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Tuesday, January 26, 2010

You don't fatten a pig by weighing it

The quote in the title is about assessment -- that testing by itself doesn't cause improvement unless you use the numbers to guide changes in what you do. (Think about all the school testing we do, for example. We don't use those test results to help us fix schools, just to justify not funding them adequately).

I use it here to remind myself that seeing the numbers I saw on my new body fat scale did not make me fatter. I am not going to post those numbers here, because whenever I post numbers, I find that they just give people something else to feel bad about (sort of like buying a body fat scale) if their numbers aren't as good as mine. What upsets me is that given these numbers, my weight goal of 155 is not low enough to get to a healthy body fat percentage. And I haven't made great strides in even getting to that apparently inadequate number. I have been playing around with 5 pounds for, oh, 2 years now. Suffice it to say that my body fat range puts me in the high end of "overfat" when the numbers on the picture here would be more where I probably should be.

I weighed myself on my old scale and the new one just to check the accuracy, and I do weigh slightly less (0.7 pounds) on the new one -- but it's close enough to the same to be meaningless. I am just going to shift over to the new scale and not keep using the old one, because I think that would make me crazier than I already am. I will continue to use my Monday morning weigh-ins as the "official" one.

So back to my opening paragraph -- testing itself doesn't create improvement. You need to do something about the numbers. Increasing my strength training, for example, to bump up my lean body mass. Continuing to work on decreasing my calories so that I can use some of this stored energy would be another good step.

I also think I'm going to see if my doctor will give me a referral for allergy testing. I felt pretty crummy when we got a slight thaw -- whatever I'm allergic to must have thawed out. It's colder again and I feel slightly better. Knowing what allergies I have may help me have more energy if I can find ways to avoid the allergens. Someone here posted that they had a thyroid problem that was made worse by a gluten sensitivity. I wonder if something like that might be going on with me as well. I need to figure out what is sapping my energy all the time.

I had a dream last night that I went running. Can you tell I miss it? But at the same time, I'm not sure I would have the energy for it now anyway.

4 comments:

  1. 1:19 PM

    I am getting tested for my thyroid as well. I have low energy, hair loss, sluggish. etc. I would like to have an answer because it seems like no matter what I do I cant get enough energy to work out or move through out the day. I understand how you feel about the numbers and i like how you are making a plan to make those numbers mean something. I know you can do it

    Reply
  2. 3:12 PM

    It's definitely frustrating to get to "goal" and then struggle with toning. That's where I am now and it's annoying to know I don't need to lose weight but do need to tone up. It's a struggle, for sure.

    Reply
  3. 11:10 AM

    I have a scale by this same manufacturer. I've had it for 3-4 years now. It tracks the stats for 4 different people. You enter the age, gender, etc. information and it uses that info in determining the body fat.

    If yours is the same, do this and you will feel better right away. Push the button so that the gender is male instead of female and look and see what happens to your body fat percentage. A much "nicer" number, eh?

    I thought that was interesting. The percentage of body fat changes based on your hydration level as well. Although you'll see fluctuations in this, it is still valuable information because you can see overall changes. But still, it is a depressing number isn't it? (I blame it on big boobs - LOL)

    Reply
  4. 4:28 PM

    It seems like people do get health tests and tend to ignore them. I know that is the case in my family. Do something about your health! Don't just take a pill to cover it up!

    I know that isn't what you are talking about, but this post made me think about it.

    I hope your foot gets better soon!

    Reply

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"Count your calories, work out when you can, and try to be good to yourself. All the rest is bulls**t." -- Jillian Michaels at BlogHer '07