Time has a wonderful way to show us what really matters Margaret Peters |
Monday, 10 December 2012
The present of time
My health & fitness are of primary importance to me and the
benefits of my personal discipline to both reach into the corners of every
aspect of my life; helping me to stay well during stressful times & enabling
me to pick myself up when people or events have pulled the rug from under me. The last few years, spent mostly studying, have
been extremely testing and I truly don’t believe I could have sustained the
mental strength it required without optimum nutrition and the freedom to
breathe that running gave to me. I can’t
take all the credit though, it’s been my mum that was always at the end of the phone
when the going got tough; often I don’t think she fully understood everything I
talked about; research papers, deadlines, grades etc., but she gave me her time
and she allowed me to talk and in talking I could hear myself and in so doing I
found solutions and answers that always lay within but just needed a
voice. Now that is behind me and my
weekends are not spent tied to a desk, I’ve devoted the last two Sundays making
plans and preparing for Christmas with her; she isn’t physically able to do
what she once could and so now I use the vitality and energy that my lifestyle rewards
me with to do what I can to make this a special time. There are many things that I would like to do
for my mum – buy her a bungalow, take her on a guided tour of Rome and the
Sistine Chapel and maybe one day I will be able to, but for now I give her my
time, which I believe is one of the greatest gifts, particularly at this time of
year, that we can give to another soul.
Cathy x
Friday, 7 December 2012
Scales of Measure
I want to share with you the following, in order to demonstrate
that focusing upon weight and being a slave to the scales is definitely not the
best indicator in determining the health of your body!
I decided to base my research for this module upon how a personal
commitment to a meticulous nutrition & exercise discipline would enable me
to improve my physique and reduce my total fat mass; after all, if you’re going
to advise others to make lifestyle changes, you must first be prepared to do so
yourself!
My first measurements undertaken in the bod pod on the 1st of February 2012 revealed the following:-
This was definitely not the result I was hoping to achieve, but nevertheless the data is revealing in several ways; it demonstrates that physical exercise is essential in maintaining fat free mass, reveals how rapidly body composition can change and how ineffective focusing solely upon weight and BMI is in determining the risk of developing weight-associated diseases such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
Cathy x
In January of this year I returned to MMU to complete the final
two modules of my MSc, one of which was based upon body composition. This literally means what it says, what the
body is composed of, i.e. fat mass and fat free mass; fat mass is the amount of
fat in the body and fat free mass is everything else, i.e. water, protein (muscle)
& mineral (bone). We were extremely
fortunate to have access to a range of body composition measuring tools, one of
which has the amazing title of “air displacement plethysmography”, more familiarly
known as the Bod Pod; a very expensive and state-of-the-art piece of kit that
measures changes in air volume and pressure to determine the fat mass and fat
free mass of the lycra clad individual inside!
Cross-sectional view of the Bod Pod |
My first measurements undertaken in the bod pod on the 1st of February 2012 revealed the following:-
Weight
|
74.5 kg
|
Body Mass Index (BMI)
|
23 (normal 20-25)
|
Waist Circumference
|
79 cm
|
Fat Mass
|
19.9%
|
Bod Pod Rating
|
Lean
|
Obviously I was very pleased with these results, but I wanted to
see if I could improve upon them and set myself a goal of approximately 7 weeks
in which to do so. However, things did
not proceed as planned and the second module being undertaken was incredibly
demanding and time-consuming, so much so that I was literally working on it day
and night. Dedicating every spare moment sat at the computer, in order to meet
submission deadlines meant that I couldn’t possibly adhere to my proposed plan
and although I didn’t adopt unhealthy eating patterns, I didn’t dedicate the
time that I would normally to preparing my meals. My running timetable decreased to just a
couple of times per week and my attendance at the gym reduced by half and as
such, my energy intake decreased as I obviously didn’t require
the same amount of fuel if I wasn’t training. The 7 seven weeks passed quickly and I
returned to the lab on the 21st of March 2012 where a repeat of the
same measurements revealed the following:-
Weight
|
72.9 kg
|
Body Mass Index (BMI)
|
22 (normal 20-25)
|
Waist Circumference
|
83 cm
|
Fat Mass
|
22.9%
|
Bod Pod Rating
|
Moderately
Lean
|
So, let’s take a closer look at this; due to my decreased energy
intake my weight had reduced by 1.6 kg, reducing my BMI measurement
accordingly; now if these were the only measurements you were using to assess
your health, you would have good reason to think that this was beneficial. However, as you can also see my waist circumference measurement, a good measure of central fat distribution and
predictor of increased risk to health, had in-fact increased by 4 cm, taking it
above the recommended 80 cm cut-off and my fat mass had increased by 3%,
facilitating a reduction in my bod pod fitness rating.
Central & abdominal adiposity - associated with the risk of insulin resistance, the possibility of developing type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease |
This was definitely not the result I was hoping to achieve, but nevertheless the data is revealing in several ways; it demonstrates that physical exercise is essential in maintaining fat free mass, reveals how rapidly body composition can change and how ineffective focusing solely upon weight and BMI is in determining the risk of developing weight-associated diseases such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
Clients often ask me how quickly they can expect to see positive
results from adopting recommended changes - healthier eating patterns and
carrying out some form of physical exercise and I think that they seldom
believe me when I tell them just a matter of weeks; I think the results from
this unintentional but nonetheless valuable reverse development, reveal this to
be the truth!
Wednesday, 5 December 2012
Food for Thought
“A human being is
primarily a bag for putting food into; the other functions and faculties may be
more godlike, but in point of time they come afterwards. A man dies and is
buried, and all his words and actions are forgotten, but the food he has eaten
lives after him in the sound or rotten bones of his children. I think it could
be plausibly argued that changes of diet are more important than changes of dynasty
or even of religion.... yet it is curious how seldom the all-importance of food
is recognized. You see statues everywhere to politicians, poets, bishops, but
none to cooks or bacon-curers or market gardeners.”
George Orwell - The Road to Wigan Pier
George Orwell - The Road to Wigan Pier
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