by Kat
Justin and I had our body fat measured through hydrostatic (i.e. dunk tank) testing. This is the most reliable method of measurement available-- far more so than caliper (pinch) testing or electric current testing (i.e. fat measurement scales). The dunk tank comes to my yuppie gym every few months or so, and we decided it would be fun to have ours measured. A lot of people get their body fat tested as a health concern, but we were more curious than anything. Neither of us is worried about weight as more than a vanity point, but knowing our actual body fat percentage will set a reliable baseline from which we can draw comparison later in life.
The procedure itself takes less than five minutes, but there is some time involved for changing into and out of a bathing suit and discussion of your results. First, you take height and weight measurements. Then, you get into your suit and sit in a warm-ish tub of water, the bottom of which is a free-floating scale. You secure your quads with a weight belt, empty all the air from your lungs, and lay back until you are fully submerged.
It's critical to empty all of the air out of your chest cavity and air passages because any that remains inside your body contributes to buoyancy and is measured as fat. Talk about a good motivator to take a nice breath OUT.
You repeat this process a few times to set an average (and because it's easier to empty your lungs after the first time), then exit the tub and dry off.
The results are ready immediately-- you receive a printout with your body fat percentage, fat and lean mass ratio, percentile for your age group, etc. You're also given a calculated resting metabolic rate, which is approximately 70% of your daily energy expenditure in calories, or approximately how many calories needed to sustain your body daily at a minimal resting level.
They include a few other goodies for weight loss and goal-setting purposes, such as the amount of weight you should lose to lower your fat X percent and the number of calories your metabolism specifically burns for 30 minutes of a given activity.
It's a fun test and a neat bit of trivia to know about yourself.
I bet my coworker Jeff that I would come in at just over 20%, which is normal for a woman. Eighteen percent is an athletic build. He bet me I would come in under 20%, so we set a five dollar wager.
For your reference, men have substantially lower body fat than women. (Given that we have hips, asses, and breasts, is that surprising?) For example, this test marked the midline (50th percentile) for women age 20-29 as 22.1% and for men aged 20-29 as 15.9%. See what I mean?
Well, it ends up that I owe Jeff five dollars. My results were somewhat lower than I expected... 17.1%
Here's a breakdown of our results:
Kat's results:Height: 70 inches
Dry Weight: 149 lbs
Wet Weight: 4.51 lbs
Body Fat Percentage: 17.1%
Lean Body Mass Percentage: 82.9%
Weight of Fat: 25.5 lbs (EW)
Weight of Lean Body Mass: 123.5
Percentile for age group: 80th
Resting Metabolic Rate (70% daily calorie burn): 1714
Justin's results:Height: 69.25 inches
Dry Weight: 150 lbs
Wet Weight: 7.92 lbs
Body Fat Percentage: 8%
Lean Body Mass Percentage: 91.95%
Weight of Fat: 12.05 lbs (!!)
Weight of Lean Body Mass: 137.9
Percentile for age group: 85th
Resting Metabolic Rate (70% daily calorie burn): 1857
It's really funny... we're almost in identical categories for our gender. We're like two halves of the same mold. D'aww. :D
Anywho, if you have a chance to have this done somewhere near you, I recommend it. Our tank offered a student rate of only $25 and given that this type of information is a great motivator if you DO have health concerns, it really can be a life saver!
Posted on @ 10:21 PM |
1 comments
AmandaLin, at
7:04 AM, April 15, 2008
, at
5:06 PM, April 15, 2008
