BF% and Catabolic Concern

[Gill]

Hey all,

As of today I weigh 193.4lbs down from roughly 260 this past June '07. I never had my body fat officially checked as I simply did not know how. For those of you who know your %s, do you go to a clinic and have it checked or is there some sort of tool or procedure which allows self-checks? I'm curious to see where I'm at so that I can better set my continued goals. Any information would be helpful!

Secondly, my workouts have contained the following for the past 6 months. 40-45 minutes of weight-training followed by 15-20 minutes of moderate cardio (cycling, treadmill). In the past month I've been using HIIT in place of moderate cardio after my workouts for 10 minutes.

I do the combo 5 days a week and then usually just the cardio on Sundays. My concern is whether or not I'm doing too much cardio and am jeapordizing my muscle? To my intial understanding, catabolic states are only entered after prolonged cardio bouts, but lately I've heard short cardio sessions done consistently over time can have the same affect.

I have gained a lot of muscle in the past 6 months that I hold as a trophy of the win over my obesity. I would hate to lose it to irony.

Does anybody have any good information on my situation? Is my routine jeapordizing my muscle? If so, how should I change? Keeping in mind, my main focus is still to drop weight (I'd like to get down to 180 eventually).

Thanks so much for your time.

[mitchcumstein]

In a nutshell eat large amounts of protein every day, dont run too much of a caloric deficit, and dont ever exercise on an empty stomach. If you adhere to those principals, you will lose minimal muscle if any at all.

[dbs]

Hey Gil,

There are several ways to check BF%. The best way is called hydrostatic weighing. To do this, your weight is taken on a normal scale and compared to your weight when you're totally submerged under water. The underwater process involves sitting very still on a scale platform and exhale all the air out of your lungs. Your 'on land' weight, your underwater weight, the density of water and some other factors are used to compute your BF%. Call an upscale healthclub or try the sports sciences department at a local university. I last had mine done at my university. The cost was $50 and included a lung capacity test.

Other methods include a skin fold test. To do this a 'trained' person uses a special measurement device to measure the thickness of folded skin at various parts of your body such as your gut, your thigh and your chest. These numbers are entered into an algorthim and the BF% is calculated. It is not as accurate as the hydrostatic method. Also not anybody can operate the calipers. Get someone with some experience. The more the better.

I've also seen, but never used, a 'scale' of sorts that uses an electrical current to measure BF%. I heard it works fine as long as your hydration level is appropriate but, again, the hydrostatic method is the gold standard.

I'd think any of the methods would be fine as long as you don't use one one time and another the next and then try to compare or determine progress. Stay with one method and look for a relative change.

The important aspect is: what your BF% is is more important than your weight. If your 250lbs and your BF% is 10%.... wow! I'd say your in pretty good shape. But if your 175lbs and your BF% is 35%. Ouch!! You need to do some work or your end in heart surgery in a few years.

Good luck.

[phat chick]

Originally Posted by dbs

I've also seen, but never used, a 'scale' of sorts that uses an electrical current to measure BF%. I heard it works fine as long as your hydration level is appropriate but, again, the hydrostatic method is the gold standard.

i don't like these. I find them inaccurate and 2 days before my comp it read at 22% bf LMAO. It works by how fast the current travels from one electrode to the other, and there are too many variables.

The hydro-weighing is apparently the most accurate, but hard to come buy and can be costly.

Good old caliper testing is cheapest and easiest, using multiple sites to take readings. But having a skilled person doing it can be tricky to find ;-P

If you can a digital camera, just takes progress pics on a regular basis. You'll be able to tell a lot by these.

Looking at your cardio regime, as long as you're not eating only 500 cals a day, you're plenty fine ;-P

I'm a firm believer in HIIT to create that tight & hard look. It's when you're doing endless hours of steady state cardio that can really give you that sinewy look. Not that it's a bad thing, but unless you're running some marathons that may not be what you're after.

I personally love doing HIIT and it's just as intense as a heavy weight training session (and i always have carbs after both, as i do them in separate sessions).

Good luck, you've come a long way, stay hungry!