The get fit, stay fit thread

[Spain]

First workout yesterday in just over 10 days after being choked with a cold. Felt good to get back into it but by christ did I feel like I'd relapsed even in that time. In other news though, I've now hit my weight target so I'm going to set myself another one. That's 2 st 9 lbs I've lost since June and I'm now in the "healthy" BMI range. Going to try and lose at least another 7 lbs before Christmas while still building muscle and strength too.

Does anyone here measure body fat? It's obviously a far better reflection than weight and I'm very much a numbers & tracking progress kinda guy.

[Fuctifano]

Think there's too much margin for error in tracking body fat, especially with the hand held sensors etc which are largely bollocks. Probably easier to track measurements with an orbital tape.

[Boostin' Kev]

1 hour ago, Spain said:

First workout yesterday in just over 10 days after being choked with a cold. Felt good to get back into it but by christ did I feel like I'd relapsed even in that time. In other news though, I've now hit my weight target so I'm going to set myself another one. That's 2 st 9 lbs I've lost since June and I'm now in the "healthy" BMI range. Going to try and lose at least another 7 lbs before Christmas while still building muscle and strength too.

Does anyone here measure body fat? It's obviously a far better reflection than weight and I'm very much a numbers & tracking progress kinda guy.

The only accurate way to measure BF is by someone who knows what they're doing taking caliper measurements across around a dozen parts of your body.  It only gives you a number at the end of it all and is fairly pointless imo.

[Spain]

I'm aware it's not particularly easy to measure, it's just I'm very much a stat man. I'd like to satisfy my urge to track progress & trends somehow. I have spreadsheets for anything & everything.

[Forfinn]

2 hours ago, Spain said:

Does anyone here measure body fat? It's obviously a far better reflection than weight and I'm very much a numbers & tracking progress kinda guy.

I've been using the Fitbit app to track my weight and body fat since January, with readings coming from these scales.  I've no idea how accurate the readings are, but like the whole step count thing, it's almost not that important - it's about the trend.  I started at a 22.5% and my initial target of dropping below 20% was as much of a motivator as the weight target.  Averaging around 18.5% now, which I'm happy with for now considering my gym visits are currently few and far between.

[Spain]

Exactly, trends. Got to love me some trend analysis. Seeing as at some point soon my weight loss will stagnate and if anything I'd rather bulk up on muscle at some point soon I'm pretty keen to have some form of numbers to back up my work.

[Aufc]

The only accurate way to measure BF is by someone who knows what they're doing taking caliper measurements across around a dozen parts of your body.  It only gives you a number at the end of it all and is fairly pointless imo.

Had this done today through my work. Sitting at 19% ( he did say thr body fat number id subjective as could be 5% each way). He also gave me a average skin roll number (not sure if terminology is correct) which was 97.5. He said this is the number you should pay attention to.

Thought i would be higher as just had a kid (well wife had it) so not been to gym much in 8 weeks and diet been average. Gives me something to work towards as he is coming back in January to measure again.

Back to gym tonight so will see how we go

[Marshmallo]

Body fat percentage of 9.8% over here lads.

[SweeperDee]

Body fat percentage of 9.8% over here lads.

Doesn't mean much when you weigh 90lbs, tbh.

[Marshmallo]

14 minutes ago, SweeperDee said:

 

Doesn't mean much when you weigh 90lbs, tbh.

 

175lbs of muscle, steel and sex appeal m8.

[SweeperDee]

175lbs of flab, poor hip flexion and chicken legs m8.

FTFY.

[Marshmallo]

Four days a week on the bike and a weekly game of football doesn't really lend itself to chicken legs brother.

[SweeperDee]

In a sick twist of fate, I've just left A&E with a reoccurrence of a torn trap muscle. Marshy must have a voodoo doll. Nae gym for me for a while.

[TheScarf]

Keep your gains by getting on the 'roids brah.

[SweeperDee]

Had a very rough sleep. Only slightly tempered by the codeine I was given. I have two diazepam tablets that were given as a last resort kinda thing alongside the codeine. It's tempting.

