6 Body Composition Changes in 24 Hours

Before We Begin: a Few Notes on What this Post Isn’t and What it Is

Isn’t

• It isn’t ready for publication in a scientific journal, TIME magazine or my kids’ school newspaper.  There are an exhaustive list of reasons why a peer review would chew this thing to pieces.  I realize this…just relax and have fun objectifying my half naked body, ok?  If you want to see what I offer in the name of science, be sure to check out 83 Evidence Based Answers to Fitness and Nutrition FAQs.
• It probably isn’t accurate.  The Naked mirror I used for this project is a fantastic body composition tracking device, however, it’s a little buggy in its infant stages.  Big dudes with big butts and big legs (yours truly) have been reporting inaccurate hip and leg measurements (as you can see in the image below, my upper thigh measurement is more like my lower thigh measurement), which may be throwing off my estimated body fat numbers (likely reporting on the high end).  Having said that, it’s at least consistent between scans, so I feel reasonably confident that the scans I present reflect legitimate changes.
• It probably isn’t accurate.  Yes, I know I already said that; these scans likely don’t reflect actual changes in body fat, but rather anthropometric measurements that resemble changes in body fat/body composition.  In other words, I’m attempting to hack the human eye’s interpretation of my body, not manipulate several pounds of actual body fat in a 24 hour period.

My upper thigh measurement is in actuality closer to my lower thigh

Is

• It is interesting.  I think so anyway.  I had a loose hypothesis as to what the results would be of each scan, and was absolutely blown away by some of the readings (e.g., I dropped a perceived 1.6% body fat after a 5 minute cold shower; likely due to vasoconstriction).
• It is fun.  While I think this weekend project produced legitimately thought provoking results.  I really just wanted an excuse to take my clothes off over and over again.  At the end of the day, I’m just your average serial exhibitionist with a $1400 body fat scanner.  Enjoy!

The Gist of the Project

I wanted to see how many significant body composition changes (from now on, when I refer to body composotion or body fat changes in reference to my results, I’m talking about perceived changes, not actual changes) I could make in one day.

Now, I’m not talking about sucking my stomach in, hiding my arm behind my back or stuffing my shorts.  I’m talking about changes that your average human being might experience on any given day, and how those changes appear to the peeping Tom who’s spying through the bedroom window (you should really keep your ladder in the garage at night).  I’m talking specifically about factors like temperature, posture, physical activity and nutrition.  Truthfully, I could have probably come up with 600 different factors to test, but it was Saturday, and my honey-do list had 601 items.  You’ll just have to settle for the list I came up with.

The Scans

Here’s a table containing the scans and all of their relevant data; I’ll discuss them each in more detail in a moment (once again, the hip, lower thigh, upper thigh, and body fat measurements are off, but they’re off consistently).

The Scanner

A few months ago, I finally got a hold of my Naked body scanner.  I’d been waiting two and a half years for this thing to appear on my door step (if you’re going to crowd fund a multi-million dollar project, learn to be patient immediately), and while it has a few technical issues, it hasn’t dissapointed me yet.  Of all the body composition tracking methods I have at my immediate disposal (i.e., calipers, measuring tape, looseness/tightness of pants, eyeballs), it’s by far the most effective when you combine its accuracy, progress tracking and convenience.

There I am…for some reason, I’m like 10x hotter in this picture.

I haven’t done a full review on the Naked mirror yet, but in two sentences here’s what it does:

It uses three high-tech 3D cameras to take a 360 degree scan of your body in all of its naked glory.  It then breaks down all of your measurements (apparenly within 1/4″ accuracy) from a 4GB image, compiles it, sends it to the cloud for further computation and compiling, then spits it back to you in the beautiful T-1000-esque format you see in front of you. 

It’s pretty rad.

As I’ve mentioned several times now, the scanner isn’t perfect, but this project wouldn’t have been nearly as flashy without it…plus I would have ended up strangling myself with the measuring tape if I had to do it all manually.

The Results

Baseline Scan

My first scan of the day.  Nothing special here…just chillin’ with a Chinatown thug on my crotch…typical Saturday morning.

