Thursday, September 21, 2006

Scalar

Interesting news. Good, but in a way irritating.

So I was tired of having a crappy scale that wasn't accurate over 400lbs; considering, I'm over 400lbs. I didn't realize just HOW inaccurate my previous scale WAS however; and my initial estimate, based on the wildly inaccurate scale I HAD was 440lbs.

Well, I jsut bought a gee-whiz-bang full body monitor type scale, rated up to 440lbs; and guess what?

I recalibrated the old scale based on the new one, and man was I shocked. It turns out, checking the differences between the two, that I started off this whole thing 25 or so pounds lighter than I thought.

Yup, I was 415, not 440; and as of just after lunch (which weighed in at 20oz itself, plus a 32 oz coffee), I weigh 410.2lbs, or probably 406.8, naked and on an empty stomach.

So I've dropped about 8 lbs in the last 10 days; and if you look at my revised calorie burn numbers; based on what I've been eating, and my newly figured starting weight of 415; they come out to within a pound of what I expected.

It's good to know the math is working out huh.

Mel has managed 4lbs in the same time, and her numbers look to be working as well.

The only problem I have, is that I still can't get an accurate bodyfat measurement. The BIA system works fine if you are either all skin, or all fat; but for a former athlete who's gone fat but still has plenty of muscle mass like myself... Yeah no.

My tape measurements show me at 39% bodyfat, but this body comp monitor (which takes water % into account supposedly), shows me at 52% fat. That's pretty much impossible, because if I were 52% bodyfat, my waist would be 6" bigger than it is.

The doctors say that even under the best circumstances the things have a 3-6% margin of error (the manufacturer claims less than 1% which is bullshit. Immersion tanks even have a 2-3% margin of error), and for people with high bone density and muscle mass, can have a 6-12% margin of error. I can believe I'm at 40% bodyfat, but no way 52%.

So I guess for now I'll have to have bad measurements. I don't feel like spending $60 on an immersion tank, or $200 on an X-Ray body comp analysis.

I'll tape myself again on sunday, then run the bodyfat off the bodycomp montor, and see what the difference is, to see if it stays consistent.

Remember, my goal here is to get down to 285lbs; with a 42" waist, a 52" chest, and a 20-21" neck (I'm at 21 now). By the tape standard, that would have me right around 20% bodyfat.

Thats 120 or so lbs (call it 120 from the end of this week), in 19 months (til my birthday after next). Hell, if I could keep losing this fast I'd make it by my NEXT birthday, but that aint gonna happen.

Once I get down to about 385 though (hopefully another month or six weeks), the excercise is getting ramped up. You're going to see my burn rates go through the roof, so I'll hopefully be maintaing loss rates, AND increasing muscle conversion (which should increase my burn rate per pound as well; though not too much).

I figure I can maintain 2-3lbs average weight loss per week over the course of a year though; given the fact that I'm starting high, and ramping up my excercise. I'm confident I can make my goal weight in 19 months.