Never Trust the Scale - A Guide to Proper Weight-Loss

We have two terms here "weight-loss" and "fat-loss" and these terms frequently are interchanged with each other but shouldn't be. If you lose a pound of fat, then you should weigh a pound less, however it's hard to detect do to the amount of food and liquid you have in your body, which can be as much as 5-7lbs in any given day. Drink several glasses of water, or have a large meal and it will show up on a scale, {even if that number is temporary}. Understanding that your daily body 'weight' can fluctuate 3-5 pounds just from the weight of the food you have eaten, then it's not surprising that you may not really be able to detect a 1 pound decrease in fat mass. Over time and pounds lost you will be able to visibly see a size reduction, {fat has a tendency to take up a lot of room}. Don't give your power away to anything. You are powerful not the number.

With fat loss comes a significant amount of water loss and this is one of the reasons why weight-loss in the beginning always seems to go so well. It is your objective to increase the consummation of water at this time to create the feeling of being fill and to help in the elimination of toxins stored in the fat cells.

Water will make you look smooth and even somewhat bloated and it takes away from your muscular definition, but in time this can be dealt with through a reduction later on, and more than likely will be regulated by your own body as fat-loss continues. As you drop between 15 and 20 % body fat you will see that most of the actual weight you lose is due purely to fat loss. Finally when you're close to 10% body fat or lower you may visibly notice that you look smaller, although this may not show up on a scale. Between 10 and 20% body fat is where your body should start automatically to regulate water retention.

The moral of the story is not to believe everything the scale is telling you. I hear people complaining that they are losing inches but that there is very little in the way of a reduction on the scale. Yes this is exactly the way it's suppose to be, you lose fat and then inches but you stay hydrated. Yes we call this a weight-loss program, but the weight that you are losing is fat.

As your percentage of body-fat becomes lower and lower the look and feel of your muscle will also take on a different appearance. Being fully hydrated and gmycogen loaded muscles can dramatically increase your bodyweight, even if it only lasts for a day or two. This ability of your muscles to swell with water, nutrients and glycogen can also throw off your measurement of fat loss vs weight loss. When you're very lean you can actually lose fat, and even gain weight at the same time. These likely won't be huge swings but it's definitely possible.

Finally you can you lose fat without losing weight, you can even gain weight while losing fat. If you have lots of fat to lose, you'll start out by losing significantly more weight than is accounted for by fat due to a reduction in water retention. When you're approaching 10% body fat and attempting to cut even lower you will likely get leaner without seeing much of a change in body weight, making it always seem that the last 10 to 15 pounds is the hardest to drop.
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