Really Surprised by My Dexa Results 5'8'', 170 pounds, 30% Bodyfat

[pedroinspain]

@aeromorg Thanks!

And yup, just a number. still fitter than ever. Best of luck in smashing your goals!

 

[bubblegum2021]

@pedroinspain We see all over the internet that being overweight by BMI is bullshit when you workout because it's actually all muscle, so of course people expect themselves to be super lean. But, truth is, it is EXTREMELY rare for women to fall into that category. But, you lost a huge amount of weight, you are definitely just on the crisp of the healthy range where there IS indeed room for error. So you definitely are on the right track and you have loads to be proud of. And honestly, you don't even have that much/visible extra skin; and when I factor in how much you actually lost, it's not even a factor. Just one last opinion, though, you say you will not change anything, which is up to you, and you definitely know what to do, having come so far; but you said you were not getting in the protein and you were expecting to have super high muscle mass, maybe this may not be the best plan for the future. Just in terms of protein intake/diet? Think about it.

 

[pedroinspain]

@bubblegum2021 Also, related kind of. I did receive confirmation yesterday that I have large bones. I'm 1.6 standard deviations above the mean skeletal weight by height.

But for a 5.8 and 1/2 inch woman? That's 6 pounds total of bone. Cannot stop laughing.

 

[dawn16]

@pedroinspain Jeez how are our bones so light yet tough?!

 

[pedroinspain]

@dawn16 Amazed I've never snapped one!

 

[pedroinspain]

@bubblegum2021 Hey, sorry if my post was confusing.

When I was thinking about things in the semi-recent past that could affect where my bodyfat is today, one former factor was prior vegetarian diet and prior protein intake.

I was vegetarian as teenager and again for about 6 months last year, during which time my weight loss largely stalled and I feel my body composition didn't move in the right direction. I started eating meat again about 5 months ago when I started working out quite a bit.

I'm currently on a 132 grams of protein a day and it feels like a really great amount.

I think that's good feedback and if I was still trying to build muscle on what I'd preciously been taking in, it would be a lot more challenging

Thank you!

 

[bubblegum2021]

@pedroinspain Oh, thank you for the clarification, 132 grams of protein sounds really good. So, yes, you are definitely doing the right thing and you have already achieved a lot, so with patience and work, you will realise all your goals! Btw, if you are interested, there were quite a few discussions of vegetarian protein sources on this sub! I am not one, so I don't have links, but maybe if you try a search, you will find the discussions. Maybe they can give you some extra ideas - that's why I read the topics myself, not a vegetarian, but good to have options!

 

[pedroinspain]

@bubblegum2021 Awesome, thank you for pointing me to that resource I have noticed there's some vegetarian ladies here who smash their protein goals.

 

[akaya]

@pedroinspain Thank you so much for sharing your results. You've clearly worked very hard and you look amazing!

 

[pedroinspain]

@akaya Thank you so much!

 

[ove21]

@pedroinspain You look fantastic, congratulations on losing all that weight. That's a huge accomplishment. I'm just curious why you're not doing more weights sessions?

edit: trying not to sound like a jerk

 

[pedroinspain]

@ove21 Totally reasonable question, I'm an open book!

I think the short answer is that I am viewing my training as a very long improvement season and my first goal is to reach a healthy BMI and body fat levels.

my training approach is very dynamic (adjusted weekly) and my body is responding incredibly well to LISS cardio. My next.mini-goal for this cut is 160. When I get to a good training weight, I'll build some hyooooog lats I think for me that might be 146 but I'm not really sure.

My coach is a competitive bodybuilder, so that's the angle he's coming from in training me. Fasted, low intensity cardio is the first tactic they take to lean out for competition and it's proved really effective for me (which is awesome because I can read Kindle on the bike for hours and kind of hate HIIT).

And thank you for the compliment!!!

 

[pedroinspain]

I thought I responded to comment asking about DEXA accuracy and then it disappeared.

I'm just full of Monday-fail

FWIW, I measure 20% on the US Navy calculator, which definitely skewed my expectations: http://fitness.bizcalcs.com/Calculator.asp?Calc=Body-Fat-Navy

Yes, DEXA is the most reliable method available!

 

[dasiebe01]

@pedroinspain 30% is perfectly fine and IMO quite good for a BMI of 25.5 - 24% is actually quite lean. 30% is not too easy to attain for a formerly 300lb woman with PCOS. Please, give yourself credit for coming so far. Most women underestimate their bf % and don't realize how common 30% is for active, fit women.

 

[pedroinspain]

@shoeshavetongues I really tried to prepare, I really did.

But honestly...I didn't anticipate that the Navy BF test would be off by a 33% margin of error on me. Or that a bioimpedence at my gym, which we all know is bunk, would have overshot my lean mass by a whopping 25 pounds(!)

That definitely contributed to my surprise, especially when combined with the fact that I am just an extremely vascular person (apparently).

As someone with a disordered eating past I think, I put way too much emotional weight on this number, and I have no one to blame for that but myself...and probably how crappy other, more widely-available tests are.

 

[pedroinspain]

@dasiebe01 Thanks so much That's basically exactly what the lady who did my scan said yesterday, haha! She said I was smack inside the healthy range for a 30-year old.

I had my Dexa done in Seattle and honestly have nothing but glowing things to say about DexaFit Seattle. Great people, generous family, will definitely go back.

 

[totlanh]

@pedroinspain deleted [sup][sup][sup]What[/sup][/sup][/sup] [sup][sup][sup]is[/sup][/sup][/sup] [sup][sup][sup]this?[/sup][/sup][/sup]

 

[pedroinspain]

@totlanh Call them! They literally JUST moved to their W John Street location (as in, 2 days ago) and they are running special pricing that's significantly lower than anything posted anywhere online, including on Groupon.