You Won't Lose Weight Tomorrow

There is a business philosophy that I have read about in the past, and I try and implement as much as possible.  The saying goes, "You get paid for done."  Sounds pretty simple.  You can have the most amazing idea in the world, but as long as it is in your head you will never see any profit from it.  And there is more likely a chance someone else will beat you to it.  You might remember this Go Daddy Commercial:  http://youtu.be/UDfVZgtl2zM

This may seem unrelated to weight loss, but the most common excuse we hear from those that are not successful with a weight loss program is that now is not the best time or that they will get started tomorrow or next week or January.....We hear it over and over.  Whenever a prospective client walks into the studio, sees what we have to offer, and then says, "Let me think about it." we know that 95% of the time we will never see that person again and they probably will not start a fitness program any time soon.

Now someone could come in and say I don't like this style of training, it's not in my budget, or maybe they just don't like me.   IF these are truly the case there is a chance they will find another type of workout that will work better for their needs and that is fine.  But if you need to think about implementing something you just aren't ready to do it and it is not a high enough priority in your mind.

One thing I am positive of is there is never a perfect time for anything.  Most people like to procrastinate and avoid what they aren't looking forward to doing.  I think many understand that losing weight can be a challenge.  If it is hard they might keep pushing it further down the list of things they need to get done.  Enough things will pile up in front of it and you will have forgotten it was even something you were considering.

Do not fall into the trap of tomorrow.  Tomorrow is a new day and it sounds like the best time to start fresh.  But don't give up on right now.  It is easy to think about all the good things you will implement tomorrow, but more than likely you won't get to them.

Here is a personal example.  I have been really struggling to get my daily water requirements in each day.  Things get in the way and I don't remember or try to get it done.  Every day I would tell myself that I will do better tomorrow.  Then the same things would get in the way and nothing would change.  I had the right intention but saw no progress.  I had to keep it fresh in my mind.  So when I woke up this morning I said to Emily I will drink enough water today.  Telling someone will make me more accountable and I started the day with a simple goal that I know I can achieve.  It is 1:30pm as I right this and I have already drank 60oz of water.  Only 30oz more to go.

If you need help ask for it.  But do this to help yourself.  Right down what your fitness or wellness goal is.  Then decide what are you not currently doing that would help get your closer to that goal.  Start TODAY.  Don't wait for tomorrow.  Even if it is a small step, do it now.  You are much  more likely to follow through versus waiting for tomorrow.

So you get paid for done.  Nothing will ever happen unless you make it happen.

Have a great week and weekend.

You Stay Healthy San Diego,

Mike Deibler MS, CSCS
San Diego Premier Training

Should You Throw Away Your Scale?

Recently we did a poll on our Facebook page on how much weight I would gain on a week vacation at an all inclusive resort.  I did this poll for a few reasons.  One of the main ones was to show our clients and subscribers that we are human.  Just because I am a trainer and push my clients to follow a healthy nutrition program, doesn't mean there aren't times that we blow it and eat bad foods and drink alcohol.

I personally hate eating around other trainers who look down on anyone who eats what they consider bad foods like bread or gluten or whatever else they seem to have a problem with.  I just can't live that way.  I follow a nutrition diet of lean proteins, a variety of fruits and veggies, with starchy carbs in moderation.  Most of the time this is what I do.  But 10-20% of the time I will eat whatever I want and not feel bad about it.  This is a lifestyle that works for my and I can live with.

So I decided to eat and drink whatever I wanted for a week and see what kind of effect it would have on my weight.  Well 5 days into the vacation I was up 5lbs.  I figured at this point I would probably gain around 8lbs in the week.  Well then Thursday hit.  I will spare you the details, but I ate or drank something that my digestive tract wanted to get rid of immediately.  I pretty much could not stray too far from a toilet for the last two days of our trip.  Needless to say my weight started to drop back down.  After was all said and done I finished up 2.4lbs.  Most people might look at this and say, "Great! I didn't gain too much weight on my vacation."  And that may be true.  But the scale doesn't tell you everything.

I also measured my body fat % before and after.  Before the trip I was 12.8%.  When I got back I was at 14.8%.  Now there is always room for error with the type of testing I used but let's say these number are pretty accurate.  What this means is that before the trip I had 22.9lbs of fat on me.  After the trip I had 26.9lbs of fat.  So the scale said I gained 2.4lbs but I really gained 4lbs of fat.  The reason the scale didn't go up is most likely because I lost some muscle mass from lack of exercise or more likely water weight due to mi estomago issues.  A 2.4lb gain on the scale may not seem to be that bad, but 4lbs of fat is.  This took me a week to gain and will like take a month to get off.

So the purpose of this post was to remind you that you can use the scale to help guide you along the way, but it should not be your primary indicator of your success.  You weight can go up for a lot of reason other than fat gain and the scale can go down for many reason other than fat loss.  But just remember the goal is fat loss not weight loss.  Weighing in is only part of your assessment.  Make sure you are getting your body fat tested or at least circumference measurements so you know exactly how your body is changing.  If you restrict your calories on a diet you will lose fat, but are you losing muscle, bone, water weight, and organ tissue as well.  The goal of a weight management program is to lose primarily fat mass while maintain or increasing lean body mass.

You Stay Healthy San Diego,

Mike Deibler MS, CSCS
San Diego Premier Training