Got my second BodPod today - 2 points make a line...

I dropped 12 lbs, 3.5" off my gut and now fit in size 32 pants (down from 34's) ince my last BodPod on Feb 21st. Since I have unlimited BodPod visits for a year, I decided to check up on my Lean Body Mass (LBM) to make sure I was maintaining my muscle mass. I was worried that 5 of those 12 lbs might be muscle, although all the data show I was losing all fat. Regardless, I am paranoid by nature and wanted more data.

So, I ran a bunch of tests before I went to the BodPod tonight to guess what my BF% might be. Here are the results:

Visual: 15-18% (hard to tell because I have skin flaps where my gut used to be)
Calipers, single point: 18.78%
FoodComputer.com: 17.29%
Navy measurements: 19.49%
Omron arms out parallel: 19.3%
Omron arms in lap, relaxed: 16.9%

I was hoping for 18% on the BodPod. Previous BodPod results (Feb 21, 2013):

Weight:201.7 lbs
BF%: 22.1%
LBM: 157.1 lbs
Fat: 44.5 lbs

Today:

Weight: 188.3 lbs (-13.4 lbs in 7 weeks)
BF%: 16.8% (-5.4%)
LBM: 156.7 lbs (-0.4 lbs)
Fat: 31.6 lbs (-12.9 lbs)

So I am very happy. The BF% is interesting, but maintaing LBM while losing fat has been my goal during this period of dieting.

So how did I do it? Not exactly sure, but there are 2 possibilities (I track everything I do in a spreadsheet):

1. I increased my daily SCD calories by 300 / day. This is the one I think busted the stall. I was lifting and walking on the treadmill a lot and was not getting enough calories. This caused my body to adjust and not burn fat. I think my metabolism went down to compensate for the lack of calories.

2. I started drinking coffee every day. 32 oz a day. I never drank coffee in my life. It was always diet coke. Lots of diet coke. I stopped diet coke a long time ago. Just started coffee in February. I think this has contributed to a higher metabolic rate throughout the day, but I think 1 was the significant contributor.

So where do I go from here? Keep riding this down until I stall. If that's at 185lbs or less, then I guess I am ready for maintenance or to start my next experiment which is adding 5-10 lbs of muscle mass. I know I have to eat a lot to do that and I will gain some fat back, but I want to give it a try.

Hope someone finds this interesting. It has been a good day.

Tom

Data Rocks