to get my lean up to 160, post-haste. I am announcing a new plan to start training with my linebacker buddy as soon as possible. The lean has got to increase.

The cumulative totals the Bod Pod history show are impressive. In just 16 weeks:

• I have Reduced my BFP from 44.1 % to 27.4%
• My lean percentage has gone from 55.9% to 72.6%
• I have altered my body composition 16.7%.
• Cut my body fat weight from 114.090 down to 55.912 pounds
• That is a loss of 58.178 pounds of fat.
• I have cut 51% of my fat weight in 16 weeks.
• I still maintain a net positive 3.261 pounds of lean weight.
• My body volume has diminished from 117.111 liters to 89.135 liters.
• My body volume has dropped 27.976 liters. Think of 28 x 1 liter bottles of Pepsi vanishing from under my skin.

At the same time, we have the sobering fact that I remain in the high risk category. Anyone carrying more than 25% body fat is considered to be at high risk for obesity related health problems. As far as I've come in all this time, I'm still not out of the woods just yet.

Just how far do I have to go get out of the woods? The Bod Pod will change my check mark for the first time when I go under 25%. Unless I do better on this next cycle, it won't happen on September 16th. If I nail the same 2.4%, I will be sitting right on the 25% mark. They will still check the high risk box in that case. Even if I should score a -2.5% BFP reduction, the check box will only indicate moderate risk.

I won't get into the healthy category until I reach 19.99%. How far away is that? At present speed, it will happen in 6 weeks. This is presuming 6.5 pounds of loss each cycle, and no change in lean. In other words, a sub-average performance. This means it should show up on the October 14th Bod Pod. At that time, my body weight should be 184.233 pounds. I should have no more than 36.412 pounds of fat on my frame. Presuming a constant lean, I would have 147.821 pounds of lean mass.

There are better and happier scenarios, but let's not bank on it.

The fact is that my GP and Dr. Quilici have settled on the figure of 17-18% BFP as their ultimate target for my good health. When will that happen? 8 weeks from today is the earliest we should expect to see such a figure. It should show up on the October 28 Bod Pod.

206.2... again?

I just weighed in at 206.2 again. This was my weight as of my last log entry a couple of days ago. Two days ago, after a full-slate of aerobic workouts, it went all the way down to 205.2.

Of course, the indication is 16 ounces of lost water weight through sweat. Still, I am surprised that it remains at 206.2 two days later. This could be a good thing.

Yesterday, I completed a full ROM cycle (11:45 minutes of exercise, performing all movements) in less than 22 minutes of real-time. I took very little rest between these intense exercises. I also did a couple of minutes of shake weight in there. It was pretty brutal.

That wasn't enough for me, though. I still went to the gym around 11:00pm for a short weight lifting workout. Short but brutal. Nautilus style workouts are short but sweet.

After this workout, I downed a Pure-Pro 50 protein drink. As the name suggests, this provides 50 grams of pure protein. It's mostly Whey protein, which is the most preferred protein source for Gastric Bypass patients. It provides the protein you need, and stimulates fat-burning at the same time. Whey is less efficient than albumin (egg protein), however, we are willing to trade some protein efficiency for the fat-burning effect whey offers.

This morning, muscles all over my body feel pretty hard, stiff and sore. I got something out of that training last night. I got something out of those 50 grams of whey protein.

Let's remember, the main objective of this cycle is to regain and protect lean weight. I am not happy with my lean weight. This is the two week cycle where I don't give a damn about scale weight. Body fat percentage is the only thing that matters.

My USC linebacker buddy, Aaron Graham, is scarcely 2 inches taller than I am. He currently weighs in at 215 pounds, and he is much leaner than I am. If we put Aaron in the Bod Pod, I doubt he would have 16% body fat. I would guess 13%. This would indicate that he has a mere 27.95 pounds of fat on his frame. This would indicate that he has 187.05 pounds of lean weight on his frame.

My General Practitioner once thought I had 190 pounds of lean, although I am now skeptical of that.

Aaron is a linebacker, I am a nose tackle. I aught to have a lot more lean than he does. He has graciously invited me to go weightlifting with him. I am going to take him up on that offer.

207.9 a new post-gastric bypass low

This morning, the digital read-out on the scale flickered back and forth between 207.8 and 208.0. Once again, the Tanita rounded up and not down. The official score is 208.0. For the sake of argument, let's presume I am 207.9. This means that the Bod Pod would show me at 207.05 this morning.

[Editor's note, sorry for the inconsistent math before correction. I wrote this before my morning Muscle Milk.]

Not quite a pound less than I was 9 days ago. Hummmm... kinda scarry eh? Nah, not really. I've been completely focused on lean weight this time.

• Nautilus-style workouts with free weights and machines.
• The ROM.
• The shake weight.
• Core training.
• Push-ups.

