The Metabolic States Workbook: Track and Record Changes in Bodyweight and Composition

By Larry Hoover

This book is a companion volume to Metabolic States in which the metaboliccomposition state was introduced. It is a collection of the charts and graphs you will need to identify your own metcom state and record changes in bodyweight and body composition.

Topics discussed include emaciation, obesity, heart disease, body mass index (BMI), waisthip ratio (WHR), and the amazing Bruce Randall. See how you measure up with those who are perfectly average, typical athletes in your chosen sport, famous celebrities, or the GrecoRoman gods Apollo, Hercules, and Venus!

Keep a graphical record of your bodyweight and composition changes to help improve your health and increase your lifespan!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Nov 9, 2017
• ISBN: 9781543441406

Larry Hoover

Larry lives in western Pennsylvania and has had a lifelong interest in health. He says, I hope everyone manages to take away something useful from this analysis of stress, nutrition, and exercise.

Book preview

Copyright © 2017 by Larry Hoover.

ISBN:                   Softcover                             978-1-5434-4139-0

                            eBook                                    978-1-5434-4140-6

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Also by the author:

Metabolic States—Notes on Stress, Nutrition, and Exercise

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 02/12/2018

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CONTENTS

INTRO

BODY COMPOSITION ASSESMENT METHODS

PART 1: THE METABOLIC–COMPOSITION GRAPH

1. THE MET–COM STATES

2. THE MET–COM GRAPH

3. I.D. YOUR MET–COM STATE

4. MOVEMENT ON THE MET–COM GRAPH

PART 2: SKINNINESS & SUPER SIZE

5. A WORD ABOUT HEIGHT & BODY SIZE

6. UNDERWEIGHT & EMACIATION

7. OVERWEIGHT & OBESITY

PART 3: ATHLETES, TRAINING, & HEART DISEASE

8. EXERCISE & BODY TYPE TRAINING

9. BODYFAT PERCENTAGES FOR ATHLETES

10. BODYWEIGHT & HEART DISEASE

PART 4: MET–COM CHARTS FOR FEMALES

FEMALE, 58 ins.

FEMALE, 59 ins.

FEMALE, 60 ins.

FEMALE, 61 ins.

FEMALE, 62 ins.

FEMALE, 63 ins.

FEMALE, 64 ins.

FEMALE, 65 ins.

FEMALE, 66 ins.

FEMALE, 67 ins.

FEMALE, 68 ins.

FEMALE, 69 ins.

FEMALE, 70 ins.

FEMALE, 71 ins.

FEMALE, 72 ins.

COMBINED FEMALE CHARTS.

PART 5: MET–COM CHARTS FOR MALES

MALE, 62 ins.

MALE, 63 ins.

MALE, 64 ins.

MALE, 65 ins.

MALE, 66 ins.

MALE, 67 ins.

MALE, 68 ins.

MALE, 69 ins.

MALE, 70 ins.

MALE, 71 ins.

MALE, 72 ins.

MALE, 73 ins.

MALE, 74 ins.

MALE, 75 ins.

MALE, 76 ins.

COMBINED MALE CHARTS

APPENDICES

APPENDIX 1: LENGTH & MASS CONVERSIONS

APPENDIX 2: BODYWEIGHTS FOR AVERAGE BUILDS

APPENDIX 3: 1983 MET LIFE HEIGHT–WEIGHT TABLE WITH BMIs

APPENDIX 4: FRAME SIZE

APPENDIX 5: BODY MASS INDEX (BMI)

APPENDIX 6: WAIST–HIP RATIO (WHR)

APPENDIX 7: A COMPARISON OF GIRTHS

APPENDIX 8: FEMALE BODYFAT PERCENTAGE

APPENDIX 9:

APPENDIX 10: MEASURING UP TO THE ANCIENTS (Goddesses & mortals)

APPENDIX 11: MEASURING UP TO THE ANCIENTS (Gods & mortals)

APPENDIX 12: THE AMAZING BRUCE RANDALL

APPENDIX 13: ATHLETES & HEART DISEASE

BIBLIOGRAPHY

For anyone who ever wanted to

change something about their body.

And for my teachers who taught me to

like math more than I did in the 7th grade.

And to the editors at Xlibris who repaired

typos too numerous to count—Thank you!

INTRO

This book is a companion volume to Metabolic States in which the metabolic–composition state was introduced. It is a collection of the charts and graphs you will need to identify your own met–com state and record changes in bodyweight and body composition. A graphical illustration of bodyweight and composition changes will help you set personal goals and record your progress as you attain them.

