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I‘ve used this quote in the past, but it’s relevant when discussing Lean Body Mass or LBM as I’ll refer to it from here on in.  The below post is long winded, but I promise it’s chalked full of useful information.

What is LBM?

“That part of the body including all its components except neutral storage lipid; in essence, the fat-free mass of the body.” ~ Dorland’s Medical Dictionary for Health Consumers

Or more simply put, LBM is everything else in your body other than fat. Skin, blood, bones, muscle, organs, these are all things that are part of your LBM.

Why is knowing your LBM important?

1. Knowing your current LBM can help determine your goal weight, and in my opinion it’s far more accurate than using the Body Mass Index (BMI), which I loath and discussed numerous times, specifically in a past post “BMI can BMA” (Bite My Ass).
2. Knowing your LBM and keeping track of it while your losing weight can help ensure your weight loss is from unwanted fat and not from muscle.

Both of these points are discussed in more detail later on.

How do you calculate your LBM?

It’s actually not very hard, but you do need to know your body fat % first.  As stated in the past, I use a Tanita scale and have found it to be very accurate and reliable.   To calculate your LBM use the following formula:

LBM = Your Body Weight – (Your Body Weight x Your Current Body Fat Percentage)

Here’s how my current LBM was calculated:
LBM = 233.4 – (233.4 x 33.8%)
LBM = 154.5 lbs.

So if it was possible to strip every ounce of fat of my body right now, I would still weigh 154.5 lbs.

Determining your goal weight:

To do this you first need to know what a healthy body fat range is and then take into account how trim you want to be, or more importantly how hard you want/need to work to maintain that percentage of body fat.

This chart found here is based on data collected from a study called “Healthy percentage body fat ranges: an approach for developing guidelines based on body mass index” conducted by The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (Am J Clin Nutr 2000;72:694–701).

According to this chart the “Acceptable Range” is between 10 – 20%.

Obviously the lower your body fat, the more work you need to put in to maintain it.  So with my LBM of 154.5 and my goal of 15% body fat the following formula is used to determine my goal weight:

Goal Weight = Current LBM / (1 – Goal Body Fat %)

Here’s what my goal weight works out to:
Goal Weight = 154.5 / (1 – 15%)
Goal Weight = 181 lbs.

Remember my mentioned disdain of BMI,  well according to the World Health Organizations (WHO) BMI chart found here on Wikipedia, someone of my height (5′ 10″) would need to weigh between between 130 – 170 lbs to be in the “Normal Range”.  Based on my current LBM, 170 lbs would put me just under 5% body fat, which is a typical fat percentage of a fitness cover model… and that’s just to get into the very edge of “normal”.

The main reason the BMI fails to be accurate is because it never takes body fat into consideration which is even stated in the conclusion of the above listed study:

The developed provisional equations and tables in this report can fill an information gap because no comparable percentage body fat ranges exist for review for evaluation of potentially misclassified subjects referred for body-composition analysis.

Finally the scientific community agrees with something I’ve been saying since 2006.

Ensuring weight loss is from unwanted fat and not muscle:

Weight loss is great, but only when it’s in the form of fat.  Our muscles keep us strong and they burn more calories than fat.  Changes in your LBM indicates one of the following 3 things:

1. LBM increases = muscle gain
2. LBM stays the same = no muscle loss or gain
3. LBM decreases = loss of muscle

Basically if you lose weight and your LBM is the same or higher it’s safe to assume that your weight loss was from fat without sacrificing muscle.

Where does water fall into the equation between LBM and Fat?

This was something I found myself asking as well. Initially I assumed that water would be part of the LBM, but after some digging I realized my error… it belongs to both, but primarily LBM.

Up to 60% of the human body is water, the brain is composed of 70% water, and the lungs are nearly 90% water. Lean muscle tissue contains about 75% water by weight, as is the brain; body fat contains 10% water and bone has 22% water. About 83% of our blood is water. – USGS

With fat only containing 10% water, the remainder of the water is spread throughout the body which comprises all of our LBM.  It’s safe to say that if your hydration level is off during your weigh-in that your LBM number will effected more than your body fat percentage will.   Lets face it our hydration level can change significantly from week to week (especially for women), and will effect  both weight and body fat readings, which are both used in our LBM calculations.

