Pat has “Relentless Forward Progress” tattooed on his forearm. From my perspective, anything you get permanently etched into your skin should have a significant level of meaning to you. While many tattoos, mine included, require a good bit of explanation, the gist of this one is readily discernible. If asked, Pat would say it reminds him to get a little better every day. Digging even deeper would reveal that his focus is physical performance, whether it’s CrossFit, tennis, or simply athletic prowess.
In a previous post, I promised to provide a progress report after my DEXA scan. This low-dose x-ray test is most frequently used to determine bone mineral density for the diagnosis of osteoporosis. The patient receives a detailed breakdown of their body composition including bone mass, fat and lean tissue. While one scan provides interesting information, it is the fat to lean ratio, or body fat percentage, trend over time that I am most curious about.
Every body has a daily caloric need, or the amount of food that must be eaten to maintain equilibrium, based on the individual’s body composition and activity level. I can improve my body composition (decrease my body fat percentage) in two ways. The most obvious is reduce the total amount of energy I have stored, also known as fat. The less obvious, and more difficult to accomplish, is increase the total amount of lean tissue, also known as muscle. The first requires a calorie deficit, and the second requires a calorie surplus. Unfortunately, both these eating patterns tend to have an undesirable side-effect. Under-eating can stimulate the mobilization of stored energy (fat) but the body often also dips into its lean tissue (muscle) to help avoid what it perceives as the threat of starvation. Over-eating provides extra calories that will be used to build mass. In the absence of appropriate muscle damaging exercise that stimulates repair and growth, the mass that gets built is fat (stored energy.)
That is more set-up than I expected to provide for this post, but I hope it is elucidating. Basically, it’s difficult to either lose fat without losing muscle, or gain muscle without gaining fat. It’s very challenging (dare I say magical?) to decrease fat and increase lean mass at the same time. Usually an individual has to set one goal or the other and be prepared for the undesired side-effect. On my previous DEXA scan (6/22/19) I was 25.8% body fat, with 41 lbs. of fat and 118 lbs. of muscle. On July 30, 2019 I embarked on a period of focused fat loss with Eat To Perform nutritional coaching. Are you ready to hear how it went?
The September 30, 2019 scan revealed my body fat at 22.8%, with 35 lbs. fat and 119 lbs of muscle. That’s a body fat percentage decrease of 3% with a small increase in muscle, which is really impressive. I’m posting this to chronicle my ongoing journey, not to garner congratulations. But if you can be a unicorn, be a unicorn.
