Body fat measurement

Hi T’s,

I just bought a fat track digital caliper by accumeasure. How often should you measure your body fat? If it increases, what should you do? I mean there are so many variables in life that can affect it like your workouts, your diet.
If it’s diet, do you increase or decrease caloric intake (if body fat increases let’s say within a week)?
What about workout? Do you add or avoid cardio? I read some issues in T-mag that most people here dislike cardio.
Lastly, what is the last meal you are allowed to have? Mine is a protein meal consisting of 10 g of carbs, approximately 50 to 60 g of protein and 1 tbsp Udo’s choice at 11 to 11.30 pm and then off to bed.

Thnk’s

Hello, I have been getting my body fat tested every month. I don’t think there is a set time you should measure body fat. I would recommend 1 to 2 months becuase you would most likely have a change in percentage. And regarding losing the fat, what works for me is weights, no cardio. I have lost 25 pounds of fat and still have gained muscle strength in one month. The only carbs I have are right before my workout and right after. I will have a 50g protein shake, no fat, no carbs. (ISOPURE ZERO CARB SHAKE) This seems to really work. I would recommend no carbs before bed and as little fat as possible. Hope this helps.

I am a personal trainer and one of the first questions I always ask is “are you drinking at least a gallon of water a day”? If not oyu will store more water. Also,you should be testing your body fat in the morning before fluids and food. Start marking down the intensity of your workouts if you find inconsistancy in the intensity, that could be your culprit. Make sure you are getting a consistant amount of sleep ( more than 6 hours a night) and lastly once a month or every two weeks should be often enough for body fat testing( unless you are in the final stages of pre-contest).

Tanner,

What do you think of that Isopure stuff? Does it taste good? etc…

Thanks

You can buy Isopure at GNC. It isn’t cheap.

how bad exactly are fats before bed… i thought carbs might be worse…my last meal of the day is a met rx apm 60 meal w a tablespoon of flax. the shake is 60 gm protein, 4 gm fat and 8 gm carbs…i usually take it about 2 hours to an hour before bed…its rough cuz its thick and theres alot…but it has alot of glutamine and vitamins etc…like to hera your thoughts on if these fats before bed are bad…keep hittin em hard, Mike

Calipers are only as accurate as your tester. Try to get your skinfolds taken by the same person each time you get them done.

In reply to Bolo: The ISOPURE tastes pretty bad, but it is drinkable. I haven’t come across any protein powder that I look forward to drinking. The thing that I hate the most is that when you shake it or blend it, isopure foams like crazy, especially the chocolate flavor. It takes for ever for the foam to go down.