Weight Update plus BMI for Mar 10

Last week I did a super big ski, probably the most difficult trail I've ever cross country skied.  The trail really kicked my butt, but I did successfully complete it (so yay for that!)  In the aftermath of skiing (that is probably my last ski for the year because it's getting too warm now), I started doing some research for how much body fat and muscle is healthy. That was actually prompted by me watching a few TED Talks that have been on my Youtube Watch Later list for a loong time.  This one in particular:

And this one:

I've been getting body fat and muscle measurements from my scale for years but never really paid any attention to them (beyond thinking more muscle = good and less fat = good).  So thanks to these videos, I went looking for more information. For muscle mass, it depends on what chart you look at (for example, this link has a few different ones).  For fat percentages, it depends on your goals (athletes will have less muscle than an average person), but around 20% seemed to be the statistic I found for women (which I believe Ogie Shaw mentions in that second vid). 

So with that in mind, I weighed myself on Monday morning before 9am (which is a time I never, ever weigh myself - normally I weigh myself after 11am) and got some horrible numbers:

weight: 220.6 lbs
fat percentage: 49.8%
hydration: 34.5%
muscle: 24.8%
bone: 10.5%
cal: 2407

I'm not going to lie: I did not want to share these numbers.  They're embarrassing.  I know my weight has been creeping up over the last while but 220 is insane.  Plus a fat percentage of almost 50%?  Holy crap! Not good at all!

(But on the plus side, my muscle percentage is around where it needs to be).

On a whim, I decided to weigh myself yesterday at my normal time.  Here's what I got instead:

weight: 216.4 lbs
fat percentage: 48.1%
hydration: 35.6%
muscle: 25.6%
bone: 10.6%
cal: 2382

While it's still not great, it's a lot better than Monday morning!

So I recalculated my BMI, which comes out to 31 with yesterday's weight (which means I'm obese).  Plus my fat percentage is at 48.1%, meaning I've got over double the fat I should have.  So that means I have a lot of work to do to get these numbers into a healthier place. 

Over the last few years I've talked more about getting my weight down to a healthier number.  But now I'm thinking I need to work more on that fat percentage too.  To do that, I need to make sure I keep my activity level up (hitting my goal of 150 minutes of exercise is going to really help with this), plus eat healthier (the other two goals will help with that, especially if I step up trying new healthy recipes for dinners!)

One other thing that's going to help is if I add in some activity before bed.  I remember hearing that exercise before bed makes it harder to sleep, but according to Healthline, that's generally not true.  So rather than failing to fit in a workout in the morning now that I'm also trying to fit in a meditation, I'm going to try to fit in a workout later in the day.  We'll see how that goes. :)