One thing to note is that muscle it not something we lose or gain quickly.  It’s pretty safe to assume that if your LBM is varying slightly week to week it’s more often than not due to variations in hydration, where as downward or upward trends of your LBM over a longer period of time probably indicate that the loss or gain is due to muscle.

Additional Reading:

I happened to stumble upon a great article here from www.builtlean.com that helped me get a better sense of body fat percentages and what different percentages would look like on my body.  Hope you find it as helpful as I did.

The post Lean Body Mass appeared first on BornSquishy.

From The Publisher

Beyond the reach of civilization lies a lawless island ruled by violence. This is where you find yourself stranded, caught in a bloody conflict between psychotic warlords and indigenous rebels.  Encounter a disturbed and memorable cast of characters as you take a gritty journey to the dark side of humanity. Unravel a deep and emotional story of survival, written by a Writers Guild Award winner.  Explore a beautiful and diverse island playground – lush jungles, mountains ranges, swampy grasslands and sandy beaches. Explore lost Japanese bunkers, ancient temples, secluded caves, shipwrecks, abandoned compounds and more.

Race through foliage, fly over deep canyons and traverse the island with hang gliders, boats, trucks, jeeps and ATV’s. Or for the expedition adventurers, use fast travel between any two save locations.  The island is filled with over 20 species of majestic and untamed animals, including komodo dragons, sharks, stingrays, tigers and beautiful birds of paradise.  Earn money in the game by playing poker, racing cars, completing shooting challenges and throwing knives.

Trailer:

My Take

I thoroughly enjoyed playing this game and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to any gamer….. in fact you should just go out and buy it.

Pro’s:

1. HUGE open environment that is by far the most realistic of any game I’ve ever played.

There’s nothing quite like creeping through a jungle setting, scoping out your enemies, only to be pounced on by a tiger who was also out stalking prey.  So many times I would hear a roar from tiger or a grunt from a bear and I would tense up from the danger.  The first time I encountered a crocodile I literally jumped out of my seat from the surprise and the realism.  The attention to detail is also uncanny.  Butterflies flutter by, birds soar through the sky, vultures circle carcasses, schools of fish dart through the water….. the list goes on and on and on.

2. The ability to travel by car, atv, boat, jet ski, hand glider…. was an absolute blast.

Not only are they fun to operate, but they make traveling from one area of the island to another enjoyable.  Once you have liberated a settlement you can quick travel from it to any other settlement that you have liberated, but unlike other games the journey was more important than the destination.  I would often forgo using the quick travel option and find a more creative way to get there.  More often that not I end up spending a ton of time flying around, crashing jeeps, ramming boats, just to see what sort of mischief/chaos I could get up to.

3. The variety of weapons, and the mods available for them kept me pretty happy… especially when the signature weapons became available.

I’ve always enjoyed being a sniper in these types of games, and this one didn’t let me down, but I also found myself using pretty much every weapon available.  With the addition of the variety of melee kills available, it was a hoot to try and take down a whole camp of “pirates” without ever firing a shot (kinda reminded me of another Ubisoft title Splinter Cell).

4. Another thing that can easily go unnoticed when a game is designed well is the lack of bugs.

Far Cry 3 had it’s fair share of “insects” that were part of the environment, but “bugs” weren’t one of them.  During the single player action I didn’t encounter a single bug….. not even one.  I encountered a couple during the co-op, but they were minor and didn’t even require me to stop playing.  I can’t comment on multiplayer since I haven’t given it a try yet.

Con’s:

1. Skill tree was very restrictive.

With 3 different skill tree’s and a total of 64 different skills (18 for each skill tree), I was excited about what skills to choose first, and which skill tree I was going to focus on.  The problem is that you’re very limited in what skills you can choose, and for the most part you’re forced to spread you earned skill points out between the 3 tree’s, which really took a lot of the fun out of the character customization for me.

2. The story line and some characters were disappointing.

SPOILER ALERT !!!!!  I don’t want to give away any details, but I can’t review the game without saying that I hated the storyline.  Don’t get me wrong, it started out okay, but the ending was a HUGE let down.  As for the characters, some were memorable, some were annoying, and others didn’t even seem to realize that anything bad was going on…. You’ll be able to put them into these categories as you go along.  Two of my favourite characters were ruined by the way the story played out in the end.

