I really need to lose weight, how do I do it? That is a much more loaded question then people realize. First off, its FAT that you need to lose not just weight. Now you may be thinking that is obvious, but I am here to tell you a lot of people do not understand this concept. I cannot tell you how many clients come in to the gym for a fitness assessment and say (for example) “I need to lose 40 pounds”. But after doing a body fat percentage analysis, they do not even have 40 pounds of bodyfat on them! And yet they persist to tell me that they need to lose that exact amount of weight.
The problem arises from a culture that dictates bodily standards. People would like to think that a master scale could be developed to determine what a person needs to weigh based on height, sex and age. This is utter absurdity. The sad thing is, such scales do exist but they are all bogus. These scales do not take into account muscle mass or bone structure (YES there a larger boned people).
Here is an example for you. Assuming they are not using artificial performance enhancers, some of the most fit people on the planet are professional athletes. If you plugged in there bodyweight and height into one of these scales, a lot of them would hit overweight or obese on the charts. Crazy huh? The reason for this is that most of there weight is muscle mass, not fat. If they weighed the same and most of it was fat, ya they probably would be overweight.
Try to think of your body as a ratio between lean (anything except fat), and fat. Yes, you may indeed need to lose a few pounds, but make sure it is a calculated number. Dont just choose a random amount. You may not have that much to lose.
This is a HUGE topic people. I am merely scratching the surface in these few short paragraphs. There will be more information on this subject in future blogs. But for now tune in tomorrow on my podcast to hear more on this subject as we will go in depth. If you have not subscribed to my podcast, it can be found on iTunes under “Fitness Renaissance”. Or go to podomatic.com and search “Precision Fitness”.
Posted by jasonkremser 