Just a short update on my previous post about my slightly-crazy idea of having my body fat tested in a dunk tank:
It didn’t happen.
Yup – trainer dude had the stomach flu and was kind enough to cancel instead of passing it along to me. He’s supposed to call and reschedule, but hasn’t yet.
So, in the meantime, I put my thinkin’ cap on, started up The Google and found another alternative:
As I understand it (and – frankly – my understanding of such concepts borders on near-idiot level), it works in much the same way as the dunk tank, but instead of measuring water displacement, it measures air displacement.
Therefore – the Dunkless Dunking!
You get put in a pod that looks much like Mork’s egg (from the TV show Mork and Mindy… and, yes I realize how much I just dated myself), and apparently you sit very, very still for about a minute and that’s it. No water. No gasping for air. No near-death thoughts floating through your head. Should be a breeze! Right?
I’ve done the research, and reviews mostly say that the bod pod results positively correlate with hydrostatic weighing (which is the accepted gold-standard for body fat testing), which is good. However, I did find some articles that concluded that it overestimates body fat in some individuals — which is decidedly NOT good.
The upside with using a different method entirely? If I don’t like the answer I get, I always have the option of blaming it on the Bod Pod (it couldn’t be MY fault, could it??).
The big day? Tomorrow. I’ve managed to drop a few pounds from last week, so I’m as prepared as I’m going to be for this. And after? Dinner at my Mom’s. Which will either be a “dang, I’m AWESOME” celebratory dinner or a “I might as well do some major emotional eating to cover up my misery” dinner.
It’ll be tasty either way.