Everything is focused on muscle strength and tone. I do believe this is producing tangible results. All my resistance levels are rising. My muscle tone has improved dramatically in just 4 workouts. My muscularity seems to be rising. Muscle memory is a wonderful thing.

I've been aggressive about raising the resistance on the Elliptical Cross Trainer also. I am now working exclusively at level 16, which is very, very intense. At level 16, I burn 365 kcal in just 22 minutes. This is 16.59 kcal beyond RMR/BMR every single minute. That's pretty brutal baby. Most people burn 8-10 kcal above RMR on the bike or the treadmill. A woman performing 1 hour of aerobic dance will burn approximately 7.5 kcal about RMR for the duration. We're talking about a cool 221.2% increase in intensity over that.

Everything is getting easier, and my capacity to do work continues to grow. I can't help but think that my lean/fat ratio is improving.

Provided that my fat loss has been strictly average, I should have lost 0.5 pounds per day on each of the past 9 days. This means 4.5 pounds of fat loss. Knowing that I am scarcely 1 pound lower in terms of absolute weight, the indication is that I have regained 3.5 pounds of lean.

Is this possible? Yeah sure, given muscle memory, it is possible. Remember, I lost 2.556 of pure lean on the last test. That weight might have snapped back as a result of re-hydration. I might have added a new pound in the past 9 days.

If all this is true, my fat weight should now be approximately 57.5 pounds and my lean should be equal to (207.05 - 57.5 = 149.55). My BFP should then be equal to 27.77% this morning. This is progress folks; -2.03% of progress, to be precise.

Since I have been averaging 1% of fat loss per week for the duration of my testing, -2.03% in just 9 days is very fast-paced progress indeed. It is disappointing that such rapid progress still leaves me with 27.77% body fat, which is still considered obese and high risk. I still have a considerable distance to travel.

Is it legit to consider people with 27.77% body fat obese? Consider the following facts. When you go to the butcher's counter, lean ground beef contains around 10% fat. Not so lean beef contains 15% fat. Fatty pork contains about 20% fat. I contain 27.77% fat. I contain more fat than the ground pork on at the butcher's counter. I still contain my bones and my vital organs... at the present moment. If you made a fillet of Dave, that fillet would certainly contain more than 27.77% fat.

Now, isn't the fatter meat the tastier meat? Don't all the super-star chefs on the Food Network say "Zero percent fat, zero percent flavor"? Doesn't Michael Symon say that the most tragic term in the English language is "Lean Beef"? Of course they do.

But with that said, I still have rendering-out to do. I think it is fair to say a man should meet the standards of not so lean beef before we can call him healthy.

212.0 and all is well

It's curious that we are now 6 days after the last Bod Pod [where I weighed in at 209.34], my current weight is 212.0, and I am pretty fine with it. Why is that?

As you know, the last Bod Pod indicated that I lost 2.556 pounds of lean weight. That is not okay. I am not okay with that fact. Presuming I hadn't lost that lean weight, my weight would have been 211.896 last Friday. Interestingly enough, my weight popped right back up to 212 within 24 hours of the test. This probably indicates that I was temporarily dehydrated.

However, it is interesting that 6 full days later, my weight remains the same, and I am still fine with it. Why is that?

I began a regime of serious weight training again this week. Today, I will execute my 3rd serious Nautilus style workout. Weren't you supposed to do that before? Yes, but I didn't have the heart. I modified my existing regime to focus on stress and intensity over duration. I did not actually add a Nautilus regime to my training. Now I have.

I will do more than just a Nautilus workout today. I will do a full-cycle ROM in just a couple of moments. I will probably do some light cardio at lunch also, just to stay awake this afternoon.

I also added swimming to my regime. I do an evening swim at 24 Hour Fitness. I try to spend 20 minutes in a nice chilly pool, and I do at least 20 100 meter laps. That's 2K folks. That ain't bad. The thermogenics of it should help me to loose more pure fat than ever before.

Essentially, I have decided that this is the 2 week cycle where I am not going to worry about scale weight. I am just going to worry about strength training. For the sake of science, I am going to work on the hypothesis that I am loosing 0.5 to 0.6 pounds of pure fat each day. This loss is courtesy of surgical modifications in my digestive tract. It is reliable and dependable. I can bank on it. I am focusing exclusively on muscularity and strength. I am trying to raise my resistance each time out, and do more reps.

I am hoping and praying the kiss of the Nautilus is activating my muscle memory, and doing so at a pace that is equal to the rate of pure fat loss. If such is the case, I should have lost 3 pounds of pure fat, and added 3 pounds of pure muscle. This is certainly possible, as only 0.5 pounds of that muscle would be new muscle. The rest would be recovered lean weight.