I took the first scan at around 9:00 AM, right after a couple cups of coffee and a leisurely stint on my throne.  This is the scan used as a reference point for every other scan during the day.  Again, I believe my actual body fat is a bit lower (the inaccurate hip and thigh measurements throw off the algorithm), but as long as it’s consistent among the rest of the scans, I can put my vanity to the side.

Cold Shower

Immediately after a 5 minute cold shower…is it me, or did the Chinatown thug shrink?

This scan might have blown me away the most.  I “lost” 1.6% body fat in six minutes, and took nearly an inch off of my stomach and waistline!

I included this scan because I was curious to see whether or not the effects of vasoconstriction would be evident (during the cold shower, all the blood in my skin tissue traveled south to protect my organs).  I’d say the evidence was there…well…maybe.

While I, without a doubt, experienced vasoconstriction, I may have inadvertently been contracting my muscles as a result of the cold temperatures (my arms were bigger, but my waistline was smaller).  That said, I wasn’t shivering in the shower (I take cold showers routinely to benefit from the effects of non-shivering cold thermogenesis), and frankly, I think the difference in leanness is greater than a couple flexed biceps and an overly engage transverse abdominus (look at the sag in my compression shorts on my lower right leg).

I don’t know the cause, but whether it’s a tighter muscular contraction, less fluid in the skin surface, or both, if you want to lean out in a hurry, hop in the shower and get your shrinkage on.

Hot Shower

After 5 minutes in a hot shower, I’m plumped back up and ready to eat.

What’s the opposite of vasoconstriction (i.e., the effect of the cold shower on my skin)?  It’s vasodilation.  After five minutes in a scolding hot shower, fluid traveled back to the surface of my skin, my pores opened up, and my body tried to cool itself off.

You experience vasodilation to an extent every time you exercise.  As you can see, my perceived body fat levels shot back up .1% higher than my original baseline, only a few minutes after my cold shower scan.

The take away here is, if you’re going to take body measurements for a fat loss competition, don’t do it after you go for a jog…although you may want to do it after pumping iron (more on that in a few).

Posterior Pelvic Tilt

This is me doing my impression of every adult born after the advent of handheld devices.

Here’s some posterior pelvic tilt action from the side.

I have a terrible bias against poor posture.  It’s been ingrained into the fiber of my being since the dawn of my existence.  My dad hammered “pull your shoulders back” into my head from a very young age.  Due to my father’s postural brain washing, I can’t look at a beautiful woman, who happens to have slightly rounded shoulders, without wanting to strap a bow tie to her back. 

All that said, I wanted see if poor posture actually makes a difference in body composition measurements.  Turns out it does; at least in my bush league experiment.  I assumed the two most common posture offenses, posterior pelvic tilt (with rounded shoulders), and anterior pelvic tilt (with lumbar hyperlordosis).

Note: The slight difference in weight was probably due to the bottle of water I had while watching my son’s soccer game.  

My body fat increased 1.4% from baseline.  This was primarily due to the appearance of an extra two and a half inches on my waistline.  Overweight folks are often cited for rocking a panniculus (some of you might be better familiar with the acronym F.U.P.A).  While excess fat storage on the waist, stomach and hips are typically the cause, poor posture often tricks the eye with an illusion of a panniculus where a tight, flat stomach should actually lie.

You’ll also notice my chest measurement shrank a bit.  Ladies, not trying to be a pig, but if you want to…um…stand out, and save money on push-up bras…squeeze your glutes a little (this will put your lower back in line with your hips, placing them in a neutral position), and pull your shoulder blades together.  Fellas, if you want to look like you have the confidence of a man, and not a slug, I suggest you do the same. 

Oh, and did I mention good posture also helps with performance, injury prevention, and reduced joint pain?  Yeh, you’re right…who cares as long as you look good, baby!

Anterior Pelvic Tilt

Pushing that butt back…bout to drop and get my eagle on.

Come at me!

Again with the posture…

This time, my pelvic was tilting forward (anteriorly), a very common posture of those who suffer from lower back pain.  Well, turns out, they also suffer from looking fatter than they actually are.  This was by far the highest body fat scan; 2.6% above the baseline!

