Fit-Fax Body Composition Exam

I was up at 5:30 this morning to head out to Pasadena for my appointment with Sarah from Fit Fax.  Fix Fax is a company that specializes in:

• Research-grade body composition testing (currently used at the Mayo Clinic, the Olympic Training Center, and the USC Clinical Exercise Research Center).
• Wellness Engineering (Nutrition and Wellness Coaching)
• Corporate wellness seminars and fitness challenges  

As part of the deal from earlier when my friends bought me two months of NerdStrong Gym membership it also included two trips to Fit Fax. This is my first visit and I'm here for "Fit-Fax Body Composition Exam/Wellness Consultation" In a 30-minute session, they provide you with a body composition exam and thorough explanation of results. They also teach you how your body analytics inform your nutritional needs. For example, your protein needs are based on the amount of lean mass on your body and your BMR tells them how many calories your body needs at rest. This is a great first step in improving your health and fitness direction. You will leave the office empowered with specific goals!

My Wellness coach is Sarah, when I got to the office I was early but the client before me wasn't there yet so we talked for a few minutes. She is one happy person and loves her job and that happiness just rubs off on to you.. you can't help but smile.

Once the client before me was done I entered her office and we talked about my eating habits, my family life, my workouts and my relationship with foods. I then had to stand on this machine called the Inbody 230. You hold on to this two metal bars and from what I understand it sends electrical currents (which you don't feel) through your body and that's how it reads the amount of Water, Lean Mass & Fat Mass you have in your body. It only lasts a few minutes and the results are instant.

She then printed out the results and discussed them with me. This was my favorite part of the consultation. It's interesting to see your body broken down into it's parts. For example my Total Body Water is 91.3l bs, my Dry Lean Mass (bones, muscle and such) is 33.4 lbs and my Body Fat Mass (which includes fat & anything in my intestines, ie food), that was 67.5 lbs for a Total of 192.2 lbs. And just a side note since I promised not to weight myself in March I have lose another 2.3 lbs for a total of 26.8 lbs lost since October 2014.

My Muscle Mass is above average currently at 71.7 lbs of my total body weight.. which I expected since I'm short and stocky.. Sarah had a term for my body type, I'm actually a combination of two body types called Endo-Mesomorph.

I found all this very fascinating, we discussed my weight and she's like me to lose another 20 or so pounds which would bring me down to 175ish. She felt this would be a good weight for my body type. I'm hoping to lose that by the end of the year.

We then moved on to the Nutrition part of the consolation. We calculated my total calorie intake to be 1,900 calories a day. It's broken down to 40% Fat, 35% Protein and 25% Carbs. It's a high protein diet, 650 of those calories need to be from Protein which comes out to 50 grams of protein per meal & 15 grams for snacks. Speaking of snacks she wants to me keep my intake of sugar to only 40 grams a day.

As you all know food has always been my hardest part of losing weight and now that I have a formula that I have to follow I'm hoping it helps, but it's still will power to not eat poorly. I'm using My Fitness Pal (Geekyfanboy if anyone wants to add me to their friends list) this will allow me to see how much I'm eating of each one of these things. I know it's not going to be perfect everyday but all I can do is my best. She wants to see me back in five weeks and check my progress.

Like with the working out I'm hoping eating properly will come second nature. Now that I have a Wellness coach I don't want to disappoint her which should make me work harder at not eating out food or at least not eating the really bad kind. Only time will tell.

Overall this was a fun experience and one that I hope to continue with as I continue to do my workouts at NerdStrong Gym.