More thoughts on body fat percentage
I was left a comment today asking what I thought the biggest factor was for me lowering my body fat percentage. I wrote another body blog post about how I had drastically reduced the amount of soda that I was drinking. I definitely think that that was a huge factor. I did forget to mention something else, the number of times I am now eating throughout the day.
This won’t come as a surprise to anyone who has been at this game for a while, but as a newbie it still is surprising to me. I remember vividly the moment when I joined the gym and my trainer told me that he wanted me to eat at least five or six meals a day. I thought he was completely insane and I’m sure the look I gave him reflected that.
Before I started training I would eat lunch, dinner, a candy bar in the afternoon, and a midnight snack. That’s pretty much it. I had to drastically change how often I ate. I eat breakfast every day now (today it was a protein shake and a banana) and try to eat a healthy snack every 2-3 hours (along with lunch and dinner). Favorites are almonds, yogurt, bananas, grapes, turkey jerky, and protein bars. I eat Clif Builder’s bars instead of a candy bar in the afternoon now. They taste really good (especially the chocolate mint one) and feel more like a treat than something I am eating for protein.
Since I’m eating more than I ever have and eating so often I never expected my body fat percentage to do anything but go up. Since my goal was (is) to gain weight that only made sense to me. I was stunned to find the absolute opposite happen. I gained weight while at the same time my body fat percentage dropped. I never in a million years expected that to happen. It’s not cardio that did it because pretty much the only cardio my trainer has me do is five to ten minutes worth to warm up before I lift. That’s fine by me because I freaking HATE cardio.
While I’m pretty consistent with my diet I also believe that’s it’s very important to cheat. On Saturday night when I’m out having fun I’ll eat half of a 14” pizza and have two or three Cokes (the good stuff, not that nasty diet soda) with zero guilt.
Like I said, I’m new to all this, but this is what is working for me.
October 19, 2007 at 6:47 am
Thanks. I like the way you write, you are very honest! It is funny that I replied to you before reding your blog and the first thing you said here is that you had cut on the sodas. Interesting!
October 19, 2007 at 7:00 am
Wonderful blog. Glad you shared your thoughts. Looking forward to reading more from you.
November 2, 2007 at 1:21 pm
While surprising (that eating more frequenty can help you reduce body fat) I had several physiology professors in college say it works for many (if not most) people because skipping meals can actually trigger your fat storing mechanism. When the body doesn’t get food on a regular basis it goes into storage mode as a survival measure–never knowing when the next batch of calories are due, it stores all it can (most of it as fat). More frequent eating has the opposite effect, triggering the body to store little fat because the body doesn’t "worry" about not getting fed.
December 30, 2008 at 11:03 am
Just curious if you have an opinion on this, I took a body fat % test on one of those $1 machines in Vitamine Shoppe. It said I had almost 30%. Ive been lifting for 6 monthst and started at 10%. I still need to take another test but that has to be a mistake write? Im definately not obese or over weight at all.