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!
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| 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!
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