I recently moved to Chicago and, as part of that overall effort, decided to raise the priority of a healthy lifestyle. As with most people who have a pulse, I am not getting any younger and so am very keen to avoid prescription medication. Fundamentally, understanding how the changes I decide to make toward this goal must start with the measurement of a set of baseline indicators and, more importantly, the method of inquiry to attain this baseline and the resulting influence of changes in my diet and lifestyle must be based on empirical and measurable evidence.

I constantly reason through and research, among other things, many aspects of health and fitness. Categorically speaking, the two cornerstone aspects of heath and fitness are diet and exercise. As a former athelete, I am quite familiar with elements and mechanics of muscle development, diet, and exercise and the implications of each on one’s health and wellness. I’ve been actively involved in sports since very early in life; throughout middle school, high school and college . From my experience, the set of baseline measurements to gather are our metabolic rates, body fat percentages, and blood chemistry. Once we have these baselines, then we simply employ the scientific method.

BMR and RMR:

Muscle burns more calories than fat and so understanding how many calories one burns at rest over a specific duration is important and particularly in the context of your body fat percentage, which I discuss later in this post.

BMR and RMR are estimates of how many calories you would burn if you were to do nothing but rest for 24 hours. Together, they represent the minimum amount of energy required to keep your body functioning, including your heart beating, lungs breathing, and body temperature normal.

• BMR stands for Basal Metabolic Rate, and is synonymous with Basal Energy Expenditure or BEE. BMR measurements are typically taken in a darkened room upon waking after 8 hours of sleep; 12 hours of fasting to ensure that the digestive system is inactive; and resting in a reclining position.
• RMR stands for Resting Metabolic Rate, and is synonymous with Resting Energy Expenditure or REE. RMR measurements are typically taken under less restricted conditions than BMR, and do not require that the subject spend the night sleeping in the test facility prior to testing.

All this said, however, BMR and RMR does not represent the minimum amount of calories one burns in a day. Why? Because many of us don’t normally sit around all day in a horizontal position with our eyes closed. We perform tasks. Therefore, for a more accurate estimate of how many calories one burns in a day you may consider looking into an “activity calculator”. If you do find one, then do not add your BMR or RMR to those results. Use one method or the other.

Oh, and please keep in mind that “calories burned” calculations are based on your weight. As you lose weight and activity becomes easier, you’ll burn fewer calories performing the same activities. Therefore as you lose weight, you will need to periodically recalculate the number of calories you burn in a day.

The apple, the pear, and the egg…

There are essentially three prolific body shapes represented in the different obese classifications for people: the apple, the pear, and the egg. With these shapes in mind, let’s discuss the notion of android and gynoid fat.

Android fat is the fat stored in the midsection of the body predominantly in the abdomen, but also the fat stored in the chest and upper arms. This is a common fat-storage location among men and is associated with an apple shape and is consistently associated with increased risk of heart disease and diabetes, hormonal imbalances, some cancers, sleep apnea, and more. In this type, the fat is mainly accumulated within the abdomen and around the vital organs (visceral fat).

Gynoid fat storage represents the “pear” shape and is more common among women. This fat is stored primarily around the buttox, hips and thigh areas. Overweight pear-shaped people tend to suffer from mechanical problems such as hip, knee and other joint issues due to an excess of fat (weight stress) on the lower half of their body.

The Ovoid, or egg, shape represents a unisex body type wherein a generalized coverage of body fat is exhibited.

It’s important that both one’s subcutaneous fat (the fat under your skin) and visceral fat (fat around your internal organs) be specifically measured. Determining the ratio of android to gynoid fat (the A/G ratio) and monitoring that ratio is critical important because it directly correlates to the prevalence of visceral fat. The production of viceral fat is your body’s survival strategy as a result of the internal organs insulating themselves from toxins by encapsulating the toxins in fat. Unfortunately, this may impede organ function and, as a result of this diminished function, increase the risk for disease. Ideally, your android fat should be lower than your gynoid fat; so a value below 1.0 is in the ideal range of the threshold metrics.

I scheduled an appointment with DexaFit to have them conduct a DexaFit DXA Total Body Composition Scan. In short, this scan is very accurate and produces an exact measurement of one’s A/G ratio along with other vitally important infomation; and best of all, the entire process takes approximately 7 minutes. I certainly encourage anyone interested in their body fat analysis to strongly consider DexaFit.

Incidentally, this is why body fat analysis methods that use the notion of simple subcutanous clamps or water immersion are vastly inferior to the DexaFit method of measurement since those methods do not measure visceral fat and so the overall body fat percentage calcualation is, therefore, inaccurate.

Blood Chemistry Analysis:

A blood chemistry analysis provides an important set of baseline measurements to serve as key indicators for a person’s overall picture of health and wellness. For a male over the age of 40, a comprehensive blood chemistry analysis is recommended on an annual basis. I use DirectLabs. DirectLabs provides direct access laboratory testing for those who want to take charge of their own health and personally monitor their own wellness. In the course of time, they assist in the prevention or early detection of disease by providing discounted, high quality online blood and laboratory testing services directly and confidentially to consumers.