I believe a lot of this is attributed to a forcefully pushed out stomach.  Don’t get me wrong; I wasn’t intentionally pushing out my stomach.  I literally couldn’t maintain any position other than what you see.  Not only is it unattractive, but it’s also no wonder folks with hyperlordosis (often caused by ridiculously wound up hip flexors) experience terrible back pain.

On a side note: “Strengthen your core” seems to be incomplete advice for a person with anterior pelvic tilt, trying to reduce lower back pain.  I’ll tell you now, it’s darn near impossible to engage the core from this position…your core could be strong enough to have a tank roll over it, but if you can’t use it, it’s worthless.  Fix the posture first, then worry about the rest…just my $.02.

Post Resistance Training/Transient Hypertrophy/Chasing the Pump

Cue Arnold, and his rant on “coming”.

Want to look good for your “after” pictures?  Take your pics immediately following a full-body lifting session.

Here I am after a bodybuilding style workout. 

My weight was up (I ate a couple meals before my workout), but my body fat was down; my waist and stomach were up a bit (probably because of the food and water I had consumed); my chest and shoulders were over two inches larger; not to mention the gun show was in town (people say that about their arms sometimes)!

During resistance training, blood floods your muscles, and hangs out there for a little while (usually an hour or so for me), giving them that swole glow.  This physical phenomenon is called transient hypertrophy; more affectionately known as “the pump”.

Note: One thing I wish I did was measured a couple hours after the workout, when my glycogen levels were low.  I’d wager my body fat would be up from the baseline due to flatter muscles…perhaps in v.2.

In case you’re interested, this was the workout:

1) Hatfield squats: AMRAP 5 minutes

2A) Glute Ham Raises: AMRAP 8 minutes (superset)

2B) Double Leg Cable Terminal Knee Extensions: AMRAP 8 minutes (superset)

3A) Dumbbell Chest Fly: AMRAP 12 minutes (superset)

3B) Dumbbell Squeeze Press (match chest fly with same weight): AMRAP 12 minutes (superset)

3C) Standing Cable Tricep Extensions: AMRAP 12 minutes (superset)

3D) Lateral Dead-stop Dumbbell Raises: AMRAP 12 minutes (superset)

4A) Chest Supported Dumbbell Rows: AMRAP 8 minutes (superset)

4B) Seated Kettlebell Thoracic Extensions: AMRAP 8 minutes (superset)

5) Pushups: 1xAMRAP

Well Fed 24 Hours Post Baseline (Fat and Happy)

My left arm look like the Thing’s because I moved it a little during the scan. Please don’t be concerned.

“Well fed” is a bit of a misnomer.  I actually ate poorly…like, very poorly.  You know that scene in Ronnie Coleman: The King where Kevin Levrone (I think that’s who it was) was talking about Ronnie eating a pizza and drinking a bunch of vodka with him the night before his first Mr. Olympia title?  Well, I sorta replicated that with ham, pound cake and beer…I had a lot of each.

I don’t advise eating crap to look better; it doesn’t work that way.  However, as you can see in the scan, the immediate effects of topped off glycogen stores (pound cake) and partial dehydration (beer), look pretty decent.  Although I was eight pounds heavier from 24 hours prior, my body fat had dropped nearly half of a percent!  SCIENCE!!!!

Again, folks, don’t go off and say that Rob Shoecraft told you to go on the pound cake and beer diet.  What you don’t see now (a few days later) is the extra jiggle I picked up from the binge.  It’s just another way to temporarily hack your body comp.

Conclusion

Want to look better immediately?  Take a cold shower…better yet, take a cold shower the morning after you spent the night binging on junk food and booze after an epic bodybuilding workout. 

Want to look worse?  Push your butt out and hit a hard arch in your lower back…better yet take a hot shower, and then do it.

You can’t change your actual body fat in five minutes, but you can change people’s perception of your body fat (or at least a $1400 magic mirror’s perception) in less time than that! 

I just broke the surface of body composition change with this project.  If you have any more information on the subject, or new scanning ideas you want to see me try, please drop a comment below!