All things balance in the world...

[lyorn]

After Thursdays "Yeah", today in the gym it was "meh". Or more like "WTFBBQ?".

Good things first, I managed to do the full workout 2 of NRoLfW stage 7. With weights that were one step above the pink plastic coated ones, but I managed. Probably because I was severely pissed off.

The reason for pissed-offness? I really did not expect that (at least according the the gym's body composition check) while doing stages 5 and 6, I'd lose 300g of muscle mass, nearly 200g of bone mass, and gain a f*** 2 kg of body fat, going up from about 22% to nearly 25%.

Bad thing is, I *feel* fat. So far I had thought it was just my old friend body dysmorphia coming to talk to me again. Tape measure said I gained two much-needed centimetres on my butt, which I expeced to be muscle and I can live with not fitting into last year's size four pants. (Got them at a clearance sale. No big loss.)

But now I am freaking out like, "OMFG, I'm going to gain all the weight back and have to buy all my clothes anew again and my mother will never talk to me again about anything other than how I'm a failure and a disappointment."

I should say, "It's just numbers and stupid ones at that", and I *am* wondering how the heck that machine works, where it gets its numbers from. But so far I had assumed that even if the numbers were crap, they could show a tendency. And now I think, can they? Can't they? And why do I even care?

Well, fear leads to anger and anger leads to lifting heavier... So, all things balance, except me attempting a yoga position.

But I just had to rant. And I would really love if someone could tell me some stuff to get rid of the nagging panic.

Also, kind of chin-up again today. But have to work on form. I look as if I am swimming against gravity.


edited to fix sentence structure

Comments

[rydra_wong]

How did the gym measure body composition? Since you mention a machine, was it bio-impedance (one of those scale things with a handle you hold)?

Because they are unreliable as fuck. And can be very very easily thrown off by things like differences in the time of day when you're measured, hydration levels (which are also affected by where you are in your menstrual cycle, for people who have them), exactly how tightly you hold the handle, whether your feet are sweating, and so on.

I've heard some people say that if you're absolutely consistent about how you use it, it can show overall direction of changes in body composition.

But I've got one (long story) which I used from time to time out of curiosity, and finally gave up because it wasn't telling me anything informative or registering changes (apart from seemingly-random fluctuations, and 22% to 25% body fat would be well within the range of the random fluctuations it showed for me) even when I could see in the mirror that I'd gained significant muscle.

[lyorn]

Thank you. The whole measuring thing seems to be made of woo, that's why I'm baffled that it hit me so hard. Looking in the mirror is a little problematic for me because I know that my sight is skewed when it comes to looking at myself. :-(

I think the gym is using infrared measuring, because it's just a pad against the arm.

Hmpf. Across the street they build medical machines that can tell you what's inside a Kinder Surprise egg without unwrapping the egg, and in the gym they do infrared measuring. There's some kind of joke here.

[0jack]

THIS. So much. Even if you're doing full-body submersion, there's a lot of woo involved. Also, most of those things are still using information that's largely from athletic men, so I would take it all with a big grain of salt.

[rydra_wong]

P.S.

(apart from seemingly-random fluctuations, and 22% to 25% body fat would be well within the range of the random fluctuations it showed for me)

Forgot to say: it would regularly show that level of fluctuation between one day and the next. And back again.

Which was, I felt, a fairly clear indication that it was not remotely useful or informative.

[daedala]

That measure is total shit. Please, please ignore it.

The gold standard is called DEXA in the US; it's used to measure bone density primarily. Not sure what it'd be called in Germany. It's a serious medical test.

Water immersion is good but can be off if you don't empty your lungs enough (you're supposed to breathe out all air).

Skin-fold calipers really depend on the wielder. Some people are good at it, some it so much.

Circumference measurements, bio-impedance, and basically anything easy are all crap. At best, they might show trends if you're careful to control conditions, but it's really iffy.

Visual inspection by someone skilled and practiced can also be good, but they're not necessarily easy to find.

[lyorn]

I try very hard to ignore it. Would have been nice to have a correction for my skewed perception but before I put down 50 Euros for a DEXA (= "Dualröntgenabsorbemetrie" *vbg*) I think I will live with the insecurity. There's insecure and then there's obsessed. (Though I can see "obsessed" from here...)

[coffeetime]

I have a feeling if you went into a different establishment and got measured by a different method, you'd have a totally different assessment.

Do you lift more now than you did before? Do you feel stronger? Those are pretty good measurements of progress, although they're difficult to precisely quantify.

[lyorn]

I have a feeling if you went into a different establishment and got measured by a different method, you'd have a totally different assessment.

Quite possibly. I suspect if I get into the same place and have another person do the measuring, it will probalby come out different.

Do you lift more now than you did before? Do you feel stronger?

It's tricky with NRoLfW, because there is a lot of change in number of reps, number of sets, and rest time. So, for example, I can lat pulldown 35 kilos in stage 7 but could do up to 50 in stage 6.

And I was always quite strong, but until three years ago I was also quite fat, which is why I react so badly, I think.

OTOH, I could do a chin-up for the first time in my life last week, so it can't be too bad. *G*