The Badass Body Diet: The Breakthrough Diet and Workout for a Tight Booty, Sexy Abs, and Lean Legs (6 page)

8. The best answer is A. Great health is less about what you weigh; it’s more about your body composition. Having under 20 percent body fat means you’re in great shape. Be careful about going lower than 15 percent, however. That’s too low for women, and can be dangerous. It may interfere with your menstrual cycle and cause other health concerns.

9. The best answer is C. Stress levels vary from person to person, and stress will always be present in our lives. It’s how you handle and manage it that counts. What’s superstressful for me might be only mildly upsetting for you. Stress forces the body to churn out a hormone called cortisol. When chronically elevated, cortisol can cause an accumulation fat inside your belly. This leads to obesity, health problems, and diabetes. The Badass plan, with its workouts and protein-carb-fat nutrition, is a great stress reducer.

10. The best answer is A. Sugar is really worse than too much dietary fat, because it creates all sorts of metabolic havoc in your body, from blood sugar disturbances to obesity. Give it up!

11. The best answer is B. Smoking will kill you! As I mentioned, I used to be a heavy smoker and I know how hard it is to quit. Honestly, though, nothing is more important to long-lasting health than quitting smoking. ’Nuff said.

12. The best answer is A. Sex is great, but in this day and age, it can kill you if you’re not practicing it safely—and with a monogamous partner.

13. The best answer is A. Illicit or “recreational” drugs such as marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and meth will ruin your life and health. So will the abuse of prescription drugs such as painkillers. Get off ’em.

14. The best answer is B. People who are happy, optimistic, and satisfied with their lives live longer and healthier. Tons of research studies bear this out.

15. The best answer is C. To paraphrase an old rhyme: All work and no play make Jill a dull girl. Make time for fun in your life. It harmonizes your body, mind, and soul. Get out and play, and you’ll do your health and happiness a world of good.

HOW DID YOU DO?

Good for you! You are a true Badass health inspiration. Keep making all those smart choices every day. Change in areas where you fall short, and work on improvement.

You’re on your way to being Badass, but you need to push a little harder. Depending on your answers, you might need to exercise more or harder, cut back on health-damaging behaviors like smoking or drinking, or tweak your nutrition to include more veggies.

Whoops, you’re falling short of the Badass lifestyle. Take charge of your health behaviors now to avert the consequences later. But, beginner Badass, I believe in you: The fact that you were brave enough to take this quiz means you’re ready to commit to keeping your body strong and healthy.

EVALUATE YOUR BODY COMPOSITION

Weight scales can’t differentiate between muscle and fat pounds. So it might be difficult for some women to know if they’re truly overweight. Example: Two women of the same height can each weigh 150 pounds, and one can carry 30 percent body fat and look obese, while the other can have 20 percent body fat and look fit and toned. At 150 pounds, she’s firm, lean, strong, and healthy. What she weighs on the scale doesn’t really matter. What matters is her
body composition.

Body composition refers to your percentage of body fat in relation to your percentage of muscle. It’s a great overall sign of how healthy you are, as well as indicator of the nutrition and exercise choices you make.

Many techniques are available to analyze your body composition, some fairly simple and others quite complex. For example:

• The
skinfold technique
measures fat just under your skin. As many as ten sites may be measured, although the combined measurement of the abdomen, triceps, chest, and thigh skinfolds is usually enough for an accurate reading. Skinfolds are measured by a set of calipers, a device that pinches up folds of fat away from the underlying muscle tissue. The measurements are plugged into a formula that calculates body fat and lean mass percentages.

The accuracy of the skinfold technique depends on the skill of the person performing the measurements and the number of sites measured. For best results, it’s advisable to have your skinfolds measured by a skilled technician, perhaps someone at a local gym or a nurse at your doctor’s office. Use the same person each time too. And note that the skinfold technique does not work well with very obese people. Most calipers are usually not large enough to measure their skinfold thicknesses.

• A
bioelectrical impedance scale
, which resembles a bathroom scale, is an easy way to test yourself at home. These scales are inexpensive too—under $50—and you can purchase them at stores such as Target or Walmart.

