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A body composition analysis uses electrocurrents to measure the body’s percentage of muscle, fat, and water content.<\/p>\n
Corrie Aune for BI<\/p>\n
Using an InBody machine, the analysis took five minutes and involved me holding hand electrodes while stepping on a scale. The machine, using bioelectrical impedance analysis, then scanned my skeletal muscle mass, body fat, and water content in proportion to my overall weight.<\/p>\n
I got another analysis roughly halfway through the year to track my progress, and a final one in December to see how far I’ve come \u2014 if at all.<\/p>\n
To my relief, the simple lifestyle changes I made had been largely effective. At the beginning of the year, my visceral fat score, the number estimating the amount of dangerous fat surrounding my organs, was a 10 \u2014 the very end of the healthy range. Midway through the year, it dropped to 8, more centered in the healthy range, and stayed there through December.<\/p>\n
I also cut my\u00a0body fat mass<\/a>, or the total weight of fat in my body,\u00a0by a little over 7%, and lost exactly 5.5 pounds.<\/p>\n While there’s still room for improvement, such as gaining more muscle for better joint health and easier fat loss, I’m glad all it took was a few easy, sustainable habits to see results.<\/p>\n I chose walking over running<\/p>\n I prioritized long hikes over races this year.<\/p>\n Julia Pugachevsky<\/p>\n For the past few years, I’d been solely focused on running as my main form of cardio exercise<\/a>. I jogged about four times a week and took up to two strength training classes.<\/p>\n I couldn’t fathom adding more training to my schedule. Then I realized: I could just walk a little more on the days I didn’t run. I started walking anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour on strength training and rest days.<\/p>\n Not only did it help me shave off a few hundred calories here and there, but it also introduced a calming habit into my routine. Most importantly, it made me less sedentary, reducing my risk of developing heart disease, diabetes, inflammation, and osteoporosis.<\/p>\n I nearly doubled my average daily step count by the end of the year.<\/p>\n Julia Pugachevsky<\/p>\n I also started planning vacations around movement. I took a few hiking trips<\/a>, organized weekend hikes upstate with friends, and walked the length of Manhattan in one day just for fun.<\/p>\n Matching meals to workouts<\/p>\n Every trainer who did my body composition analysis told me the same thing: I could not rule out my diet.<\/p>\n Luckily, I didn’t have to do a complete overhaul. I simply had to be a little more mindful.<\/p>\n A lunch on the days I do a strength-focused workout class versus the days I jog or walk.<\/p>\n Julia Pugachevsky<\/p>\n On days focused more on strength training, I’d add protein powder to my coffee and eat a protein-rich meal, such as salmon with farro<\/a> and vegetables.<\/p>\n On running days, I’d focus more on carbs, while also adjusting my portion sizes. If I had only finished a light, three-mile jog, half of a whole-wheat bagel sandwich felt like enough fuel. The same went for sugary treats and alcohol: cutting back on portion sizes and opting for more mocktails helped me have fun without feeling like I was rolling back progress.<\/p>\n In general, I also started focusing more on fiber-dense foods<\/a>, such as salads and grain bowls, which kept me feeling full for longer and provided other essential nutrients, like folate and vitamin C, in greens like kale and arugula.<\/p>\n Using metrics to my advantage<\/p>\n I wore a mask to track how hard my heart was working during strenuous exercise.<\/p>\n Corrie Aune for BI<\/p>\n About halfway through the year, I also took a\u00a0VO2 max assessment<\/a>, in which I ran with an oxygen mask and a heart rate monitor to determine my unique cardio zones, or ranges of heart rate that correspond to levels of exercise intensity. Zone 5 is the most challenging, corresponding to being near your maximum heart rate.<\/p>\n I learned that having hard numbers helped me challenge myself in every part of my workout routine. I started taking Orangetheory classes, which use heart rate monitors to give you feedback in real time.<\/p>\n My watch after I ran at my zone 4 pace.<\/p>\n Julia Pugachevsky<\/p>\n I also bought a scale<\/a> \u2014 something I’d always been against in theory. It took time to adjust to weighing myself every day and not taking the numbers to heart. Once I started to look at the data neutrally, I found it helpful in providing me with quick (albeit incomplete) feedback on my performance.<\/p>\n I got better about writing down my weights so that I could progressively overload: gradually using heavier weights or increasing rep counts over time. Without that, I’d never actually build muscle.<\/p>\n I won’t lose more fat until I gain muscle<\/p>\n There was one area in which I didn’t make progress: building up muscle mass. I learned from a trainer that this likely limited my fat loss, since muscle is metabolically active tissue that helps the body burn more calories, even at rest.<\/p>\n I lost about a pound of muscle, which also slightly reduced my basal metabolic rate<\/a> (BMR), or the number of calories I burn at rest. It dropped slightly below the average woman’s.<\/p>\n Devoting a little more time to strength training can go a long way.<\/p>\n Julia Pugachevsky<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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