Time once again for my quarterly "face the music" post where I put all my health and fitness related numbers on display and subject myself to ridicule and scrutiny for either "letting myself go" or for "not doing enough". In addition to all that it also gives me a single page I can go to and review where my health and fitness is headed and what, if anything, I need to do to get back on track.
Of course, not everything health and fitness related can be measured in numerical terms. I won't go into the philosophical aspects of consciousness and relative perception on health and fitness though because this is a By The Numbers post. Numbers are probably not even the greatest considerations when evaluating health and fitness, but they are the easiest to measure..., so let's begin.
Weight
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| Post workout weight for days when Pre workout weight is above 170 |
This was an interesting experiment. I had barely started it when I did my last quarterly review, but I've been running it now for 5 months and the results are starting to become clear. Basically the idea was to take the focus off my weight so that I could concentrate on adding just a few lbs of muscle mass. The idea was to only weigh myself after my workouts when my first-thing-in-the-morning-weight is above 170. For May and June I had many days where I was waking up with a weight of 170 or less, so I didn't weigh myself on those days after my workouts and I didn't worry about it. By July, however, I was waking up above 170 everyday and recording my post-workout weight just as frequently as before. Looks like my post-workout weight is about 170 on average right now, up from about 163 in April when I was peaking athletically for the Blue Ridge Half Marathon.
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| Disregarding everything before April because I was using the chart as a rounded reflection of the post-workout chart before then. This chart shows my weight first thing in the morning, on the last day of the month, rounded to the nearest pound. There is no chart available that shows the daily weigh ins, but this method reflects the situation well enough. |
My first thing in the morning weight has been averaging about 174 for 2 months now up from about 168 when I first started taking this measurement in late April. This is about 2 lbs heavier than I had originally intended, but it has been extremely easy to maintain. Which is to say that I do not need to employ a high level of mental discipline with my food choices, but rather just avoid gluttonous displays. The big question ..."Have I have gained muscle or fat?"
BF%
BF% chart only shows the reading for the final day of the month. I use a scale that reads my BF% each morning and the chart seems accurate enough to say that I have had a slight increase in BF%. This is not a clear indication to me that my 7 lb weight gain is fat or muscle...probably a little of both. My power lifting stats for bench press and deadlift have improved over the past 3 months, so I'm going to say it's a good bet to call it a little of both.
BMI
As usual BMI means nothing to me since it does not differentiate muscle from fat, yet I post this anyway just because it is automatically monitored for me when I record my weight.
Blood Pressure
I check my blood pressure once or twice a month on the drug store machines. Looks like I had a slight spike for one reading then it went back to normal. Could have been anything, but the important thing is that I monitor it and if it becomes a problem I'll know it immediately.
Swim/Bike/Run
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| Swim mileage is way down |
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| Bike mileage is typical for the time of year. |
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| Run mileage is determined by if I'm training for a race and the distance. In late Aug. I started training for a 1/2 marathon in Nov. |
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