You simply step on the pad, and the device measures your body composition instantly. It then displays your weight, body fat, total body water, and muscle. These devices are based on the principal of bioelectric impedance, in which an undetectable electric impulse sent through the body is measured as it goes through fat, muscle, and water. A faster signal means you’ve got a nice amount of muscle on your body. That’s because water conducts electricity, and muscle just happens to be approximately 70 percent water. Fat, on the other hand, doesn’t contain much water, so it “impedes,” or resists, the conduction.

These devices, however, are typically less accurate for people who are obese or very lean.

• Considered the most accurate form of body fat testing,
underwater weighing
positions you in a chair suspended from a scale. After exhaling, you’re dunked in a tank of water and required to hold your breath for about ten seconds while your weight under water is measured. The entire procedure is repeated several times. The three heaviest readings are averaged and put into a set of equations to figure out your percentage of body fat. Besides being a hassle, this method is less accurate for women, due to our wide variations in the amount of fat-free mass (bones, muscle, and other nonfat tissue). If you’re interested in having this done, check with the sports or health department at a local university. Your doctor may have some sources too.

• There are a few “
low-tech”
tests you can do that I like. One of the simplest methods is take your waist circumference using a nonelastic tape measure. Wrap the tape around the top of your hipbones but without sucking in your tummy. There shouldn’t be any slack in the tape either. If your waist measures greater than 35 inches, this suggests that you’ve got too much body fat, and you may be at a higher risk for heart disease.

You can also assess your body fat distribution by the waist-to-hip ratio (WHR). Using a tape measure, measure your waist at the smallest point—at or near your navel. Then measure your hips at their widest point. Divide your waist circumference by your hip circumference. Let’s say you have a 30-inch waist and 40-inch hips. Your waist/hip ratio is 0.75. Under 0.8 is ideal; 0.8 to 0.85 is borderline; and above 0.85 is a risk factor for heart disease and diabetes.

• Or just use the
Jeans-o-Meter!
Slip on your favorite pair of skinny jeans—the ones that got too tight a while back—to see how they’re fitting. Having trouble squeezing in? Odds are, you need to start incinerating body fat and developing superfit muscle.

Experts say that for great health and low risk for disease, try to maintain a healthy body fat percentage. The chart below gives you a range to shoot for, based on your activity level. You’ll look and feel better if you stay at the lower end of that range.

Here’s my final word on this: I know there are a lot of you who like numbers and value accuracy. If you’re part of that crowd, by all means use some of the high-tech or low-tech methods to get your body measured, and compare it to the chart. I’m not a doctor or an exercise physiologist. I don’t even play them on TV. But I know when someone’s too fat. If you want me to tell you whether you have a high body fat percentage, just strip down to your bra and underpants. I’ll take a look, and I’ll be honest. Only kidding—you can do this yourself.

Body Fat Percentages for Women

POLICE YOUR PORTIONS

The final
P
in PREP isn’t so much about your body or weight; it’s about getting into a habit that helps your shape: policing your portions. On the Badass plan, weighing and measuring food really important. It helps you calculate just the right amount of protein, carbs, and fat you need for fat burning and muscle building. Yes, I know. It sounds like a pain to have to do this, and I offer one plan in which you do not have to weigh and measure. But I can assure you, if you want a sexy body and you want it fast, you’ve got to do some extra work, at least initially, to get it.

You’ll need the following tools:

•  Measuring cups (1 cup, 1/2 cup, 1/3 cup, and 1/4 cup sizes)

•  Measuring spoons (1 tablespoon, 1 teaspoon, 1/2 teaspoon, 1/4 teaspoon)

•  A food scale to help you weigh items that can’t be measured in cups, such as meat, poultry, and fish.

After measuring and weighing all your foods initially, you’ll be able to eyeball your portions (such as when dining out) without having to slap everything on the food scale.

ONE MORE THING: TAKE MY PLEDGE

Right now, I want you to make a . . .

COMMITMENT TO YOURSELF

Look over this pledge and place a star next to each statement. At the bottom, sign your name and date it. Post your pledge where you can see it every day—on your fridge or bathroom mirror or in your car.

________ I am 100% committed to following the Badass plan.

________ I will “show up” for myself for 21 days of this program and do exactly what the plan recommends.

________ I will get rid of tempting foods in my house, and I will replace them with nutritious ones.

________ I will prioritize my health and fitness from this day forward.

________ I will make body-honoring choices, day by day.

________ I agree that the plan is a lifestyle that I’m developing, not something I pick up and put down when I need it.