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“How much weight did you lose?” I overheard one female member ask another. “How much weight did you gain man?” one male lifter asks another as he exits the scale. I believe that these two phrases are the most over-used phrases in the world of health and fitness.

Yes, stepping on the scale will tell you how much you weigh on planet earth, but it does nothing to tell you about your present state of health, wellness or fitness.

It appears most of the population is concerned about decreasing their weight; records show that people in United States spend, on average, $40 billion a year to “reduce their weight”. My experience with my clients as well as the general public is that people are confused as to what it is that they are trying to reduce or get rid of – body weight or body fat. Unfortunately these terms are HUGELY misunderstood, and sometimes mistakenly used interchangeably.

WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?

To get us started on the right foot, let me first clarify the difference between all of the important terms. Body weight is nothing more than the measure of the gravitational pull of planet earth on your body. Whereas body fat, refers to how much of your total body weight is made up of fat. Then there is lean mass which refers to your muscles, bones, connective tissue, and organs. The remainder falls into the fat category.

There are two types of fat:

(1) Essential fat which is required for normal physiological functioning and is stored in the bone marrow, the lungs, heart, kidneys, liver, and other major tissues and organs; and (2) Storage fat which lies beneath the skin (subcutaneous) and serves as insulation, as a nutritional reserve, and protects internal organs from trauma. It is the sum of these two fat categories that dictates your overall body fat percentage (%).

WHERE DID THIS COME FROM?

Unfortunately it appears that most of us are only concerned with height versus weight scales and charts used by Life Insurance Companies since 1959, largely because these were the only initial indicators developed to assess health. However a wealth of information about body composition (lean mass to fat ratio) and its relationship to overall health and wellness have come along since that time that are better indicators of health fitness, and wellness.

Just to put this in perspective, I was told by my insurance company that I was overweight according to my last doctors’ visit. They informed me that I would have to pay a higher monthly rate in order to stay insured by them. Mind you I am 5’8”, 207lbs. with 9% bodyfat. I circuit train with free weights and enjoy boxing regularly. My blood pressure is low, my cholesterol both good and bad are very low. But the only thing the insurance company was concerned about was my weight to height number on their scale. Never mind that all other indicators suggest that I am very healthy.

Now at first glance it may not seem all that important to distinguish between the two – body weight versus body fat. Especially in a world that seems to be obsessed with being thin. But being thinner is not an indicator of being healthier. You can have two people that weigh 135 lbs. One person has 15% body fat (20lbs. fat), while the other person has 30% body fat (40lbs. fat). What that means is that the person with 15% body fat is having an easier time carrying their body weight around in their daily activities because they have more muscle to do the job. This obviously suggests that, all things being equal, they have a better chance at a longer life expectancy than someone who is carrying extra body fat. If for no other reason than the person at 15% is, over time, experiencing less wear and tear on their joints, will have a better overall energy level, and mobility.

But let’s take it one step further. As I discuss in my article on Stress and Weight Loss, excessive body fat has been correlated to coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, diabetes, arthritis and certain forms of cancer. So let’s be clear, while body fat is not a full- proof indicator of health, it is definitely putting you in the right direction to focus on, rather than body weight. So the question now becomes, are you overweight or overfat? Remember overweight is based on your height only, while overfat refers to your body fat percent in relationship to your overall body weight.

BODY COMPOSITION

Body composition refers to the ratio between your lean mass and body fat. Below I have included a chart that provides general ranges for both men and women.

	Women	Men
Essential Fat	10 – 12%	2 – 4%
Athletes	14 – 20%	6 -13%
Fitness	21 -24%	14 –17%
Acceptable	25 -31%	18 -25%
Obese	32% and up	26% and up

This chart gives you a general idea of the ranges you should consider when considering what level of health, wellness, and fitness you are striving towards.

There are several ways to calculate your body fat percentage.

1.) Hydrostatic Weighing Test: Considered the Gold Standard by many, this test requires you to sit on a scale inside a tank of water and blow out as much air as you can from your lungs.

2.) Skinfold or Pinch Test: Calipers are used to measure skin fold thickness in various parts of the body. Body fat is then determined by computing the results using a formula. This is one of the testing measurements I use for my clients.

