Weight Loss Article 2 -

As I wrote in my previous weight loss article, it's difficult to know how well you're doing if your aim is 'weight loss'.

People often ask, "What weight should I aim for, if I weigh X pounds now?"

It might seem like a reasonable question on the face of it, but let's just consider -

Who's asking?

I mentioned in my previous article that you need an approach that will suit you, if you're to be successful in your endeavours to reshape your body. Something that worked for someone you know might be completely wrong for you.

Back to my questioner: what do I answer?

Well, is the enquirer male or female, short or tall, heavily or slightly built, active or inactive, young or old?

All of those factors would affect any possible answer. And so would the answer to my inevitable counter-question: "What's your body fat percentage right now?"

Almost no-one can answer that question accurately, of course. And yet, isn't that a bit like deciding to drive to Denver when you don't know where you are right now? In which direction would you set off?

Body fat matters

Let's take an example (hypothetical in this case) just to show you the folly of this 'scattergun' approach to weight loss.

Our subject is a 28 year old female, who stands 5' 4" tall and weighs 180 pounds. She has joined a gym and intends to do some cardio 4 times a week. She also sensibly opts to do some simple walking whenever she can.

For some reason, she decides that she needs to lose 60 pounds, because she thinks she'd look good at 120 pounds.

I should mention that her body fat (though she doesn't know it) is at 36%.

So, here's what she has at the outset:

Fat: 65 pounds Lean Body Mass: 115 pounds

Off she goes on her 1200 calorie per day diet, and she sticks determinedly to her gym routine, too.

After 9 weeks, she's lost 25 pounds.

She's fairly pleased (though she'd like to have lost more) but she's noticed that her weight loss has slowed down for the last 3 weeks. Plus, she's starting to feel tired after gym, even though she expected to be fitter.

So where is she now?

Let's look and see. She used to weigh 180, and about 65 pounds of that was body fat, giving her a lean body mass of 115 pounds.

She's lost 25 pounds and now weighs 155. Although she still doesn't know it, her body fat has dropped to just over 32%. Great result, right? Wait for it - not necessarily.

Here's how she looks now:

Fat: 50 pounds Lean Body Mass: 105 pounds

That means she's lost 15 pounds of fat, but 10 pounds of muscle. There just weren't enough calories in her intake to maintain it while she did all that gym work. No wonder she feels tired! She's got much less muscle to move her around - and it's going to be harder to put it back!

All because she's been monitoring the wrong thing. She aimed for 'weight loss', not fat loss. If she keeps on doing what she's done, one of two things will happen…

Prediction

She will quit the diet because she feels tired and irritable and can't stop thinking about the food she's forgoing (and she's hit a weight-loss plateau).

Or, she'll stick it out until she reaches something like her goal of 120 pounds, by which time she'll have lost even more muscle. If she maintains the rate she's lost already, she will have a final lean body mass of only 91 pounds!

That will have significantly reduced her metabolism (so it burns less calories - and less fat!)

Which means that when she returns to her old eating habits (because by then she'll be really sick of that low-calorie regime) her body will burn less energy - and the fat will go back on even faster than it came off!

Ouch! All that effort and suffering, and all to no avail…

The Alternative Approach

This could be summed up as 'select the correct target'.

As just explained, aiming for weight loss is a nonsense thing to do, since the term 'weight' can include stuff you don't want to lose (like muscle)!

But, how does one measure body fat and monitor its loss?

Electronics... schmonics!

Since we all love gadgets, most people would rush out and buy some electronic 'fat monitor' weigh scales or some other battery-powered gadget. But none of those things will provide the answer…

In the first instance, the majority of those devices measure either body impedance from one hand grip to another (upper body only) or from one foot to another (lower body only). So they start off from a pretty inaccurate approach.

Secondly, they are affected by the water retained by the body, which varies throughout the day, and from day to day.

Which only compounds the first inaccuracy.

Expensive Science

You could opt to have yourself weighed underwater, in laboratory conditions. Pretty expensive, though much more accurate. And, since you need to monitor progress as you shed weight, you'd have to pay again and again. Not a realistic option, then.

That leaves -

The Simple Approach

Buy a cheap pair of skinfold callipers (mine are always Accumeasure, but there are others to be had). Practise a few times on skinfold just above your hip bone. When you have repeatable results, take 3 readings (as shown in the instructions that come with the calliper), average them and read off the result on the chart. Note down that fat % reading for future reference.

Then, every week, check that same measurement location:

• If the skinfold dimension decreases, you're losing body fat.

• If it doesn't, you're not.

• If the reading increases, you're gaining body fat.

Could it be any simpler?

Had our hypothetical female in the example above done this, she would have had an early indication that all was not well with her diet plan. If she had then increased her calorie allowance to a sensible figure, she would have lost body fat at a reasonable rate, and without the misery that accompanies a too-low-calorie regime. But at least she'd have learned about her mistake before it was too late and her metabolism had screeched to a halt!

I don't understand…

… Why the average dieter is happy to jump on the bathroom scales each morning and take a completely meaningless measurement, when he or she could have a much more meaningful and helpful progress marker from a simple weekly skinfold measurement.

So, here's my 3rd free weight loss tip:

• Track your body fat loss if you want long-term success.

That's it for now, and good luck, (although you won't need it with a sensible approach to body fat reduction).

In Weight Loss Article 3, you can find out how to get set for successful weight loss...

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