If this were to continue all the way through to Sept 2, my fat weight will drop from 62 to 55 pounds and my total weight will remain constant at 212. Mathematically, 55/212 = 25.94%. In other words, my body fat percentage will drop quite considerably. Ultimately, this is the only thing that matters.

My body weight is already within acceptable parameters according to my orthopedic surgeon. Now leanness and muscularity are the only goals worth pursuing. Absolute weight is neither here nor there. In fact, I would prefer my body weight to remain slightly over 200 pounds whilst achieving a lean mass of 10-15%.

I don't want to be skinny, skinny, skinny.

212.0 before and after the pool party

Yesterday morning I weighed in at 212.0 on the Tanita scale. This morning I also weighed in at 212 on the Tanita scale. This was before and after the pool party yesterday.

I manned the grill at the pool party. This was a lot of fun, as I rarely get a chance to cook these days. The items on the menu were not of my choosing, but the standard sort of pool-party fare: hot dogs, hamburgers, a bit of Kielbasi, and a few steaks. A good time was had by all, and they liked the way I seasoned the steaks.

Next time, we will do a Paella.

Of course, manning the grill means quality control work. This taste testing. I ate a lot more at this party than I would normally eat in a day. I was quite surprised at the easy with which I consumed hot dogs, hamburgers, sausages, and steak. Normally, I wouldn't have had more than one of those items in a day, and I would never mix. The more complex a dish, the more difficult to digest. Ordinarily a variety of complex proteins, eaten at one time, gives me trouble. Not yesterday. Who knows... maybe I crossed another threshold yesterday.

I wasn't too concerned about my weight this morning. I presumed that eating all that protein was a good thing. I am trying to gain back my lean weight. I did not consume a bunch of worthless candy, cake, cookies and ice cream calories. Nevertheless, I was... interested in the score this morning.

Evidently, the drop down to 209.34 was just a preview peek, and not a real or immediate achievement. I wonder if the 2.556 pounds of lean weight was just water weight, lost to dehydration. Of course, the Bod Pod would score me at 211.15 on both of these past two days, and this is 1.81 pounds higher than the Bod Pod test on Friday. This suggests that I may have lost a little lean weight, but it is not as bad as I originally thought. Just 0.746 of a pound, or less than 12 ounces.

I ran into a former employee of my current firm at the party. He hadn't seen me since the days of 320. He had no idea I had the surgery. This is a big-time Chicago Bear fan who had purchased Walter Payton and Dick Butkus jerseys back in the days when I was building my collection and organizing shipments from China. He flipped out when he saw me.

It turns out that a female cousin of his just had the surgery Friday. I also had my surgery on a Friday. His cousin was in a pre-diabetic stage, and needed the surgery to prevent this long-term terminal condition. It was interesting seeing the look in his eyes and watching his mind boggled. I don't need ESP to know what he was thinking. He was considering the magnitude of transformation his cousin was about to experience. He looked downright inspired.

That was the most memorable moment of the pool party. It must have been a divine appointment. He'll probably go visit with his cousin and tell her my story. This will serve as encouragement to get her through the early days of surgical recovery, which can be a little bit rough.

Bod Pod VIII: Victory spoiled

So today was Bod Pod VIII day. Just what were the results?

• My body weight went down from 220.348 to 209.34.
• This is a loss of 11.008 pounds
• 8.452 of those lost pounds were fat
• 2.556 of those pounds were lean tissue.
• My fat weight dropped from 70.865 to 62.414 pounds.
• My body fat ratio dropped 2.4%
• My official BFP is now 29.8%
• I am now over 70% lean.
• My body volume dropped from 97.356 liters to 92.042 liters
• This is a loss of 5.314 liters of body volume
• For what it is worth, my BMI is now between 29 and 30. Few medical professionals take BMI seriously.

There are reasons to be excited, there are reasons to be disappointed

• I was hoping to go inside 60 pounds of fat.
• I was hoping to go inside 28% BFP
• My BFP dropped 2.4%, which is 0.4% more than we would expect under the benchmark average.
• I lost 1.452 pounds more fat than we would expect under the benchmark average
• This came at a high trade-off, as I lost 2.556 pounds lean more than I should not have lost
• I also failed to gain new lean, increasing the negative.
• The net difference in terms of body fat percentage is negligible. If I had simply kept my lean and been 2.556 pounds heavier, my BFP would be only 0.34% lower.

As always, I was hoping for better. To make it short and sweet, it was an exciting week of rapid loss, spoiled at the very last minute by lean weight loss instead of lean gain.

The next Bod Pod will be on my 45th Birthday. Yep, that's right folks. We are officially 2 weeks away from the moment when Dave turns 45 years old. Shocking, isn't it? Where has that ocean of time gone? How have I dissolved half of 90 years already?