Body fat questions...

[Bustertb]

Eating less calories slows down the metabolism. The thinking is, slower metabolism = longer life. I have always been suspicious of diet supplements that 'speed up' the metabolism cause it is speeding up the heart rate. Exercise is one thing, but to speed up the heart rate with drugs...I dunno. Never sounded like a good idea to me.

Of course tomorrow is never promised. We can work out and look great and then one day our 'number' could be up, or be dx'd with an incurable disease. So I try to keep my health along with other things in my life, i.e. relationship, etc. in perspective.

[Dogmama]

Eating less calories slows down the metabolism. The thinking is, slower metabolism = longer life. I have always been suspicious of diet supplements that 'speed up' the metabolism cause it is speeding up the heart rate. Exercise is one thing, but to speed up the heart rate with drugs...I dunno. Never sounded like a good idea to me.

I think that diet & exercise account for 95% of good health, good bodyweight, etc. I need to concentrate on that 95% first before I decide I need to ingest some potentially dangerous supplements.

[Helen]

Did you notice that if you don't have regular exercise, you become more tired than usual ? Or is it just me ?

[DirtDiva]

Totally, but if I don't get regular exercise I don't sleep well, so I always figured that was the link.

[Helen]

Totally, but if I don't get regular exercise I don't sleep well, so I always figured that was the link.

You are so right. Sleeping can be a very good indicator of our health and also for our stress levels.

[mtbdarby]

musclicious505, I can't find your picture. Can you post a link? Thanks.

I second the question about the scales that gauge body fat. Any comments on how accurate these are?

[natheless]

re: body fat scales - most are not that accurate. Their value lies in their being consistently inaccurate. So, they are good as a tracking tool, but you shouldn't necessarily take them too seriously.

The problem with the bathroom scale version is that is measures via impedence, so a current travels up one leg, across the pelvis and down the other leg. Leaving out half your body.

If you get your body fat measured by a trained professional with calipers, and find out that it is 5% or 7% different than your scale reading (yes, they are usually that far off!), you can use that figure to adjust all your readings. It's also my understanding that the ones to buy are the kind that also measure your hydration, because how hydrated you are makes a big difference in your reading.

I have a bf scale, but I really only use it to give myself a boost (I enjoy watching the % drop)... for someone who really cares about bf and needs to know exactly - you should have it done by a professional, as well, and then you can use a home scale to keep track.