It’s now the second month of the year, and I’m thinking to join the bandwagon of aiming to have a healthy body this year through diet and exercise though now I’m kind’a late. Well, better late than never as they say. Anyway, I’m hoping that I will be able to achieve this goal and I called this my project “body sculpting.”
I enrolled myself in Gold’s Gym for my exercise routine for 3 months span as I want to push myself to hit that goal as soon as possible. Before I tried subscribing for a 1-year plan in a gym, but it didn’t work out well because I stopped and let the months passed by, in other words, I was procrastinating and got lazy [such a waste of money :’( ]. This time, with this timeline I should have to reduce my belly fat which I find very disturbing and aim for a flat stomach and some muscle growth.
Currently, I’m a slim guy but I have a bulging stomach, and according to my research this type of body is called skinny-fat, and it is in the most dangerous position among body types. This type of body will lead you to early complications like diabetes, hypertension or maybe early death. With this information, I have now this inspiration to continue and achieve my target this year as I don’t want to have those complications at a young age, I still want to enjoy life, and I dream of having an active body with less illness, constraints, and still want to eat everything I want when I reach old age.
Mobile Apps to keep you on track
So my plan is to hit the gym, sweat well and increase my muscles, I downloaded an app to help me with it. The application is WORKIT, WORKIT app will give you an immediate workout plan to you, it will let you track your workout, and provide exercise steps like it’s your personal trainer.
I am also using SHealth in tracking my calorie intake, water, coffee, heart rate, stress, and record my steps. I find this app very helpful as it contains everything that I need for tracking my health status.
Nutrition and Supplement
I read that there’s harm in working out and shredding TOO MUCH as it can lose muscle instead of fat, so the next step is I need to take a supplement, I’m planning to take a whey protein to help me boost muscle growth and get the body that I want to achieve. Currently, I’m researching for the best whey protein, and now I’m eyeing for Optimum Nutrition (ON Whey Protein). I’m starting to eat red rice and by next week I will plunge my diet and will eat fruit salad and wheat bread for breakfast, protein smoothie for dinner and before I leave the house, while my lunch would be normal food that I can buy at our office.
The Calculations
BMR Calculator – The Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is the amount of energy you need while resting in a temperate environment during the post-absorptive state, or when your digestive system is inactive. In such a state, your energy will be used only to maintain your vital organs, which include the heart, lungs, kidneys, the nervous system, intestines, liver, lungs, sex organs, muscles, and skin. The BMR decreases with age and increases with muscle mass. (source: calculator.net)
The ideal body fat percentage by age and gender by Jackson and Pollock. Image from http://www.builtlean.com/
The scientific name for body fat is “adipose tissue.” Adipose tissue serves a number of important functions. The primary purpose is to store lipids from which the body creates energy. It also secretes a number of important hormones.
According to Health Check Systems, The American Council on Exercise has categorized the range of body fat percentages as follows:
| Description | Women | Men |
| Recommended amount | 20-25% | 8-14% |
| Adults in United States, average | 22-25% | 15-19% |
| Obese | 30+% | 25+% |
..
| Description | Women | Men |
| Essential fat | 12-15% | 2-5% |
| Athletes | 16-20% | 6-13% |
| Fitness | 21-24% | 14-17% |
| Acceptable | 25-31% | 18-25% |
| Obese | 32%+ | 25%+ |