Bod Pod — one user’s experience

  • Published
  • By Estevan Trujillo
  • 377th Air Base Wing Plans and Programs
Kirtland Air Force Base --  After reading the Jan. 6 Nucleus article about the new Bod Pod at the Health and Wellness Center, which accurately measures body fat, I decided to see about giving it a try.

In the months leading up to the Combined Unit Inspection in September, long hours and increased demands had led me to fall out of shape.

This is an all-too-common problem now in this resource-constrained environment in which we all work, and I knew I had to do something to break the cycle.

I started paying attention to what I was eating and started an exercise routine. That helped me lose some weight, but not without having to do a lot of research on proper diets, healthy habit-forming and exercise techniques. I was sure the Bod Pod would give me a great baseline to springboard my lifestyle into better overall health.

I contacted the HAWC to schedule an appointment.

I then found out that in order to get scheduled for the body test, I first had to attend a class called "Majority Rules." Initially disappointed, I was quickly surprised by the amount of information that was being made available.

The course was as professional and timely as it was comprehensive.

The instructor, Lisa Roof, worked through material on proper eating habits, explanation of cholesterol, effects of stress and the importance of maintaining a balanced lifestyle.

The HAWC was able to schedule me for my tests the morning following the class.

Before the body fat test, the HAWC also takes a small amount of blood from a finger prick to test triglycerides, blood glucose levels and cholesterol levels. This is very useful as the results are ready immediately, so no follow-up appointments are necessary.

That part of the test, however, proved troublesome for me and I was not able to get my results, because the amount of blood they needed to draw was more than they thought at first. The HAWC was quick to get me rescheduled for another test, which I am looking forward to.

Because the Bod Pod uses air pressure to calculate body fat, the HAWC staff recommended that I wear spandex for the test; mildly uncomfortable but worth the accuracy it enables. They ran the test, which only took about five minutes, and it generated my results.

The results said I had quite a bit more body fat than my body-composition scale at home was telling me. Once I got past the "sticker shock," the results gave me a clear picture of where I was and what I needed to work on.

I wish I would have had this information when I started working to take back my health. It proved to be useful and opened the doors of other support opportunities Kirtland AFB has to offer.