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How To Judge Your Fat Loss
Progress Properly
If you don't know how to properly judge your fat loss or
fat burning progress from a particular exercise or
nutrition regimen, you're probably not going to be very
successful.
It's just like in sports, you have to know the score if
you want to know who wins the game. So in our fat loss
and fitness efforts, we have to know our body's score if
we want to know if we're winning, or in this case,
losing. |
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I've found that a big mistake a lot of
people make in judging their fat loss progress in the
pursuit of a fit body is to be a slave to the scale. The
scale is a useful tool, no doubt, but I've seen far too
many people stop doing the right things (like proper
weight training) just because they gained a pound on the
scale.
But you can't blame yourself if you've been in this mode
before, for years most of us were taught to watch the
scale carefully when measuring if we did or did not burn
fat. But your body can fluctuate a few pounds up or down
at different times of the day, every day. This doesn't
mean you've burned or gained fat, so following the scale
can play games with your mind.
Another big problem with using the scale as your sole
judge of progress has become clear with many people
adding lean muscle to their bodies recently.
Muscle weighs more than fat, so let's say you been
following a properly conducted resistance training
routine for the past few months. You've gotten stronger
and you've also added muscle to your body. If you're
adding pounds of lean muscle to your body, you might see
an up-tick in what the scale says. But assuming you're
not gaining fat weight, it's a good thing. It's not
about weight loss, it's about fat loss.
More muscle means more calories devoted to building that
muscle and keeping it alive. It also means your
metabolism will get faster and become more efficient at
burning fat. You'll see that number on the scale drop
soon enough, as the new muscle has created a calorie
deficit in your daily food intake.
What we really should be looking at here is body fat
percentage, or how much your total weight is made up of
body fat. Most men will be more than happy with their
bodies when they get into the 12-15% range, and most
women will be satisfied with a fat percentage of around
16-20. So go out and get a skin calliper, which is
fairly inexpensive, or another measurement device so you
can keep track of your relative body fat percentage.
If it's going down, keep doing what you're doing, and
don't even look at that scale!
Another tool I recommend using when judging your fat
loss progress is the tried and true mirror in your
bathroom. Now, this may sound simple, but use the mirror
to judge your fat loss and muscle gain.
Combined with liberal use of your scale and keeping tabs
on your body fat percentage, your mirror will provide
all you'll need to judge your progress. The great thing
about the mirror is that you'll get great motivation
from seeing your body change right before your eyes, and
it will spur you on to even further progress!
The other important aspect of judging your fat loss
progress is creating realistic expectations of your new
body. As I teach my
students, our friends in the fitness industry often use
the genetically superior to advertise their products and
programs, and this can easily deceive you subconsciously
into thinking all you have to do is follow their advice
to look like the cover boy or girl.
Well, I'm here to tell you that even if you have the
most efficient plan or program, you still may never look
like your favourite physique superstar or model.
Research tells us that we are a product of our genetic
inheritance. We all have our own inherited physical
characteristics. For instance, some of us carry more fat
in our bellies than others. Some of us have more muscle
fibres in our legs and arms. Some of us carry more fat
cells in our hips and thighs. Some of us are short, some
are tall, some have dark hair, some have blue eyes, etc.
Some of us lose fat and gain muscle easily, some don't.
While this may come as no surprise, it is important to
remember so we don't sabotage our efforts in the gym or
at the dinner table trying to burn fat. What I mean by
that is, just because you don't lose fat in your belly
at the same rate as your best friend
doesn't mean you're doing the wrong things to lose it.
You can only compare yourself to you. Lying in you right
now is your very own best body, your own strong, lean,
and healthy physique. Everyone's is different. Yours
might be highlighted by broad shoulders and powerful
arms. Or maybe it's your slender and muscular waist that
frames your body.
So don't feel chained by your genetic makeup, feel
liberated, knowing that you have the power to reshape
and transform what you were given.
With the combination of the right knowledge and
developed habits, you can burn fat fast and make such
improvements in your body that you'll impress almost
everyone you know. I've seen it happen with my friends,
family, and students, I'm talking about people seeing
them and saying wow!
And more importantly, you'll feel great knowing you've
done all you can to live the rest of your life with the
body you're truly capable of, and that is just an
awesome and empowering feeling.
Get the solution to rid yourself for life of this abdominal
fat problem by reading more details in the
free report, Training & Nutrition Insider
Secrets for a Lean-Body.
"
Training And Nutrition Insider Secrets for a Lean-Body "
Michael Geary is a Certified Personal Trainer, Certified
Nutrition Specialist, and author of the internationally
best-selling book "The Truth about Six Pack Abs"
with
readers in over 150 countries.
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