3.  Controls were sometimes disorienting.

I don’t know….. maybe it’s just me getting older, but I found the controls inside some of the dark caves a bit disorientating.  The flash light seemed to come on too late, and turn off too soon, and while trying to climb/turn/jump/swim in the dark I ended up more than one time giving up playing for awhile out of frustration.  Wasn’t a huge complaint, but a complaint nonetheless.

The Bottom Line:

If you ignore the storyline and the lack of skill customization this game would dam well be near a 10 out of 10, but if you’re like me and the storyline counts for something, it really drags a near perfect game down a few notches.

Don’t mind my harsh criticism, after Boarderlands 2, this is my favourite titles over the last few years, and you won’t be disappointed if you purchase it. 

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In the wake of the recent gun violence President Obama & VP Joe Biden are boldly proposing the following changes in support of gun control:

1. Requiring criminal background checks for all gun sales
2. Reinstating the assault weapons ban
3. Restoring a 10-round limit on ammunition magazines
4. Eliminating armor-piercing bullets
5. Instituting a federal gun trafficking statute

You would think that any sane member of society would be in support the above list of changes, and would see them as a responsible, measured action to help stem gun violence.  But no, members of the NRA and other ultra conservative groups see this as the beginning of the end; and an infringement of their second amendment rights which couldn’t possibly of envisioned things such as automatic weapons that fire armor-piercing bullets.

The US is #10 on a ranked “List of (75) countries by firearm-related death rate” – source Wikipedia.  Being ranked #10 doesn’t sound too bad, until you see the Countries listed in ranks one through nine:

1. El Salvador
2. Jamaica
3. Honduras
4. Guatemala
5. Swaziland
6. Mexico
7. Columbia
8. Brazil
9. Panama

The US is #1 on a ranked list of  178 Countries by “Number of guns per capita by country” – source Wikipedia.  While this list is more widely disputed, and it’s margin of error is high, it does state that the United States ranking in position number one is one of unambiguous.

The real question is whether the number of guns per capita has anything to do with the number of gun related deaths per capita.  This question will likely be debated by better minds than mine for generations to come, and will most likely never be definitely answered.  For other interesting statistical correlations between gun ownership vs. gun related violence you can visit an article found HERE at KDnuggets.com

Another interesting article I cam across was titled “How Not to Stop a Massacre” by Alex Halperin on salon.com.  This article deals with mental health and gun ownership, which is another issue Obama is trying to address.

The bottom line?  Higher gun ownership doesn’t lead to less gun related violence.  If it did the US would be the safest place in the world to live.  Ultimately, regardless of the reasons for gun violence, there’s no reason for automatic weapons and armor-piercing bullets to be owned by ordinary citizens, and I applaud the effort to eliminate them from being part of the equation.

For a bit of a lighter view of gun control/violence I’ve always enjoyed this little excerpt from “Bigger and Blacker” by Chris Rock:

He really knows how to crack a cracker up.

The post Gun Control in the US. appeared first on BornSquishy.

Neither the owners, or players deserve our support or respect.  All involved are too caught up with how much money is at stake (and how much of it will fill their pockets) to care about anything else.

The only way to stop this from happening every time the contract is up for renewal is punish both the owners and the players by pulling your support.  Stop buying tickets to the game or watching it on T.V., and stop buying licensed products.

Without our support they have no money to fight over.

Of course I’m wasting my breath because the vast majority of you will rush back to the NHL with open arms the moment this new contract is ratified and it’ll be business as usual…… until the next contract comes up and crushes your hockey dreams yet again.  It’s going to happen.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

UPDATE: 2013.01.17

Well it bound to happen…. I was wrong, there is going to be an NHL season this year, albeit a short one.  Although I made a mistake on my prediction, I won’t make the mistake of watching any of the games for this season.  I joined a grassroots call to action called “Just Drop It” on Facebook and if you want to send the players & owners a strong message this is a great way to do it.  Here’s the declaration on their page:

By clicking “like”, I pledge that for every game you take from me after December 21st, 2012, I will boycott you for the equivalent number of games after the lockout ends. Follow us on twitter @justdropit2012

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Take the average commercial currently on T.V: remove half the content of the message, display most of the narrative in text, repeat the message and more importantly the phone number a half a dozen times, and you’re well on your way to making what seems to be acceptable as a commercial aimed at seniors.

