Yeah Baby!

I had my body fat measured today. What was I thinking? Wanting to know something like that? But I want to lose some weight so I can get faster with my running times, and this book that I bought said that you needed to know your body fat percentage so that you could lose weight effectively. So I bite the bullet and did it. (Now, my mom is a Cardiac Rehab Nurse and her co-worker is an Exercise Physiologist and measures body fat, so she did it for me for free!) I wasn’t sure what to expect. I had been overweight much of my life until recently and just wasn’t sure what she would say. 25%? 30%? I wasn’t too hopeful that it would be good news.

Imagine my surprise when she pinched me in 3 places; back of my upper arms, my hip and the top of my thigh, and then told me the number.

17.7%

I had no clue what that meant. Except that I wasn’t 25% fat! The sheet she gave me breaks it down. Basically, for my age range, 25-29, I have excellent body fat composition! The percent for excellent is 18.9% Risky levels are less than 9%. So I am in the perfect range! It also said that the fitness range for women is 16-25% body fat. Essential fat is 11-14%. So, all in all, I’m doing great! I don’t mean to brag, but this is amazing for me! I used to weigh 142 pounds MORE than I do today. The lady said it would have been interesting to see what it was when I weighed more. I don’t think I really would have wanted to know.

So I figured out the formula and how much weight I need to lose to get down to my racing weight. And guess how much that is? 4 pounds. 4 freakin’ pounds. I hope I can do this!

I haven’t run since Sunday, and I feel guilty about that. But I have been severely lacking motivation. I hope if someone finds it, they will return it to me. Geez.

Coming soon: Photos of me before the big weight loss. I just haven’t been brave enough to put ‘em out there! Now I feel pretty great about myself!