These charts can be used as they are but most of the text presumes you have already read Metabolic States and have been exposed to the necessary background information. If you haven’t read this material no need to worry as it will be briefly discussed in the first few chapters.

To use these charts you only need to know 2 body dimensions—your bodyweight and bodyfat percentage. Bodyweight can easily be obtained from the bathroom scales whereas bodyfat percentage equals the weight of bodyfat divided by total bodyweight.

001_a_ax.jpg

A variety of methods are available to estimate bodyfat such as girth measurements, skinfold measurements, underwater weighing (UWW), BodPod, bioelectrical impedance (BIA), and others (see the next section). A simple method for computing bodyfat percentage utilizing girth measurements of the hips or waist can be found in Appendices 8 and 9.

Like BodPod and underwater weighing, girth or circumference measurements estimate the total volume of space occupied by a body and are fairly accurate for most individuals. Exercise physiologist, Jack H. Wilmore, found that hips girth correlates well with bodyfat percentage for women whereas waist measurements work better for men. Although easy–to–use, the girth measurement method has a few drawbacks such as:

• it does not account for differences in bone mass

• it does not account for differences in breast tissue volume for women

• it does not distinguish gaseous distension of the abdomen or a naturally broad midsection from abdominal bodyfat in men

• it is less accurate for heavier bodyweights with a low percentage of bodyfat

Girth measurements are not the perfect bodyfat measurement system but—given all of the body’s elemental and structural constituents—nothing has yet been invented that can accurately analyze the composition of a human body. There is always something not accounted for and some degree of error. The following graph shows 10 estimates of Dr. Gilbert B. Forbes’ bodyfat percentage utilizing 7 different techniques. This world famous pediatrician and expert on human body composition was 81 years young at the time:

001_a_a.jpg89585.png

Although the returns differ, each estimate is probably accurate within the parameters of a particular technique. Concerning these diverse results Dr. Forbes writes, "This sort of variability is what would be expected from repeated assays on a single subject by any one of these techniques." In other words, any single technique has a range of variation that is just as broad as the range of all 7 techniques together. All 10 of Dr. Forbes’ bodyfat estimates average 36.2% but perhaps a truer approximation can be had by ignoring the 2 outliers. The remaining cluster of 8 averages 38.3%—nearly the same as the underwater weighing estimate.

Methods of body composition analysis come in every degree and combination of accuracy, simplicity, conveniency, and cost and each has its own strengths and limitations. Underwater weighing is generally considered the gold standard but it only computes bodyfat¹ and lean tissue content. The ideal bodyfat measurement technique would be easy–to–use, inexpensive, and return an estimate that is as close to actual as possible.

But what is actual? Even actual body dimensions vary with conditions and the method of measurement. Weight for example represents a body’s mass or the amount of matter or molecules it contains—an absolute quantity. On earth, however, weight varies with distance from the equator, distance from sea level, and density of the underlying geology. You weigh slightly less near the bulging equator, on a high mountaintop, or atop a deposit of sedimentary rock (which is less–dense than other types of rock such as igneous). On the moon you weigh 1/6th of what you weigh on earth so if you weigh 140 lbs. you would only weigh 23 lbs. on the moon. Most everyone’s bodyweight fluctuates 1–3 pounds every 24 hours due to food and water intake, excretion, perspiration, etc.

We can lose almost an inch of stature (0.95) during the waking hours due to the effect of gravity and compression of joint capsules and spinal disks but gain it back again during sleep. After 25 years of age we can lose nearly half an inch (0.47) every 20 years. Aging has at least one other adverse effect on the body’s dimensions—it makes bodyfat percentage mysteriously rise regardless of the system used to estimate it!

Tracking changes in bodyweight and composition is the last thing on earth that some folks can imagine themselves doing. For some (whose measurements haven’t changed in years), keeping a record simply isn’t important. They notice the loss or gain of a few pounds on occasion but it is absolutely no big deal. Others, however, may be completely oblivious to a 70–lb. weight gain because they believe that having attained a certain bodyweight it rarely changes! A typical pregnancy generally involves a 30–lb. weight gain yet how often have you heard in the news about a woman who was completely unaware she was pregnant until she went into labor? (Such a pregnancy by the way is referred to as hidden or cryptic.) So keeping a record of bodyweight changes can be a beneficial learning experience for some of us. Even those whose weight rarely changes may experience a significant weight change tomorrow.

Most of us know our weight and height dimensions within a few pounds or fractions of an inch but many do not. Some of us think we know but are proven wrong when our vitals are taken by a nurse at the medical clinic. And there are a few of us who could not guess our exact weight if our life depended on it or even our height which is even more fixed. Making and keeping a record is both informative and a