There are of course many tests offered by DirectLabs but the ones I chose are panel-selected as the most important battery of tests for males over the age of 40:

Comprehensive Wellness Profile. This profile measures…

• Lipids: This is a group of simple blood tests that reveal important information about the types, amount and distribution of the various types of fats (lipids) in the bloodstream. Includes Total Cholesterol, HDL (good) Cholesterol, LDL (bad) Cholesterol, Risk Ratio (good to total), and Triglycerides.
• Complete Blood Count (CBC’s): Used as a broad screening test to check for such disorders as anemia, infection, and many other diseases. It is actually a panel of tests that examines different parts of the blood.
• Fluids and Electrolytes: Includes Chloride, Potassium, Sodium, and Carbon Dioxide.
• Thyroid w/TSH: Includes T-3 Uptake, Total T4, (Free thyroxine index)T7, and TSH.
• Liver: Includes Albumin, Alkaline Phosphatase, Alanine Transaminase (ALT or SGPT), Aspartate Transaminase (AST or SGOT), Total Bilirubin, Total Protein, LDH, Total Globulin, Albumin/Globulin Ratio, and GGT.
• Kidney: Includes Blood Urea Nitrogen (BUN), Creatinine, BUN/Creatinine Ratio, eGFR, and Uric Acid.
• Glucose (Diabetes);
• Mineral and Bone: Total Iron, Calcium, and Phosphorus.

Fibrinogen, Quantitive: Fibrinogen is used to detect suspected bleeding disorders or abnormal blood clotting. Fibrinogen is often significantly increased in conditions involving tissue damage, infection, or inflammation. Increased levels may be seen in smokers, during pregnancy, and in women taking oral contraceptives. Fibrinogen levels can be diminished in advanced liver disease.

C-Reactive Protein, hs (CRP, hs): CRP, hs is a critical component of the immune system and can be predictive of future risk of heart attack, stroke, sudden cardiac death, and the development of peripheral arterial disease. Individuals with elevated levels of CRP have a risk about 2 to 3 times higher than the risk of those with low levels.

Homocysteine: Homocysteine is an amino acid that plays a role in destroying the lining of your artery walls, promoting the formation of blood clots, and also accelerates the buildup of scar tissue. High levels may increase the chance of heart disease and stroke, especially if you have other risk factors such as diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, smoking, or family history.

Hemoglobin A1c: This non-fasting test, also known as A1c, HbA1c, Glycohemoglobin, or Glycated hemoglobin, indicates how well you have controlled your diabetes over the last few months. Even though you may have some very high or very low blood glucose values, Hemoglobin A1C will give you a picture of the average amount of glucose in your blood over that time period. While the Hemoglobin A1C is the standard tool to determine blood sugar control for patients with diabetes, it is not a substitute for daily, routine blood glucose testing.

DHEA-s: DHEA-S serves as a building block for making the male sex hormone testosterone and the female sex hormone estrogen. DHEA-s concentrations peak after puberty and then the levels tend to decline with age. In women, too much DHEA-s can lead to excessive hair growth or male body characteristics as well as adrenal tumors, cancers, and adrenal hyperplasia. Under production can be an indication of Addison’s disease or adrenal hypoplasia.

Total Testosterone: Testosterone is a hormone that causes male characteristics. The blood level is used by men to investigate abnormal sexual development and sexual dysfunction. Small amounts are produced in women’s ovaries and levels are tested to evaluate virilization.

Testosterone, Free: Testosterone, Free is the free flowing testosterone that is not bound within the body and only accounts for about 2% of all testosterone. The free flowing testosterone is unencumbered in the charging of testosterone related systems, the brain, muscles, blood and sex drive, while two-thirds of bound testosterone is connected the SHGB (Sex Hormone Binding Globulin) and the other third to albumin. Low free testosterone means testosterone related systems are not getting the necessary charge. When testosterone free decreases the SHGB increases, this can inhibit the way in which testosterone is distributed to bodily systems.

Estradiol: Estradiol, also known as E2, is the most active of the estrogens. For women, it is important to look at the relationship between estradiol and progesterone in evaluating menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes, mood disorders, and aging skin. It is also used for monitoring pregnancy.

In both men and women, low levels of estradiol can be associated with osteoporosis.

PSA: The prostate specific antigen (PSA) is a protein made only in the prostate gland. PSA is produced by normal, abnormal and cancerous prostatic tissue. The PSA blood test is an accurate measure of this amount. The theory is that cancer causes more of the protein to be made and leaked into the blood than normal prostate tissue, so PSA is now used for assisting in the diagnosis and monitoring of prostatic carcinoma.

Best of all, the cost of tests are covered by my insurance company since my policy does provide for preventative health care.

Diet and Exercise:

As for exercise, my routine is heavily focused on Escalation Density Training (EDT) and I am only now starting to incorporate Yoga into my schedule. I plan to dedicate an entire post to EDT in the very near future so will not discuss it now.