3.) Bioelectrical Impedance Test: A special scale is used to pass a harmless signal/ current from hand to foot. The signal will travel faster if there is less fat in the body. This is the other measurement tool I use for my clients.

4.) BMI: The most popular, because it is the most accessible. Beware however as this does not take into account gender and age, which are very important. This is the weight to height scale I discussed above. Click here to figure your own BMI.

Ultimately when using any of these measurement devices to determine body fat to body weight a note of caution must be used. These are not full – proof devices; each comes with its own amount of error built in. The goal is to get a number that you track over time to provide you with insight as to whether your health, wellness, and fitness program is helping you get healthier or not.

EXERCISE & NUTRITION

As some of you read this you are saying, “fine, I’ll just cut my calories back, or do such and such diet and I’ll lose weight”. And to a minor degree you would be correct. However, after being in the health, wellness, and fitness industry for over 20 years I can tell you just cutting calories is the slowest way to achieve lasting weight loss towards improved health.

For one, just cutting calories, if you not working with a certified nutritionist or dietician, in many cases leads to your body consuming its lean mass (muscle) for energy. This results in your body’s metabolism slowing down; which in turn slows down how quickly you will shed those unwanted pounds. Your muscles are the horses that power your body into movement. If you decrease that horsepower you will burn fewer calories as the body tries to protect itself from starvation.

This is a typical response to the calories in versus calories out idea. While it is true that if you eat less calories than you burn you will lose weight. But it is also true that if you are not eating the right types of calories you will get rid of weight that will actually slow your progress towards weight loss.

Let me quickly try to explain why this is so, as it seems so many people are in fact confused about this issue of drastically reducing their calories and not getting results. Depending on where your ancestors came from, they dealt with periods of caloric deprivation. What I mean is that if your ancestors lived close to North or South Pole they had to deal with growing ice sheets that made food less available. If your ancestors lived close to the equator then they had to deal with issues of drought and again, that made food less available. So during those periods of less available calories (caloric deprivation) on which to survive, the body had to adapt. It did this by learning to slow it’s metabolism down in order to make sure that we survived. This was a survival mechanism that kept our species alive. So when you skip meals or drastically reduce your calories, you are in a sense telling your body to slow down your metabolism because calories are scarce.

The unfortunate part of this is that when you do this the body goes for the most nutrient dense tissues in order to make up for that caloric deprivation. When the body is choosing between lean mass (muscle) and fat, lean mass contains more nutrients. So typically your body will go here to get the calories it needs to survive. This means, as I mentioned above, as the body consumes its own muscle to survive it also slows the metabolism you are trying to rev up to lose weight. Thus skipping meals is counter productive to losing weight and in fact works against your goal in the long run.

When working with my clients I explain this issue to them and then make clear the importance of consuming 5 -6 meals each day. This allows you to maintain your muscle, keep your metabolism revved up as well as not feel hungry through out the day.

Along with consuming regular meals through out the day I am a big believer in the use of exercise (cardio as well as resistance exercise) in order to speed up the weight loss process. Research continues to show that utilizing exercise in addition to a well rounded nutrition schedule actually assists in losing weight faster. And what’s more important is that it is the weight you want to get rid of – body fat!

Specifically utilizing resistance exercises stimulates the muscles in order to maintain your lean mass, while utilizing cardio assists in burning extra calories. The two done together ensure that you, while using a well rounded nutrition program, will watch your body fat % drop steadily.

For more information on this topic please order my 20 of the Most Frequently Asked Fitness Questions CD, where I go into more detail.

Now when I say exercise I don’t only mean joining a gym. Perhaps you can start with: taking the stairs at work rather than the elevator, or when safe, park further away from the entrance and walk utilize hobbies that include physical activity (gardening, dancing, hiking) Think of it this way. If you burned 100 more calories per day, which is equivalent to walking approximately 1 mile each day (15 minutes), and kept this up without changing your nutrition. You could stand to lose 10 lbs in one year.

When working with my clients I strive to create custom meal programs that they can stick to, as well as exercise programs that are personalized to their unique level of fitness. Doing this drastically increases how fast they lose weight and keep it off. If you have any questions or would like some help in creating a customized nutrition and exercise program visit my website at http://www.energyfxfitness.com or contact me at (310) 397-0089. It’s time you had the success you deserve!

