Weight loss/training Questions

[Hughes412]

Hey do any of you fitness guys know how to read the print outs for the
tanita body composition analyzer tbf-410?

I started to get back into shap 3 weeks ago and I know the easy terms but there are some measurments that I don't know what they are. Here is the General print out. The ones in RED I don't know.

Body Type Standard
Gender Male
Age 35
Height 6ft
Weight 221
BMI 30
BMR 8903 kj
2128kcal
Impedance 479
Fat% 28.5
Fat Mass 63.0lb
FFM 158.0lb
TBW 115.6lb
Desirable Range
Fat% 17-23%
Fat Mass 32.4-47.2lb

So far so good. 3 weeks into it I've lost 10lbs, and in the last 2 weeks I've droped 3.4% fat% and lowered my fatmass by 7.4lbs. I THINK! I know it's 10lbs but the fat% and mass is just the last 2 weeks. I've got to get a copy of the initial weigh in.

Any ways, any help reading these print outs would be great.

 

[Hughes412]

Day break bump!

 

[Knox Joe]

BMI = Body Mass Index

the rest I don't know.

 

[whitemp5seattle]

BMI (Body Mass Index): ratio of weight and height. There is an ideal BMI you want to shoot for to not be overweight or underweight. I don't know what that is...but if you know you're trying to lose weight, then you want to lower your BMI.

BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate): the amount of energy your body would use in a resting state (for 24 hours). What this means is that if you laid in bed all day and didn't move, your body would burn 2,128 calories from the beating of your heart, the breathing of your lungs, digesting, etc. (kcal is a fancy way of saying kilocalories, which is the standard calorie you see on the back of the cereal box or candy bar)

impedance is the measure of the speed of an electrical current through your body. It's not exactly a statistic people use to compare themselves to others, but it is a good way to see change within your own body. It is usually lower when you have more body fat and higher when you have less (fat tissue contains about 10% water, while fat-free tissues like muscle usually contain about 60 or 70% water, so the electrical current moves faster through non-fatty tissue). It also depends on the size of a person. A tall person will probably have a higher impedance reading intrinsically than a short person (tall people have more tissue than a short person for the electric current to go through). During your training, if you are really losing fat, you should see your impedance go up.

FFM (Fat Free Mass): how much you would weigh right now if you had 0% body fat (and if you were still alive without any body fat)

TBW (Total Body Water): water weight in your body. Not exactly something used to measure your progress since it can be changed by being dehydrated (cheers) or by drinking too much water before the test. But in general, as stated above, muscle tissue has more water than fat tissue, so if after 3 months of training your weight is the same, but your TBW reading has gone up, that's a good thing - it would mean that while you haven't lost any weight, you've lost fat and gained muscle.

got it?

 

[Hughes412]

Yep, that clears up alot. But like you said if you loose fat but gain mass your impedance SHOULD go up. Yet mine looks to be going down. My water TBW is on the way up. Now I don't have the inital #'s that we took because the guys at the gym seem to think that the scale reading is gold and doesn't want to let go of it. They tryed REALLY hard to get me to pay 1300 for a personal trainer. I told them out of all the yrs in sports (football, basketball and track) and being in the top 5 (3rd) to graduate basic and AIT with 9yrs of military I kind of know how to exercise and loose weight. I can't help but think they don't want to help lol. Any ways, if any of you have any insight into how I can speed things up (I know, it took 8yrs to get here lol) that would be very helpful. Here's the nubers for the first 3 weeks.

1/15/2007 1/22/2007 1/29/2007
Tanita
Body Composition
Analyzer
TBF-410

Body Type Standard
Gender Male
Age 35
Height 6ft
Weight 225 223.4 221
BMI 30.5 30.3 30
BMR 9007 kj 8965 kj 8903 kj
2153kcal 2143kcal 2128kcal
Impedanc 503 499 479
Fat% 31.30% 30.60% 28.5
Fat Mass 70.4lb 68.4lb 63.0lb
FFM 154.64lb 155.0lb 158.0lb
TBW 113.2lb 113.4lb 115.6lb

Desirable Range
Fat% 17-23%
Fat Mass 31.6-46.2lb

BMI (Body Mass Index): ratio of weight and height
BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate): the amount of energy your body would use in a resting state
impedance is the measure of the speed of an electrical current through your body
FFM (Fat Free Mass
TBW (Total Body Water

 

[whitemp5seattle]

Yep, that clears up alot. But like you said if you loose fat but gain mass your impedance SHOULD go up. Yet mine looks to be going down. My water TBW is on the way up. Now I don't have the inital #'s that we took because the guys at the gym seem to think that the scale reading is gold and doesn't want to let go of it. They tryed REALLY hard to get me to pay 1300 for a personal trainer. I told them out of all the yrs in sports (football, basketball and track) and being in the top 5 (3rd) to graduate basic and AIT with 9yrs of military I kind of know how to exercise and loose weight. I can't help but think they don't want to help lol. Any ways, if any of you have any insight into how I can speed things up (I know, it took 8yrs to get here lol) that would be very helpful. Here's the nubers for the first 3 weeks.

