Depressed About Bod Pod Results

[chabbah]

Okay, I just got my BF tested with the Bod Pod, which is supposed to be as accurate as the hydrostatic weighing. My BF was 24%, almost 10% higher than the 7-point caliper test I had a few weeks ago!

The depressing part is, I am working my ass off (1-hr cardio, 6 days a week, on an empty stomach in the AM and 4 days a week of weights) to prepare for a fitness contest in May or June. I've recently gotten of an insane high-protein, no fat, no fruit, no dairy diet and am following a diet put together by an RD. My new diet is lower in calories (1500 a day) and has more carbs and fewer protein as well as fruit and flax seed oil/peanut butter.

Help!! Please give me words of advice, inspiration, support. I feel like everything I've done is useless...

 

[new@gettinbig]

Ok relax! Numbers are not always accurate and they can be discouraging as well! How do you look in the mirror? How do you feel about the way you look? A no fat diet will NOT work.....you need fat in your diet!!!!! 1500 calories seems kind of low too, what is your height and weight and are you male or female?? Are you eating small frequent meals throughout the day?? Make sure you are drinking plenty of water as well. Have you ever tried rotating your carbs?? Like 2 days low, one day high. You need to change your diet around, cause your body adapts and gets used to the same thing. You have to shock it once in a while. Flax oil is great!! Just make sure you are eating fats!! Also make sure you are eating 1-1.5 grams of protein per lb as well. Keep your head up, the numbers are not always right. You have time before your show. Do not get frustrated....although it is easy to do. This is a long process and it takes practice and time to get it down. You have to figure out what diet and weight routine works for you. Hope this helps!

 

[JB3]

What's a BodPod?

I'm a personal trainer (whoopee, I know) and I've always found caliper tests to be the most accurate (and cheapest) way to test BF (especially a 7-point test) as opposed to the bio-electrical impeedance deals (HUGE error, especially in women). As long as the tester knows what he/she's doing, error is roughly 2% either way with calipers, maybe less w/ a 7-point test.

Forget about the percentage and use the mirror. Only use the numbers to measure change.

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My $.02

 

[chabbah]

I am a 33 yr old female, 5' 4", 123 lbs. My daily intake is roughly: 110 G protein, 120 G carbs, 35 G fat (flax seed oil & peanut butter). I'm not sure how the two pieces of fruit figure into that total, but I guess they should increase the number of carbs I've indicated. Total cals is 1500.

On the high protein, low carb, no fat diet, I was eating 1800 cals a day with about 1000 cals coming from protein alone. Since switching to this saner diet, I've had FAR fewer problems with bloating and gas and frequent urination. I also seem to have more energy.

So, what do you think?

 

[Kaizen]

The bod pod is supposed to be the new BF gold standard...It uses air pressure to determine bf simialr to hydrostatic...Based on displacement... It's pretty new, chabbah so the people running it could be off too... go again and see what comes up...

 

[workthruit]

I had the same problem with the bod pod, they don't put in bodybuilder and that does change the readings if they only imput the age, I will stick with the calipers

 

[The Shadow]

Okay, I just got my BF tested with the Bod Pod, which is supposed to be as accurate as the hydrostatic weighing. My BF was 24%, almost 10% higher than the 7-point caliper test I had a few weeks ago!

The depressing part is, I am working my ass off (1-hr cardio, 6 days a week, on an empty stomach in the AM and 4 days a week of weights) to prepare for a fitness contest in May or June. I've recently gotten of an insane high-protein, no fat, no fruit, no dairy diet and am following a diet put together by an RD. My new diet is lower in calories (1500 a day) and has more carbs and fewer protein as well as fruit and flax seed oil/peanut butter.

Help!! Please give me words of advice, inspiration, support. I feel like everything I've done is useless...

Girlie - forget the scale, calipers, bio impedance and hydrostatic and the bod pod. Use the mirror. Do you clothes fit tighter or looser or both? If your shirts are getting tighter thru the shoulders/chest and you pants are getting snug thru the legs, but the waist is the same or looser - then you are losing bf and/or gaining muscle.

Your eyes are all that you need.

 

[wilson6]

I don't have much problem with the Bod Pod. We put a female pro BB in the Pod last year and she comp'd out at 4.8%, skinfolded out at 4.6% on a men's 7 site and 4.2% on a women's 4 site but that formula was only validated down to 7%. With very muscular women under 6%, an athletic men's formula gives a better prediction than a formula designed for women. Most women's formulas will underestimate considerably on female BBs below 6%.

Personally, if you can measure residual volume, UW weigh is still the best for women bodybuilders that are lean (under 8%). Can't put faith in anything else because other methods have not been validated for women with a large amount of muscle mass and low percentage of body fat.

Having said that, regardless of what the number is, change is really all you're interested in for assessing changes in diet, etc. For physique shows, how you look is all that matters.

W6

 

[MS]

Use your eyes and calipers. If the caliper sites are getting smaller, then you're losing subQ fat. That's all that matters for a BB. BodPod/Hydrostatic methods measure TOTAL fat, including visceral, which increases with age. You can have a high TOTAL percent bodyfat, but still look lean if your subQ fat is low. Hydrostatic also does not differentiate between different hydration states in terms of LBM calculation. An experienced caliper user can accomodate changes in subQ fluid fairly accurately.