Been wanting to write to the internet about this. Hyper-babble mode engaged.
I had a DEXA scan on Saturday. I was pleasantly surprised by the numbers, as my scale was showing 33% body fat. DEXA says 29%
Here are some screenshots from the scan. Turns out I’m healthy right now!! I have a high metabolism (shocker!!). My bone density is excellent, and I’m symmetrical hehe.
Here’s the results for those interested. I wish I’d done this both in 2010 and in 2020. I’ll go every 3-6 months now.
I annotated the results a bit to make them more understandable.
While the DEXA scan will become important when I get follow-up scans (to make sure I’m losing fat and adding muscle, while not losing bone density), the results of the Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) test are what I needed right now to dial in my food/exercise.
I’m much healthier than I expected. I’m also undereating by a lot -which is not sustainable. But I will be able to eat nearly double once I hit my goals. The current goal is about 25% body fat, ~135lbs – but then I want to see muscle definition.
This journey will take 2-5 years. My goal date to see some real muscular definition (maybe even abs? Though that’s very dependent on genetics) will be my 50th birthday (I’m 45 right now).
At which point I’ll simply… continue, forever. So that I can live a long, healthy, mobile, and active life.
Can I actually keep it up? I think I can. I’m really enjoying the lifting routine (push-pull, legs, 3 days on, 1 day off) and learning how to cook healthy, high-protein meals. It feels sustainable but…. so did paleo for the first year. Intermittent fasting has proven much more sustainable, at least.
And yes, I’m still eating choc chip cookie dough, pizza, ice cream, cake. Just … not constantly, as I used to. I think that’s part of why this feels sustainable when I bombed paleo after a year. Too much restriction and sacrifice on the paleo setup, at least for my sugar-addicted brain.
distant, early morning 