Back again...

On Dec 4, 9:26 am, "Del Cecchi" wrote:
Is it realistic for a woman to have "nice flat abs that you can
bounce a
quarter off of"? In men that takes body fat in the single digits, which
probably isn't healthy for a woman.

A woman who is too ripped starts to look hideously masculine. About
15% body fat looks great.

You can can add about 5% body fat to the male body fat percentage to
obtain the ``equivalent'' female one, so 15% would be similar to 10%.

Is it possible you have a little
bit of a body image problem?

Well, if you want to be a figure skater, you gotta have the figure.
Body image is ``everything'' in figure skating. Being skinny-fat in
the middle of the BMI chart isn't good enough, sorry. Jazzpants sounds
like a work in progress, with quit a bit of progress left to be made.

I found this ``Energy And Macronutrient Intakes Of Competitive Figure
Skaters - Brief Article'':

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/m...20/ai_74089158

``Women were more likely to be underweight than men. Men had an
average of 6.6% body fat, while females had 14.1% body fat. All but
eleven females had less than 18% body fat.''

There you go.

However, I find it hard to believe that jazzpants could be at 27.7%
body fat. Firstly, it doesn't pass a simple reality check. Women at
30% body fat or more are considered obese ( 25% for men). Can you be
2.3% away from obese, at BMI 21.4? Not impossible, but unlikely.
Secondly, there is her subjective self-assessment: she feels she is
close to a target body, and also feels that she is showing muscle.
Would a figure skater feel that she is close to having a perfect body,
when she's a shade short of obese? That would involve egregious
amounts of self-deception. Third, at 21.4 BMI, with 27.7% body fat,
you would not be showing muscle, which she claims she is. Fourth, her
waist is 28". This is big for a 5'3" woman, but by no more than 3-5
inches. It's hard to believe that someone just a few inches away from
a perfect waist could be borderline obese.

Recommendation: forget that nasty 27.7 and get the body fat precentage
calculated by someone competent. It could easily be off by as much as
10%.

Or else forget about the body fat percentage entirely and go by
appearance.

Did it really take a dietician and two personal trainers for you to lose
15 lbs?

Maybe the problem is too much disposable income, a big chunk of which
ends up going to food.

jazzpants wrote:
I'm 5' 3.5" and 40 years old. (More towards 5'4" actually...)

Hmmm? My dietitian says it's time to "chill" on the weight loss and
work towards maintanance.

That sounds like womanspeak for ``quit it already, you look way better
than me''.

Find a nice, skinny dietitian who won't give you lip like this.

Better yet, don't use dietitians?

Now why would she tell me that if I'm still
at that "high" a body fat percentage?

Could it be that she's moron who believes in BMI charts? A competent
dietician (if that's not an oxymoron, but let's imagine one) should
know about body fat percentage. By eyeballing you, she should be able
to put that 27.7 percent through a reality check, and then recommend
you somewhere to have it measured properly.

(My trainer also told me to
start "finding my happy medium" on the weight loss too at our last
training session. Of course, at the time I was 1-2 lbs from my goal.)

I'm using one of those Tanita scales where you have to take off your
shoes and socks and step on this medal thing and hold more medal
things in each hand. My understanding is that it's rough estimate
within a couple of 1% in either direction.

What??? /That's/ where you got the number? Sheesh.

The method of body fat estimation used in this scale(bioelectrical
impedance) has no validity whatsoever. Especially when implemented in
mass-produced consumer electronics.

You /do/ have disposable income to waste. Personal trainers,
dietitians, fancy scales. Could it be that threw too much of it on
food?

On Dec 4, 12:39 pm, sueb wrote:
On Dec 4, 11:49 am, jazzpants wrote:





On Dec 4, 9:26 am, "Del Cecchi" wrote: "jazzpants" wrote in message

...

Part of me wants to lose just a couple more pounds and dream of having
that nice flat abs that you can bounce a quarter off of and I'm close
to having it. Other part of me tells me to stick with the dietitian's
(and one of the trainers) suggestion. I don't want to get too thin,
obviously and don't want to worry DH. OTOH, I do dream of totally flat
abs... (My kind of dilemma if you ask me... *sigh* :-)

Is it realistic for a woman to have "nice flat abs that you can bounce a
quarter off of"? In men that takes body fat in the single digits, which
probably isn't healthy for a woman. Is it possible you have a little
bit of a body image problem? Why do you "dream of flat abs"?

I'm just asking if it's possible. I'm more of a skeptic than anything
actually on the washboard abs that you can bounce a quarter off of.
I'm just wondering since I am starting to see muscles underneath all
the flab I've just lost and am thinking "Hmmm? Could be better if
this small spot was firmer, but otherwise, it looks pretty good!!!"

I'm quite happy with what I have actually. I've met my weight loss
goal! So now I'm thinking "What's my next goal? Can I improve on
what I have?" :-)

Did it really take a dietician and two personal trainers for you to lose
15 lbs?

Well, I only need one personal trainer and they're more than just for
weight loss - they're there to help me train for my sport. (I'm a
competitive figure skater.) I just couldn't decide which one to keep
since I like both of them very much, so I kept them both but alternate
them every other week. LOL!!! ;-) (I get diffferent perspective
with each trainer, so that's also nice too.)

