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

Motivating Yourself

Sometimes when I don't want to workout....or I feel like I the odds are stacked against me in accomplishing my life dreams. I go watch this on Youtube. The one thing I've learned about motivation is it's not going to be there everyday and sometimes it even leaves for weeks at a time. But it's what you do EVERYDAY that counts. You have to build a fire to accomplish your goal so large in yourself that you can keep going off of the burning embers. And I promise you that it will come back and when it does you will pat yourself on the back for making it through the dark days. Consistency is the key. -Katelyn

Saying NO to 'Adult Life'

Well here it goes.... I used to be that person who never understood how people were out of shape, never understood why they couldn't just go to the gym, never understood why they felt insecure in a gym, never understood why it was so hard to eat healthy. I mean if I had managed to do it for five years consistently it couldn't be that damn hard.

I get it now. And you know what, I refuse to let adult life conquer me. I am standing up to the way society is and I am no longer succumbing to the stresses of daily life. I will not be taken down.

Let me back up here. I have now been graduated from college for nearly a year. We are living in my father's basement to save money which has put me two hours away from the rest of my family and all of my friends. I work a stressful and exhausting job that requires twelve hour shifts and a 45 minute commute each way. I'd like to say that because of all of this 'I just don't have time anymore.' But the reality is I only work 3-4 days a week and I have a RIDICULOUS AMOUNT of time to myself. I always think about how much time I have and how much other people (like my mother!) would do with all of it. And here all I've done with my spare time is make Netflix my new BFF.

I thought that after college and with my new job I would prep all of meals, have my macronutrients on point, be able to do fasted cardio in the AM, and weight lifting in the PM. I really thought that I was finally going to be able to devote all of the time I had ever wanted to accomplishing my fitness goals. Well wasn't I naive. It's really not that I'm lazy. I have so much time that my time lacks purpose....which depresses me. And the further I have fallen out of shape the less confidence I have to even bring myself back to where I was. On top of all of this I no longer am able to control my nutrition environment. I can't only keep healthy foods in the house. I am living with someone who keeps a pantry stocked full of Oreos, Chocolate covered almonds, Sugary cereals, etc.

And so I finally understand. I understand what it is like to go to the gym and not be able to complete your planned workout because you feel insecure. I understand what it's like to have no motivation to go to the gym at all because it seems like you have so much to accomplish. I understand what it is like to live in a household full of temptations. And I understand what it feels like to be so tired and stressed after work that all you want to do is watch TV and eat. While other people looking in might say 'welcome to adult life that's just the way it is'. Or ' I knew you wouldn't be able to keep it up forever'. I'm saying no. That is NOT just 'adult life', that is NOT just the way it has to be as we all get older. I am reclaiming my passion for this and I am refusing to become the average. And in doing so I hope that I can inspire other people to say no to typical adult life. I want to feel healthy, strong, and confident. There is so much I want to do in this life and it all is going to rely on a healthy body --from babies to traveling to hiking.

And so here they are...my accountability posters. I made these before April 1st and never actually started. They are still good to use! I wrote my reason for 'why' on the bottom of mine so that whenever I pass it I can see why this is so important to me. I am blessed to have a husband who goes a long with whatever I do and supports me. He wants to be healthy ALMOST as much as I do ;).

Now I invite everyone to say NO to 'adult life'. Whether it is holding you back from health and fitness goals, holding you back from having fun, or making you think you must continue with a career that makes you unhappy. Whatever it is -- it is time to realize that life is short and you cannot let the chaos of it defeat you from being who you want to be.

- Katelyn