My BKI for Thursday May 20, 2010 are…

These results are interesting. According to the BIA-T method, I managed to lose almost 1.5 lbs of fat (1.44). Even more interesting is that I almost preserved my lean mass in the process (a loss of 0.16 lb).

Until next post, Lift Consciously

My BKI for Tuesday May 4, 2010 are…

All weights (mass) are in lbs.

Legend:
BIA-T = Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis with a body scale from Taylor brand
BIA-W = BIA using a body scale from Withings brand
J/P3 = Jackson/Pollock 3 sites caliper method.

The now quasi-usual week: I lost about a lb of fat (1.24) and let go 3/4 lb of lean mass… And again, this is good and bad news. Like I wrote a couple of posts ago, this is probably the high cost of low body fat! Well, for me at least.

Until next post, Lift Consciously

My BKI for Tuesday April 27, 2010 are…

All weights (mass) are in lbs.

In this post, I’m introducing a major change: I now use 2 BIA scales! BIA-T is the body scale I’ve been using for awhile and is the current official scale. It’s a “Body Fat Analyzer And Scale” from Taylor brand. Hence the “-T”. BIA-W is my new “Wifi Body Scale Connected to The Internet” from Withings. Thus the “-W”.

Why 2 scales? Well, this goes with TrainAtHomeGuru.com Mission to experiment. But also, Withings seems to catch more market momentum, so I figured that now was the right time to make the move. I will certainly stop using the Taylor scale at the end of my current Quebec Experiment.

OK, enough said about gadgets. This week is good. I lost a bit more than a lb of fat (1.23). Unfortunately, I let go half a lb of muscle (0.57). This is my Karma…

Finally, the difference between the BIA-T and J/P3 methods is somewhat significant (2.85%), again. But the interesting thing is that BIA-W and J/P3 are almost the same (15.9 vs 15.45). I’m curious to see if I will repeat this similitude next week.

Until then, Lift Consciously

My BKI for this week are…

Weighing on Tuesday April 20, 2010: 150 lbs (-1)

This week isn’t too bad. I managed to loose close to a lb of fat (0.79) and a tad of muscle (0.21 lb). But again, the difference between the 2 methods is significant (3.01%).

I should not go crazy about the difference. All methods have some error margin. It’s not like if numbers go in every directions. At each measurement, the trend is usually the same or very close. Which is, in the end, what counts.

Until next post, Lift Consciously

My BKI for this week are…

Body weight on Monday April 12, 2010: 151 lbs (-0.4)

The difference between the 2 methods is more than what it was in the previous weeks. This is a bit of a surprise since I was having very similar numbers. Not really a problem, though, because one thing is clear: I’m losing fat!

Until next post, Lift Consciously

Last week is a replay of the week before. My BKI are almost the same. I managed to lose  almost 1 lb (0.98) of fat, which is good. But in the process, I also lost 3/4 lb (0.72) of lean mass…

During this experiment (which is in fact a diet), losing 1 to 2 lbs of fat is great. Losing 1/2 to 3/4 lb of muscle is not.

Because I’m a little aggressive in my fat loss goal, I’m not fooling myself into thinking I will preserve my lean mass intact. On the other hand, losing roughly an average of half a pound of muscle per week is unexpected. But do I have any choice?

In their book Rework, Fried and Hansson are saying that:

When things aren’t working, the natural inclination is to throw more at the problem.

(Sorry, I cannot tell the page number. I’m reading it on my Kindle and there is no pagination.)

Maybe I should try something different… I will have to give it some thoughts. In between, for this week I have no choice but to cut in my aerobic workouts. The reason is I have deadlines this week at work and I won’t be able to train as much.

Until next post, Lift Consciously

My BKI for this week are…

Body weight: 151.4 lbs (-1.6)

This week results are virtually identical to last week ones… Again, not exactly what I was expecting. The real problem is that I lost almost 3/4 of lean mass in the process! Is this the high cost of lowering body fat? More on this in my next post.

Until then, Lift Consciously

Last week was a so-so week. According to my latest BKI, I was able to lose 1.6 lbs, which is good, but almost 1/3 (0.5 lb) of that is lean mass… Not so good.

I can’t explained why I have muscle loss nor why I don’t get similar results each week. Maybe it’s because I don’t count calories and sometimes I just eat too much… Or not enough? I suspect I don’t get enough nutrient when I need it the most, on strength training days.

My fat % loss is 0.5. I’m now at 19.9% fat and 4.9% away from my goal of 15%. This means I need to lose 0.61% per week for the next 8 weeks, if I want to succeed. It’s getting tough…

But there is good news. In my last week update, I wrote:

I will, this week again, try to burn more calories from training.

Well, according to my Polar FT80 HRM, I succeeded: I burned 2163 calories during the week! Much more than my target of 1750.

This week, I will pay more attention to what I eat on training days and keep the rest as is. Hopefully, I will lose approx 1.5 of fat and very little lean mass.

Until next post, Lift Consciously

My BKI for this week are…

Body weight: 153 lbs (-1.6)

Hum… The net result is interesting. But I still don’t like letting go ½ lb of lean mass. I will discuss the problem in more details in my next post.

Until then, Lift Consciously

The main reason is because I have to treat another injury. According to my doctor, it might be some kind of nerve irritation that brings pain in my right arm. No final diagnosis yet, I still have exam to pass. I also have pain in my upper back (related to the nerve irritation? I can’t tell). For the upper back problem, I’m seeing a physiotherapist. She suggested I stop for awhile one of the exercise in my program: chin-up. Ok, I’ll do that.

The other reason I revise my program is because I’m trying to lower my fat down to 15%. In order to succeed, I decided to increase the aerobic portion of my program… A lot.

Here’s what my new training program looks like.

Sunday: rest day.

Monday: aerobic or rest day, depending on my energy level.

Tuesday: aerobic, usually Fasting Cruise Control Cardio (FCCC).

Wednesday

• Strength training: TrapBar DeadLift, Dip.
• Aerobic: High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT).

Thursday: aerobic or rest day , depending on my energy level.

Friday: aerobic, usually FCCC.

Saturday

• Strength training: upper body in a circuit.
• Aerobic: HIIT.

I still practice yoga, usually on rest days. Or on an aerobic day, if I have time left.

Until next post, lift Consciously