Many moons ago when I was a health coach, part of my services included measuring body fat percentage with calipers. It always felt a little awkward pinching someone’s arm, belly, and leg but it was the best method we had available at the time. I still own those calipers, but body composition has now gone high tech in the form of the Bod Pod.

The Bod Pod is a “gold standard” body composition tracking system that uses air displacement technology to accurately measure body fat percentage and fat-free mass in about 5-10 minutes. It is a safe, non-invasive, egg-shaped chamber and the results are often used for fitness planning, weight management, and tracking progress over time.

When I saw it offered as an experience when mom and I were visiting Canyon Ranch, I jumped on it. I followed the advice to not exercise, eat, or drink caffeine for at least 2 hours prior and showed up wearing a bathing suit (and a robe). After a brief introduction on the process including a test run with an empty pod so I could here the sound of the air displacement and understand what to expect, I was handed my cap (like a swimmers cap) and climbed inside.

I almost asked her to take my picture but felt a little silly doing so 😉

We did two runs, each taking about 45 seconds, and that was it! I could feel like puffs of air and my ears popped a little, but besides the cold seat I was sitting on, there was no discomfort whatsoever.

She opened the pod, I popped out and put on my robe, and we met next door in her office to go over the results. It helped that I was familiar with a lot of terms – body fat percentage, lean body mass, etc. Let’s take a look at the print out:

This was the print out she brought in to go over with me. It shows my body fat percentage and my fat free mass. I was told the stats are in comparison to other women my same age and ethnicity, though the real value is to compare your results over time, not to others.

Some takeaways from this analysis:

• I am 24% body fat, which is in a healthy zone.
• I have 89 lbs of fat free mass (anything not fat including muscle, bone, organs, etc) and the goal for my height, weight, and age is 90+

This was interesting to me, but I wanted a deeper dive. I asked if my goal was to increase my fat free mass (muscle) to 92 lbs from 89, would it be wiser for me to focus on building muscle or losing fat. As we dived into this conversation topic, she had me wait while she printed off a second page.

When she returned I was thrilled because this was the information I was more curious about than the simple stat of my fat percentage. I wanted information I could act on and this was it:

I found this page to be SO much more helpful, so if you get the assessment, please make sure you ask for this print out as well.

This page helped me see that I’m in the upper range of an athletic level of body fat. That I feel fine about, but longevity-focused goal is to gain more muscle. When I asked her if my goal should be to lose some fat or focus on gaining muscle, the answer was clear: muscle! So we dived into caloric expenditure.

Your RMR (also called BMR) is the calories your body needs to just stay alive if you were lying in bed all day (1097 for me). Your Total Energy Expenditure (TEE) is the number of calories you need based on your activity level. I told her about my day to day life and exercise schedule and she determined I was in the active group, meaning my body needs 1909 calories a day to maintain my current level of fitness.

Since my goal is to gain muscle, I actually need a small surplus of calories with a focus on protein to accomplish this. Aiming for 2100ish calories per day with 120g of protein would be a good place to start, while also keeping up with focused strength training 4 days a week.

This information was super helpful to me because I think I’ve actually been undereating for this goal. I don’t track macros, but given my extensive experience in doing so, I estimate I’ve been eating closer to 1600-1800 calories a day.

Have I lost you yet? haha 🙂

As a health data enthusiast (because that sounds nicer than nerd), I love this stuff. It’s one of the reasons I love Function Health so much.

Will I start tracking calories and macros on My Fitness Pal to hit these goals? Maybe for a day or two out of curiosity, but honestly, probably not. But I will continue to tailor my meals with a focus on protein and fiber and try to boost my caloric intake a little as well.

Overall I found the Bod Pod to be a very valuable experience. I’d love to do it again in a year to see how my body composition shifts. As we age, muscle becomes increasingly important for longevity so to have that info and knowledge on what my specific body needs to increase it is so helpful.

Have you done a body composition assessment? Would you like to if given the opportunity?