Tragically, commercials aimed at seniors were not the intended target of todays ire, that my friends is reserved for Comwave.   Comwave is a Canada’s largest privately owned telecommunications company that specializes in VOIPVoice Over IP (Internet Protocol) , a technology while very useful, is typically problematic (subject for another day).  Comwave airs a commercial on Newsworld pretty much every break they take, day in, day out, and has done for longer than I can remember.  They have however recently made a new commercial with the exact same content/message, but with a new actor.  Apparently everyone found the previous guy as smug as I did…. ie: look at the way he folds his arms and gives a “yeah we’re that frigging good” look when he tells you that you can “keep your existing phone number”, well thanks that’s mighty white of you.

Here’s Comwave’s commercial:

The first time I saw this commercial I thought “WTF is ‘absolutely free’”.  It’s either free or it’s not; there’s nothing more absolute than that.  After months of being perturbed, I decided to finally fire off an email to Comwave:

Hello,

I’ve been viewing your commercial on T.V for some time now and I was hoping your company could help clear up something for me.

You state that all the calling features are free, and that “if you sign up now, you receive 6 months absolutely free”. Free implies that something is provided without, or not subject to, a charge or payment. Absolute means that something is complete, or free from restriction or limitation. Stating that I can get “6 Months absolutely free” leads me to question the validity of the word “free” attached to the price of the calling features.  I mean if they were really free wouldn’t you have said absolutely free?

With the above in mind, could your company please answer the following 2 questions for me.

1. What is absolutely free?
2. What is the difference between free and absolutely free?

Sincerely,
Curmudgy Bastard

I don’t expect to hear back from Comwave (many due to signing my name “Curmudgy Bastard”), but I will be persistent in trying to obtain an answer.  If/when I do I’ll be sure to post their reply. 

The post The Comwave Conundrum appeared first on BornSquishy.

My immediate thought
was this: ————————>

but after noticing the asterisk I looked towards the bottom on the page and noticed the following text: “*STICKERS YOU FIND ON FRUIT.”

This meant that my previous sticker idea was plausible if someone had indeed placed said sticker on a piece of fruit.

At this point my A.D.D.Attention Deficit Disorder kicked in, the customer became background noise and I continued to flip to random sections of the book.  Each page contained a different set of instructions on how to wreck that page.  I stood there dumbfounded.  I didn’t know what to do.  One side of my A.D.D. riddled brain was seeking destruction and excitement, while the other side of my brain was cringing at the insanity of damaging something so sacrilegious as a book.  Any fully read book could be pulled off of my shelf and resold as brand new.  I used to dread the thought of ordering books online.  Would the book selected for shipment be in pristine condition?   Would the shipper had enough common sense to package it correctly?  Would all the various package handlers try to use my package as a piece of sporting equipment?  Cue footage:

Eventually I came to “terms” with minor defects in the condition of books ordered online.  And by terms I mean that I tried not to curse out loud, I tried to refrain from sending it back, I tried not to hide it from plain site on my shelf…. etc, etc..

Fast forward to today.  The book sits in front of me (I even ordered it online – primarily because I had an electronic  gift card).  Where to start?  I decided that there should be no rules, so Rule #1 automatically becomes “There are no rules”.  I decide to start on the fruit sticker page.  In an attempt to locate that page without spoiling the surprise of the other pages I attempted to google the fruit sticker page only to find out that there are no page numbers.  Dumbfounded again I resort to starting at the beginning .  A few pages in I see a large black arrow with the word “Instructions” whited out of it.  On the opposite page are 5 instructions, 3 of which are things rarely considered an option, let alone an instruction in my book, pardon the pun.   The 3 in question are as follows:

1. (really #3) – Order is not important.
2. (really #4) – Instructions are open to interpretation.
3. (really #5) – Experiment (work against your better judgment).

Turning to the following page is a list of materials any preschool student would wet themselves with excitement to use.  The page opposite to the material list are the words “ADD YOUR OWN PAGE NUMBERS” in large bold capital letters.  At the bottom of the page is yet another large black arrow with the words “STARTING HERE” whited out.  I think to myself…. “OK.  Remember, Rule# 1 is ‘There are no rules’.  Be organic and don’t over think it…. but wait a minute instruction #3 stated ‘Order is not important’, but now I’m being asked to number pages, and pages go in order??? Shit, now what?”.  Instead of just choosing a random number, or numbering it “Page 1″, “Pg. 1″, or simply “1″,  naturally I opt to number the pages via Federation Stardates.  With 41001.3 written in below the arrow I proceed to the next page.

