Don't Put All Of Your Eggs In One Basket...

Also known as...don't put all of your trust in one measurement when it comes to your body shape.  There are many different ways to quantify your level of health and body composition.

Weight in pounds or kilograms

Many people fixate on weight and get frustrated when they do not see changes that they consider equal to their effort expended (ME!).  It is important to remember that you might be the same weight or even gain weight when starting to exercise.  Not always a bad thing.

Body fat
I consider body fat to be the most important indicator of health.  There is no cheating your way around this measurement.  It proves that a thin person can still have too much body fat and that a 250 pound body builder can be really lean.  There are so many factors that can affect overall weight like height and build (endo, ecto and mesomorph).  Body fat measurements allow a way for you to track yourself against yourself.  After all, your body is not built like the body of anyone else.

How to measure it:
Body fat scale
Skin calipers
Water submersion
Taping
DEXA Scan

The American Council on Exercise uses the following categories based on percentage of body fat: 

Muscle mass
I think this measurement is most important for competitive athletes and body builders.  Keeping track of this number over time helps you assure that you are losing fat vs losing muscle when trying to get lean.

Body water percentage
Very important for women to track throughout the month.  It can let you know that a 5-pound gain is not related to fat or muscle, rather you are just bloated and retaining extra water weight.  Another application is based upon the fact that our bodies naturally tend to hold on to fat.  If your body thinks that it is being deprived, it will actually break down some muscle and dump water weight in order to hold on to its fat reserves.  Fad diets often suggest that you can lose 7- 10 pounds in a week, without specifying the type of weight being lost.  However, it is physically impossible to lose more than 2-3 lbs of body fat in a week.  Water volume measurements can also be used to assess hydration if one is exercising intensely in sessions longer than an hour.

Body Mass Index (BMI)
Commonly used at health fairs and in doctors offices.  It is an acceptable measurement for about 90% of people.  However, weight lifters and anyone who has a high percentage of muscle mass can often fall into overweight or obese categories.

Click here to calculate your BMI.

Body taping (neck, chest, waist, arms, legs) in inches or centimeters
Pick a few specific spots and measure them at consistent times of the day over a month.  The measurements can show loss in size that might not be reflected in weight.

How clothes fit
The least scientific but one of my favorites.  If you have a favorite pair of jeans, use those as a gauge as to how you are losing or gaining.  As you drop weight, get a smaller size and use those as your gauge.

My favorite scale

EatSmart Scale

Buy this scale at Amazon.com.


What I plan to try in the future:
A DEXA Scan is the most accurate measurement for body fat.
You can read more about it by clicking here.

Find a few of these techniques that work the best for your needs and try to use them consistently.  

Calories Out > Calories In

Which “diet” is the best to follow?  Easy answer!  The one that you fits into YOUR life and that you can stick with for the duration of your life.

I am often asked, what diet works best:  Low-carb, Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Atkins, Ornish, Paleo, Vegan, Gluten-Free, Sugar-free etc.  The answer is that they all can work because they all focus on caloric deprivation of one kind or another.  But can you eat THAT way for the rest of your life? 

Losing weight is about creating a deficit or difference in the number of calories your body burns vs. how many calories you eat.  At the end of the day, you’ve got to eat in a way that is sustainable for you, allows you to lose weight in a reasonable time frame and also that allows you to feel physically and emotionally satisfied.

Another question that people often ask me – Can you lose weight without exercising?  You can lose weight without exercising!  However, it will be a much slower process and your body will physically not look as good.  Once you lose excess fat, it is nice to have a little muscle definition to balance out your body shape.  Think of a thin person that does not exercise and how they look in tight pants.  Their butt may be small but it is not firm.  Their legs are straight but show no definition to accentuate their hips and waist.  Working out is like the icing on the metaphorical weight-loss cake! 

I will use myself as example.  This is my daily caloric differential graph from SparkPeople.com.  In my case, my basal metabolic rate (BMR) or the calories I need to maintain my body, my current weight and basic daily activity = 1,667 calories.

 What I eat is my caloric intake (CI).  I aim to eat about 1,200 calories every day.

NO EXERCISE  1,667 (BMR) -1,200 (Caloric Intake)     467 (Differential) If I have a difference of 467 calories a day, I know I should lose 1 pound every 7.5 days. 3500 (calories in 1 Lb) =  467 calories per day   7.5 days to lose 1 Lb

EXERCISE – 250 calories/day  1,917 (BMR + exercise) -1,200 (Caloric intake)     715 (Differential) If I have a difference of 715 calories a day, I know I should lose 1 pound every 5 days. 3500 (calories in 1 LB) =   715 calories per day   4.9 days to lose 1 Lb

I don’t know about you, but I would rather lose a pound every 5 days vs. every 7.5 days.  It just means you have to give up a little bit of your time to make it happen!

It my personal experience, it does not really matter what you do regarding diet or exercise, as long as you keep a daily caloric difference great enough to keep you satisfied with YOUR weight loss.  Of course, you should try to eat clean, real, unprocessed food.  However, if I ate 1,200 calories of Snackwell cookies every day, I would/could still loose at about the same rate, my body just would not look or feel as good (physically, mentally or emotionally) as it could on 1,200 calories of healthy stuff.  You just have to figure out what you can sustain long-term and find YOUR perfect balance between healthy eating, exercising and feeling like you can still occasionally indulge in your favorite foods.  What works for you will not be a great fit for others and vice-versa.

In the end, weight-loss is all about creating a grand science experiment with your body.  You need to record what goes in (food) and what goes out (exercise).  By doing so, you can make small changes and adjustments to keep losing or to maintain a weight loss.  It was not until I started charting everything that I was able to make the connections and to fill all of the voids that had sabotaged my weight-loss and fitness efforts in the past.  

Help end the lower belly pooch.

This is a problem that I have dealt with on and off for years. After having two children and attempting to lose weight and get fit after each pregnancy, I did not pay attention to this imbalance. Awesome reminder that we need to continually assess our flexibility and posture as we exercise. 


http://woldfitness.com/2011/07/one-exercise-to-end-lower-belly-pooch/ 

Skinny fat?

Can not say it better than one of the commenters, "Thick or thin, we all need to get out of our chairs on a regular basis in order to have the best chance of maintaining good health."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704762904575025313433081780.html?mod=WSJ_article_comments#articleTabs%3Dcomments