Acceptable

Stay tuned for the 2nd installment of Memory Mondays...

In the middle of May, I started a workout program called Insanity that was run through the gym at work.  Before beginning, we had our body fat percentage calculated by our resident fitness guru, Lindy, so that we could compare them with our results at the end. It was the first time I was brave enough to have my body fat percentage measured.

We got the results on May 23, and much to my surprise, I was in the “Acceptable” range for my age group, 30-49 year olds. 

I immediately freaked out.  Yes, I had spent the last 10 months trying very hard to improve my health. Yes, I had also lost 80 pounds. But I was still in plus-size pants! And according to the online body mass index, I still needed to lose 60 more pounds to be in the “healthy” range for my height.

I wrote Lindy an email explaining that I could not possibly have an “acceptable” body fat percentage. I told her that I am overweight, I always have been.  Was it possible that she miscalculated?

It turns out that she is very good at what she does, (not that I was really doubting her) and she has a one percent accuracy guarantee when it comes to body fat calculations. She first told me I needed to stop thinking about the body mass index scale. Because it is only based on height, it takes nothing else into consideration (like the fact that my hips make it clear that I’m a descendant of the Johnson family).  She reminded me that I just turned 30 two weeks before, so I was just barely into this higher age range, and I might consider looking at how my percentage measured up in the 16-29 age group. When I took a look at their chart, my body fat percentage was, just barely, considered “Overfat.” Crazily, despite how hard I worked, this was actually more acceptable to me. After all, it’s all I’ve ever known.

Lindy also reminded me that I had come a long way and that maybe I needed to appreciate the work I had put in, recognizing the changes in myself.  She suggested that perhaps I shouldn’t be so concerned with the categories and the charts and just concentrate on improving my percentage over the next two months of the program. 

So, I did.  I stopped thinking about the number and concentrated on these insane workouts instead (turns out, Insanity is aptly titled).  At the end of the summer, when our results were measured again, I had not lost any weight, but I had reduced my body fat percentage by almost a whole percentage point, putting me squarely in the “acceptable” category for both age groups.   Pretty crazy.

Now when negative thoughts creep in about how far I still have to go, I try to stop them in their tracks by reminding myself of how far I've come.  If you're trying to lose weight, it's a good idea to get your body fat measured and use that as another way to see your progress.