Weight 225 223.4 221
BMI 30.5 30.3 30
Impedance 503 499 479
Fat% 31.30% 30.60% 28.5
Fat Mass 70.4lb 68.4lb 63.0lb
FFM 154.64lb 155.0lb 158.0lb
TBW 113.2lb 113.4lb 115.6lb

Your impedance is going down, because your TBW (total body water) is going up. However, you've lost 7 lbs of fat and gained 4 lbs of muscle (you can tell from the FFM numbers). Plus, your BMI is falling (which is a good sign). So, you're on the right track.

Your impedance is probably going down due to other factors. Maybe you're drinking more water now that you're going to the gym? I bet if you keep up with the exercise eventually your impedance will being to rise...

There isn't really any fast and easy way to lose weight healthily. It really has to be a lifestyle change. In general a few tips:

Reduce caloric intake (eat less junk food, drink less juices and sodas, etc), and increase caloric spending (exercise and staying active).

Eat healthier foods (vegetables, foods low in fat and high in protein) and take a multivitamin to stay healthy during this process.

Drink a lot of water. (within reason...don't go drinking 5 gallons of water a day now)

There are tons of tips out there that I could suggest, but it's really up to the individual making choices and sticking to his guns (gun)

 

[Hughes412]

Well it's been a long time sense I hit any kind of a gym so I was just hoping something changed in the last 10 yrs lol. NOT! Guess it's back to good old sweating the pounds away. Thanks for the advice. I've got about 25lbs to go. I'm shooting for 195. I haven't seen my abs in a VERY long time. I miss them LOL.

 

[Hughes412]

Oh by the way, my city AUSTIN TX was ranked 3rd in the nation for having the best abs in the nation.







They left me out of the poll.(boom01)

 

[whitemp5seattle]

^lol

I wish you the best of luck on the rediscovery of your abs! If your gym offers any sort of ab class or pilates class, they're great for getting the deeper ab muscles...

feel free to ask me any other questions...maybe I'll start a how-to on the subject (rofl)

 

[ZoomVT]

Hey Hughes, also Texas is in the top 5 states for Fta people per capita or something like that. So thats a messed up stat. Either austin is the skinny people town and the rest of texas is skinny or people collect their fat in their ass. lol

I am starting to try to get back in shape again, i let go for 3 years and now i want to get back in shape for summer. How did you measure all those metrics? is there a machine that does that? I dont think my gym has it...

 

[ZoomVT]

nice! i miss my abs too. Actually i never had defined abs so i dont even know what they look like...
In any case, what is a good way to develop them? What i have found is that doing ab crunches and general ab work strengthens your ab muscles but if you have a thick layer of fat they will still hide. Whats worse, i found that doing abs while fat will burn some of the fat but will also give you a thicker torso... at least it appears that way to me

 

[whitemp5seattle]

yes, the amount of fat you have covering your abs definitely plays a role in how much your abs show. there are two parts to getting abs:

1) how much fat you have (less is better)
2) how strong your abs are (more is better)

I think the biggest mistake people make is only working out the larger ab muscles (the ones that show the most). You also have to workout the smaller ab muscles (obliques, transverse abdominis). Without these your abs will look bulgy and you will have a greater chance of back injury

 

[Hughes412]

I go to Golds gym, they have a Tanita TBF-410-GS Body Composition Analyzer/Scale

It gives you all of those readings.

And yes, we have a LOT of BIG ASS WOMEN here lol.

And a how to isn't that bad of an idea! They could sticky it!

 

[ZoomVT]

i'll be up for a how to.
I know what the obliques are and i work them out, but which are the transverse abdominis?

Now, where could i find or get one of those machines? I think they are very helpful with tracking your progress.

 

[Hughes412]

They cost over a grand! Best way is to join a gym, I don't waste money so I go every day.

 

[Thug541]

Don't overwork your muscle tho. Remember, muscle gains happen as your muscles repair themselves after a workout....if you over train your muscles won't repair. Its a common mistake people do when they are trying to get big quick.

 

[Hughes412]

Don't overwork your muscle tho. Remember, muscle gains happen as your muscles repair themselves after a workout....if you over train your muscles won't repair. Its a common mistake people do when they are trying to get big quick.

I don't, I do cario for 35 mins (eliptical?) and then hit the weights for 15-20 mins. I stay under 100lbs when I lift so that I don't push to hard but enough to build a sweat. That's why I'm not gaining too much weight but loosing fat.

 

[ZoomVT]

yeah i hear you there. the question is how much muscle damage you can make while running? I would like to run every day with one day off a week. and do 1 day upper body, 1 day lower body stregnthening with 1 day off a week. Is that too much?
My first impression is the it may be so i may pick up a 2nd day off, but i don tknow if it would take that much for my muscles to recover from running; i think it is very low impact in the sense that i dont see muscles being teared by running as opposed to weight lifting.

 

[B1GHAM]

get the stomach flu.... I had it last weekend... ended up losing over 8 lbs because of it...

just be prepared to feel the shittiest youve ever felt

(kidding ofcourse, but I did lose that weight)

 

[Hughes412]

yeah i hear you there. the question is how much muscle damage you can make while running? I would like to run every day with one day off a week. and do 1 day upper body, 1 day lower body stregnthening with 1 day off a week. Is that too much?
My first impression is the it may be so i may pick up a 2nd day off, but i don tknow if it would take that much for my muscles to recover from running; i think it is very low impact in the sense that i dont see muscles being teared by running as opposed to weight lifting.

No that isn't to much. Most of the fitness articles I've read do a three day workout. I'll get article for you.