But my dietitian was KEY to my weight loss, so yes, I needed the
dietitian. :-)

-Joanna

Following the advice of real live professionals who actually see you
and measure you and know all the little details that you're probably
leaving out (like we all day) makes a lot more sense than getting
advice from folks off the web. If they say to cool it, then enjoy
life from where you are.
*sigh* I have one more professional to follow thru and that's my
trainer. My dietitian says "Chill." The trainer hasn't really given
me much beyond "You (meaning me) have to find your happy medium and
stick to it." Me? There's a particularly spot in the lower abs where
I'm just annoyed about, especially when I'm going towards "that time
of the month." I need to run by my trainer to see if there's anything
exercise wise I could do about that spot. Otherwise... HEY!!! I
wouldn't mind eating a bit more calories!!! LOL!!! :-)

Is there a competitive circuit for 40 year old figure skaters? Or are
you trying to be the best that you can be?
There is a competitive circuit specifically for figure skaters of my
age group actually. The stuff you see on TV is what they called the
"standard track." There is also an Adult Track where you get grouped
together (well, within reason) with people within your age group and
test level. Every late Feb-March, there is Adult Sectionals and in
mid April, Adult Nationals. However, given that I'm 40 and have
nagging lower back injuries to deal with, my chances of ever getting
triples (never mind a single axel) is slim to none. (Of course, it
doesn't stop me from *trying* for an axel when I'm ready for
it. ;-) ) So I'll settle for "best that I can be."

Cheers
-J

On Dec 4, 1:01 pm, Kaz Kylheku wrote:
jazzpants wrote:
I'm 5' 3.5" and 40 years old. (More towards 5'4" actually...)

Hmmm? My dietitian says it's time to "chill" on the weight loss and
work towards maintanance.

That sounds like womanspeak for ``quit it already, you look way better
than me''.

Find a nice, skinny dietitian who won't give you lip like this.

Better yet, don't use dietitians?
Actually, both my trainers and my dietitian are still skinner than
me!!! LOL!!! And now, now! I did learn to eat better b/c of her. I
wouldn't have gotten to where I am now w/o her. :-)

Now why would she tell me that if I'm still
at that "high" a body fat percentage?

Could it be that she's moron who believes in BMI charts? A competent
dietician (if that's not an oxymoron, but let's imagine one) should
know about body fat percentage. By eyeballing you, she should be able
to put that 27.7 percent through a reality check, and then recommend
you somewhere to have it measured properly.
No, she's not just looking at BMI charts, though the Tanita scale also
throws that number out. We already had the talk about BMI is intended
for health insurance companies and the pitfalls of falling thru that.
(One of my trainers also falls under that pitfall. His BMI labels him
as obese, yet he's a professional ballet dancer as well... he's skinny-
mini.)

Given that, I'm also thinking now that it's quite possible also that
she is ignoring exact body fat % and saying "You're there! You look
great! Let's keep it there so you can enjoy it long term!" :-)

I'm using one of those Tanita scales where you have to take off your
shoes and socks and step on this medal thing and hold more medal
things in each hand. My understanding is that it's rough estimate
within a couple of 1% in either direction.

What??? /That's/ where you got the number? Sheesh.

The method of body fat estimation used in this scale(bioelectrical
impedance) has no validity whatsoever. Especially when implemented in
mass-produced consumer electronics.
Yup! But again, it's a relative number. Yup, I need to get dunked.
COWABUNGA!!! *SPLASH!!!* :-D

You /do/ have disposable income to waste. Personal trainers,
dietitians, fancy scales. Could it be that threw too much of it on
food?
Personal trainers I use for my sport, not JUST to lose weight. The
dietitian is actually cheap... almost free! I go thru my health
insurance to pay for it, sans co-pay. The co-pay and gym membership,
with help from my GP, goes thru Flex Spending under treatment of "high
cholesterol." Uncle Sam springs for part of it. ;-) As for the
fancy scales, I don't have one, but my dietitian and trainer both have
one. As for food, I'm eating in a LOT more and making my own food so
I'm actually SAVING money there!

Think I could go thru my health insurance to see if I could get dunked
too? Or maybe get x-rayed and see if I really have "visceral fat"?
I'll bet there's a way for me to do this too for little cost to
me. ;-)

-J

Just came back from one of my trainers. It's unanimous that I need to
"chill" on the weight loss now! "So what's about the abs and the high
fat %", I asked? She said "You're gonna burn off that thru toning and
strength training!" Apparently when I mentioned about my calories
increasing while keeping the fat, protein and carbs staying the same,
it was intentional to continue to burn off fat. The extra calories is
to help me to get more energy to build up muscles, so I can maintain
my weight. In fact, my trainer was trying to get me to ease off a bit
on the cardio and concentrate on strength training. However, given
that the trainer had accounted for me working on as I'm already doing
now, I expressed that I feel uncomfortable doing that. She understood
and backed off on that stance.

So I'm chillin'... just letting my trainers and my still low fat % in
food take over the work now. :-)

Cheers,
-J