Check me out in the Bod Pod! I look like a big bearded chicken.
I first read about the Bod Pod device in Tim Ferriss’ book 4 Hour Body. He praised it as one of the most accurate body fat measurement devices around. I’d done the caliper thing before, but always wanted to try the pod. When I found out that Coastal Carolina University, a local school, had one I immediately made an appointment. After doing so, you’ll never see me playing with the calipers again. The test was crazy cheap considering what the device cost. It was only $35 and less than an hour, and I was done.
For the skinny (pun intended) on what a Bod Pod does, here’s the verbiage from the COSMED website…
“The BOD POD Gold Standard Body Composition Tracking System is an air displacement plethysmograph which uses whole-body densitometry to determine body composition (fat and fat-free mass) in adults and children, and can accommodate a wide range of populations. A full test requires only about 5 minutes, and provides highly accurate, safe, comfortable, and fast test results.”
Basically, it tests your mass and density using air instead of water or calipers.
Before I show you my results, let’s first look at some photos.
First, this happened. I think Stacey, lab coordinator extraordinaire accidentally hit the Matrix button. Oops!
Once we left that ‘verse and came back she made another wrong turn.
Finally, we made it back to reality.
Before I show you my results, I’m going to admit that they’re not at all flattering. I’m okay with that. Not happy, but okay. I’m big on transparency and group accountability in fitness and nutrition. I know so many obese people that stay that way because they hide everything they do.
I’ve been on a big tear lately to lose some weight. I hit my highpoint of piggishness at 252 pounds last year. I carried it well, but I felt like crap. Just kind of heavy and clunky all the time. Now I’m thirty pounds lighter. I feel much better, but I’ve not hit my happy point yet, as you’ll see from the results.
That’s right. 28.9% body fat. It’s high, and it’s all my fault. I own that. Most of it is pasta and burgers and Mountain Dew.
In case you’re wondering why it’s worth it to know stats like this, I’ll tell you what it means to me. The last time I measured my fat, it was with calipers, and I came in at 24%. With the error variability potential with calipers I’m going to just say that I’m still at the same level, even though I’m 30 pounds lighter. Knowing these stats now means that I need to radically change my workout and weight loss profile. Essentially, I’ve burned off nearly 30 pounds of muscle with my calorie restriction diet. I knew I was doing that some but not this bad. My original plan was to burn down to 200 pounds and then beef back up to a muscular but way less obese 220 pounds. I’m going to alter my plan now to focus exclusively on fat-burning and lean muscle building in my workouts and eat foods that support the same. Calorie restriction with moderate exercise gave me a jumpstart, but now it’s time to change.
Here’s an interesting fact about the Bod Pod. Hair holds air and can therefore alter the results slightly. The mere fierceness of my beard likely swayed the results somewhat. Not enough to make me a lot less porky, but it’s still pretty cool to know that my beard has its own presence.
Thanks to Dr. Darden for the use of the lab. Thanks again for coaching my son’s baseball team last year as well. Folks, keep your eyes peeled for the name Darden in a few years. The Dr’s son is an amazing baseball player and will likely be making headlines at some point.
Thanks to Mrs. Stacey Beam for administering the test and scoring me an awesome parking spot on campus. Thanks also for not making fun of me too much for being fat.
As an added bonus I also got the chance to see the always wonderful and supermodel beautiful Sara Wise, who works at the school. Guys, I won’t post a pic of her because she is already taken.
This message was written by a team of geeks, nerds, gamers, and Dr. David Powers. You can always find us at www.callsignredbeard.com. Thanks for reading!
In the words of Starship Troopers, “Would you like to know more?”
