the numbers

when i joined the running club they gave me a whole bunch of flyers and coupons and stuff, and one of them was for free body-composition testing using something called the bod pod (sorry, this is the post of links to bad websites).

body composition testing is usually done by dunking the testee in a tank full of water, then comparing the amount of water they displace with their actual weight, and calculating the percentage of body fat.
the bod pod works the same way, except it measures air, instead of water, displacement, so there's none of the hassle of having to get wet.

it's a slightly disneyesque experience; the machines are designed to be usable by anyone (although i wasn't allowed to do it myself), so there is a recorded womans voice that tells you what to do, sort of like the ones they have at natural history musuems, the ones that tell you what you're looking at when you push a button in front of the exhibit.

you strip down to your skivvies, put on a swim cap, and step on a scale, then you get in the pod and sit down. the door -- which is the whole front of the thing -- is closed, and you're left sitting there, looking out through an acrylic window while the voice tells you not to move, and to breathe normally.

then there are some humming noises, and a weird sort of thumping i could feel ON my eardrums, and the voice tells you to open the door, and close it again, whereupon it goes through the whole be-still-breathe-normally-humming-thumping business again.
it does it a total of three times, then you get out, and while you're getting dressed it prints out your results.

mine are:

weight:	126.0 lbs
fat:	10.8 lbs
	8.6%
lean:	115.2 lbs
	91.4%

which puts me at the bottom end of their "lean" category.