Me, In Numbers

So far, this week has been good to me.  I feel lighter, always important, and I have been feeling an unusual amount of discipline.  I always have to take advantage of this flash of motivation when it presents itself to me because, unfortunately, it's a fair weather friend.  A few weeks ago I bought a deal on Living Social for four weeks of supervised medical weight loss.  Come to mama.  They analyzed my body fat, weighed me in (always a treat after 5:00pm) and reviewed my blood work with me.  My blood work was pretty good, everything within normal limits except for my vitamin D, which is quite low (level 16, should be up around 50!) .  This makes sense because it's winter in Connecticut, but still good to know and now I am addressing it with an additional supplement.  Also a good excuse to get out in the sun, if it ever shows its face on this side of the country.  The only other levels I thought I could do better on were my cholesterol scores.  Again, everything within normal range but I think it would be in my best interest (and everyone's really, I guess) to increase my HDL (the good stuff) and decrease my LDL (the bad stuff).  But otherwise, I was pleased with those results.  The other results, ehhhh.

Presenting, ladies and gentlemen, the woman who is 34.5% body fat.  Yes, step right up folks, a THIRD of her body mass is consumed by fat!  She also doubles as the bearded lady when she gets lazy with her hygiene!  Step right up!

OK, perhaps that description is a tad dramatic.  But, sometimes, those numbers hit ya hard.  I weighed in at 174.5 lbs (with all my clothes. I thought that was quite rude, just saying).  34.5% body fat translates to 60 lbs of fat on the ol' lady here (to which my mother responded, "Sixty pounds of fat?!"  Thanks, Mom).  It's not terrible.  Actually, given the normal ranges, it's not too bad.  The "desirable range" is 23-34% or the equivalent of 31-53.5 pounds.  So, not too far from the upper range.  Definitely much closer than I was a few months ago when I would have been 38% body fat (why thank you, No, I'm Not Pregnant!).  My "fat free mass" or as the professionals call it, FFM, is 114.5 pounds.  This is how much my body would weigh without an ounce of fat on it, which is obviously not possible (oh, well).  This kind of put some things in perspective for me.  I spent the better part of my week since this appointment calculating my body fat percentage at various weights.  At my current weight, I'm around 34.5%.  At my ultimate goal weight of 135 pounds, I'll be at just under 15% (20 pounds of fat / 135 pounds total = .15 x 100 = 15%).  Um, I don't know about you but 15% body fat seems a bit out of reach, unless I plan to start training for 2016.  The chart I referenced explained that in women, 21-24% is considered a "fitness" level, while 14-20% is "athletic".  25-31% is considered average and anything over 32% is in the obese category (that seems a bit harsh...).

My goal here is fitness.  Athlete would be cool but I don't want to add "delusional" onto my list of adjectives along with chubby and pregnant so I think setting the goal at fitness is high enough (or low enough?).  And what do you know that brings me down to? 145 pounds.  I really have to mull over this.  I was able to get down to 145 pounds not that long ago (a few years ago) and while I did look good, I didn't think I looked thin, or even, athletic.  I was pretty average, just right.  I'm not complaining about that but I think I'll have to get down to this weight first and then see how it goes.  Maybe I will settle in at a fitness level of 145 or maybe I'll start weight training and running marathons and round out at an athletic 135.  I guess, time will tell.  But, this number did shed some light on things for me.  Maybe my body is a little bigger than I thought.  Maybe I have a reasonable amount of muscle under here.  Maybe it's OK not to be a certain number on the scale as long as you are healthy and strong.  Besides, to be honest, I have no interest in losing weight, only fat.

And while we're at it, here's a few more numbers...

3.5        Average number of miles I am now running
4           Percentage of body fat I have lost since starting this journey
11.4      Pounds lost (according to my scale) so far
14         Weeks down
26         Weeks to go
59         Average number of times I think about food each minute
2.5        Number of inches I've lost off my waist (yeeeeeaaa!)
1.5        Number of inches I've lost from my bust (whattaya gonna do?)
5           Average number of days I work out each week
80         Ounces of water I drink each day
0           Average number of blog comments each week (hint, hint :)

And, haven't posted much of a picture in awhile, so why not a nice before/after?  After all, 11.4 pounds is something to celebrate!  Please note that the week 1 pictures are farther away... so um, keep that in mind.  Still rockin' the muffin top but I think it's getting smaller.... I think...

Pardon the tail