Good God…. the only instruction on this page reads “CRACK THE SPINE”.  As of this point in time I have never damaged the spine of a book, unless you count the time I ripped a few romance books in half to try and convince someone that I was stronger than they were.  Daunted by the task I decided to defer it to a later date and to try once again to locate the sticker page.  I remember it being located somewhere towards the middle of the book.  Turning only the upper right corner of the pages like a flipbook I managed to to see the “COLLECT FRUIT STICKERS* HERE” page without further issues.

I immediately added 41001.3 to the lower right hand corner, and then I went in search of a fruit sticker.  The Granny Smith apples I had in the fridge were stickerless, so I procured one from one of my Missus’Newfoundland English term of respect or affection for a mature woman. Also in British English, a term of affectionate reference to one's wife/female partner/steady girlfriend. - Wikipedia P.S: My Missus took offense to the 'Mature' reference navel oranges.  I ran back down and stuck it onto the page without putting any further thought into it.  Satisfied with the random placement of the sticker I took a closer look to realize that in that brief moment of spontaneity I managed to place the sticker upside down.  For the love of Pete; what now?  Desperately I resisted the urge to correct my oversight, and half heatedly congratulated myself on taking my first small step outside of my neurotic shell.

Note: I have since revisited this post a couple dozen times (even before even publishing it) to contemplate removing my admission of placing the sticker upside down, so I could covertly correct my mistake without anyone being the wiser.  The struggle continues, and I predict many restless nights ahead in the coming weeks.

Note #2: For 2.99 (+ S/H) I’ll send you a lemon with your very own Elton John sticker on it.

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Title: Borderlands 2
Format: PS3, Xbox 360, PC
Release Date: September 18, 2012
Publisher: 2K Games
Developer: Gearbox Software
Price: $59.99
ESRB Rating: M
Official Website: www.borderlands2.com
My Rating: 9.5

From The Pulblisher

A new era of shoot and loot is about to begin. Play as one of four new vault hunters facing off against a massive new world of creatures, psychos and the evil mastermind, Handsome Jack. Make new friends, arm them with a bazillion weapons and fight alongside them in 4 player co-op or split-screen on a relentless quest for revenge and redemption across the undiscovered and unpredictable living planet.

Borderlands 2 follows the story of four new Vault Hunters as they fight to free Pandora from the clutches of Handsome Jack, the brilliant, charismatic, and utterly despicable CEO of the Hyperion Corporation.

Players will fight across the whole of Pandora to stop Jack from awakening an ancient alien evil known only as “the Warrior.” Their quest will bring them into contact with some familiar faces from the old game – most notably, the original four Vault Hunters: Roland, Lilith, Brick and Mordecai. They, along with some brand new characters, will help players defeat Jack, destroy the Warrior, and save Pandora.

Trailer:

My Take

This game rocks….. end of review.

In all seriousness, this game is a winner on all levels.  The art/graphics are stellar.  The sound effects are spot on and the music doesn’t feel like a cheese grater on your nerves (even after endless hours of play).  The story/dialog is a blast, and  enemy taunts such as “I’m gonna rip your arm off, and beat your baby with it” are friggin’ hilarious.  The variety of weapons, shields, etc., are almost endless, and the character skill trees allow for a lot of customization.

Game play is pretty simple:

1. Obtain a quest.
2. Shoot lots of people & creatures
3. Loot everything in site.
4. Level up & repeat steps 1-3.

Even though it’s a simple shoot & loot game, the developer has paid a lot of attention  to little details that make this game really addictive.

I’m already +20 hours into my first character (Zero) and the game still has tons of fun hrs to go.  Typically I only play a game through once, but I might make an exception for this one to experience what the other characters bring to the game.

I really don’t have anything to complain about, but if I find something I’ll update this review in the future.  As for only giving it a 9.5 …… nothing is perfect.  I am a curmudgy bastard after all.

Ultimately this game boils down to one statement: It Rocks!

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emember the days when you were young and though life was so boring?

Me - Man I wish there was something to do.  What do you wanna do today?
Friend - I don’t know…. You?
Me - I don’t know.

Sound familiar?  Did I ever say that to my parents?  Maybe once or twice, until I found out how much needed doing as soon as I said something stupid like that.

Well here’s a great article I came across on a friends Facebook page for today’s teens.  Enjoy.

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