[the jambo-rocker]

I'm currently on 4 on, 4 off nightshifts and it's completely fucking with my discipline. Usually having something of a routine has been the thing that helps me get through, but that and a combination waking up to the darker nights are certainly not helping. I'm still managing to get by on the bare minuimum, but only because I'm cutting back on what I eat. Six-pack shortcuts and fitness blender have been helpful for 15-20 minute work out videos in YouTube in my room if for when there isn't enough time on the days (or nights) I'm working, or the result of re-adapting/over-sleeping on the days off are also barriers.  

I tried a 12k run on nothing but fumes earlier this evening, mostly because I'm trying to up my distance and pace over shorter stretches, and get the fat burning progress going, but in general whether I've eaten beforehand or not, haven't seen any improvements. I've even tried incorporating 5-10 minutes HIIT in between a 5k on a couple occasions. I thought I had ran a pretty good 5k last week and only managed 25 minutes, when I was doing them in 23 comfortably last year. Now I know how Barry Allen feels like when he continuiously moans about not being fast enough.

[Spain]

On 10/18/2016 at 15:05, Forfinn said:

I've been using the Fitbit app to track my weight and body fat since January, with readings coming from these scales.  I've no idea how accurate the readings are, but like the whole step count thing, it's almost not that important - it's about the trend.  I started at a 22.5% and my initial target of dropping below 20% was as much of a motivator as the weight target.  Averaging around 18.5% now, which I'm happy with for now considering my gym visits are currently few and far between.

I bought those scales seeing as they were cheap, but I'm not entirely trusting of them. I've programmed in my details and it still seems to tell me the wrong BMI. I'm 6ft2 & 13st 11 which is a BMI of 24.7 but it keeps telling me I'm 25.1. It also seems to be stuck on 21.7% body fat. I'll stick with it for a few more weeks to see if it genuinely does change, but over the last couple of weeks I've had it I've definitely lost weight, lost fat and gained muscle so I would have expected it to have moved.

Current target is aiming to get far enough below 13 and a half stone that I'll stay below it over Christmas/New Year.

Edited October 28, 2016 by Spain

[mjw]

The scales won't know the difference between fat and muscle though.
If its just doing a calculation of weight and height etc there could be a lot of variables.

[Forfinn]

52 minutes ago, Spain said:

I bought those scales seeing as they were cheap, but I'm not entirely trusting of them. I've programmed in my details and it still seems to tell me the wrong BMI. I'm 6ft2 & 13st 11 which is a BMI of 24.7 but it keeps telling me I'm 25.1. It also seems to be stuck on 21.7% body fat. I'll stick with it for a few more weeks to see if it genuinely does change, but over the last couple of weeks I've had it I've definitely lost weight, lost fat and gained muscle so I would have expected it to have moved.

Current target is aiming to get far enough below 13 and a half stone that I'll stay below it over Christmas/New Year.

I don't know about the BMI variance, but you should definitely be seeing a variation in body fat - even if you weren't losing weight.  I take a reading most mornings, more because I'm interested in the trends and stats rather than an obsessive desire to lose weight or body fat.

Both are pretty consistent for me, but do vary day-to-day.  For example, this week I've recorded a different weight and body fat percentage each morning but the differences between the smallest and largest reading has been 0.6kg and 0.5%.

If it's giving you the same reading every time I'd be suspicious it's not working properly.

ETA: I've got no idea how it calculates body fat percentage, whether it's a simple calculation based on weight and height or some kind of witchcraft.  I should probably look that up.

Edited October 28, 2016 by Forfinn

[Benjamin_Nevis]

I've done nothing exercise-wise other than cycling since my knee injury flared up again after a miserable hillwalk in July. Started doing Spin classes twice a week and a Les Mills Sprint one as well, also throwing in some fannying about on an MTB whenever the weather allows, and it's probably been the best thing fitness wise I've done. Lost a 15 lbs since starting at the end of July without having to endure any sort of horrendous diet, just cutting out most of the obvious shite like chocolate and crisps. It's also helped my knee injury and I can now hillwalk without too many pain issues. The plan is to lose another 16 lbs by Christmas, then spend the rest of the winter training up for a couple of road cycling events, and later in the year to attempt the two-day traverse of the Cuillin ridge.