Thoughts on my Hydrostatic Body Fat Test

Hello!

 A few days ago my sister and I underwent Hydrostatic Body Fat tests at Utah State University. I was really not looking forward to it after I immersed myself in every video I could find on Youtube. Being dunked in water, repeatedly, while expelling all of the air in your lungs really just sounds like drowning. Am I wrong?


 Needless to say once I had signed up with someone else I was committed to go and went we did. Because the test and calculations were performed by graduate students it only cost me $15.00 :). I was one of the first ones so the professor did my test as an example for the students so I feel pretty confident in the accuracy of my results. The professor also checked all of the calculations and sent us an e-mail confirming that the results we received on the day of the test were correct. I waited until I had received that e-mail to write this because I was shocked by my results. But back to the test....


 Our instructions were to arrive with a bathing suit and a towel. Once there they took our height telling us to stand as tall as we could (I was 162.8 cm). We were then weighed on a digital scale in our bathing suits (54.8 kg). They give you very clear instructions about stepping down into the pool, haha I mean I'm sure it's protocol but I felt like they thought I might drown myself. I lowered myself into the water (which was very warm thankfully!) and back onto the metal chair that suspends down into the water from the scale. It was really hard for me to sit on the chair without submerging my face in the water. I was instructed to hold onto the sides of the chair to ensure that I was sitting flat bottomed on it. They then instruct you to slowly lean forward into the water while exhaling all of the air in your lungs until you are completely submerged. Once submerged you wait until they yell for you to come back up, or your drowning (which I did once haha). They made me repeat this procedure six times, I exhaled my air so forcefully on my last trial that my lip was quivering while I waited for them to tell me I could come back up. Needless to say I was very breathless by the time we were done.

USU Hydrostatic Body Fat Testing Pool

(Photo Credit:https://hper.usu.edu/htm/lab-facilities/research-labs/body-composition-lab) 

Results

WHAT?! 15% body fat.

 That's horrible. I mean that's super excellent for someone who wants to be trim, toned, and maybe fitness compete but that is terrible for overall general health. The graduate student who explained my results to me said "well...we usually look for women to be in the 20% range...but this is still healthy". I am actually very grateful that I went because it was an eye opener for the state of my body composition. Looks can be deceiving and I am apparently packing around a high amount of muscle right now. I like the way my body looks right now but this actually explains some nagging health problems I have been dealing with that could definitely be due to maintaining my body fat so low. Body fat is super important for hormones and overall health. Just like having a high percent body fat puts you at risk for certain diseases, a low body fat can bring on a whole host of health problems.

How I Plan to Move Forward

I'm going to have to increase my body fat to at least 18% to hopefully resolve some of my health issues, 20% would be ideal. Prior to this testing I had been very carefully tracking my macronutrients and calories in MFP for a very slow rate of fat loss. I was hoping to lean out.....maybe I have mental problems ha. I was also following a six days a week weight lifting/cardio program where I was spending an hour a day in the gym. 

With this new information I plan to increase my calories to maintenance and slightly increase my carbohydrate consumption. I am still going to track this in MFP to ensure that I am actually eating enough calories - which apparently I am really bad at. I also plan to cut down to only four days a week of weight lifting/cardio. 

All that being said, I am upset. Working out is my passion, my therapy, and my talent. My day doesn't feel complete until I have gone to the gym, lifted up heavy things, and listened to motivating music. But I'm going to have to figure this out - for my health.

-Katelyn