About the author:

Kurt Elder MSW, CPT is a Fitness Consultant and Results Coach. Kurt has been in the health, fitness and wellness industry for over 20 years. He has been a practicing psychotherapist, competitive athlete, and world record holder. He holds a certification from the National Academy of Sports Medicine. Kurt is currently the owner and operator of Energy F/X Fitness Consultants. Kurt is a highly sought after authority in rehab and sports conditioning as well as weight loss. His approach, aided by his unique background, allows an experience of total transformation for his clients. Kurt may be contacted at http://www.energyfxfitness.com or call me at (310) 397-0089.

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When I was a kid I would insist that my parents purchase these specific shoes that I believed would make me run faster and jump higher. In my adolescence I wanted to wear certain clothes that would make me part of the in crowd. Presently, some adults believe that driving a certain car will in fact make them more popular and increase their chances of dating the right person. As an adult I realize that many of us are using these same types of media driven magical/wishful thinking when choosing how to go about losing weight. We somehow believe that there is a quick fix to years of inactivity and careless eating habits.

I have been in the Health and Fitness industry for over 20 years, and I continue to be amazed at how easily many of us are led into the profit driven hype the media feeds us. Telling us how using philosophy ‘X’ or product ‘Y’ will lead to quick and satisfying weight loss. Drawing from my experiences in high school wrestling; to National level Powerlifting; presently practicing Mixed Martial Arts, as well as having been a practicing psychotherapist, I know what works and what doesn’t, as well as the struggles it takes to get there. I have witnessed the frustration of 100’s, if not 1,000’s of clients who came to me after trying the latest diet trend and having little to no results. I know what works in the real world. I know how to help you get there because I’ve assisted 100’s if not 1,000’s of clients achieve their weight loss goals. And there is no magic involved.

The process is rather simple, eat more calories than you burn and you will gain weight. Eat fewer calories than you burn and you will lose weight. The trick of course is not to deprive yourself so much that you feel hungry while having fewer calories. There have been numerous approaches to weight loss ranging from philosophies that encourage certain foods be eaten together, to cabbage soup diets, to eating foods specific to your blood type, to eating all the fat and protein you want. Yet through all of these trends, the same fact remains. Take in fewer calories than you burn and you will lose weight. There are no quick fixes and at the same time there is no need for undue suffering while modifying your nutritional intake.

So what does work, you must be asking yourself by now? What can I eat and how can I lose these unwanted pounds that are not only unattractive to me, but are inhibiting the quality of my life? The answer is rather simple. Let me tell you why. The unfortunate truth is that most of us don’t really know what we eat day to day. We get hungry and put something in our mouths. Part of any successful weight loss program is to first keep track of what you eat. I have my clients keep a 5 day food journal to start the process off. This gives us each an idea of what modifications need to be made to get them from point A to point B. I rely on real-life, scientifically based, age old truths about how the body works and what gets results for my clients.

In June 2002 Consumer Reports published an article, called the “The Truth About Dieting”. In it, they effectively and accurately lay out the guides/strategy that I have been espousing to my clientele for years for successful weight loss. Consumer Reports conducted the largest survey ever on long-term maintenance of weight loss, 32,213 respondents. From this group they found 5 key points necessary to successful long-term weight loss. And in August 2002, L.A. Health News published a piece that utilized information reviewed by the website iVillage.com, where several of the leading diets plans were reviewed for their hunger (if they left the user feeling hungry), health (do you get the nutrients you need), ease (is it easy to follow), and expense (will this diet break your bank).

I could go on listing volumes of references of all the information that is out there to guide you to your success, but the key elements are rather simple. And probably not so different from the ideas your mother used to tell you. Simply put, unless informed differently by a physician, you should have a protein, a carbohydrate, and a fat at each meal. Meals should be spaced approximately every two and a half to three and a half hours apart. This could be three typical meals of breakfast, lunch and dinner, with two snacks (one mid-morning snack and one late afternoon snack), or five small meals throughout the day. Why? Because your body needs consistent nutrition throughout the day in order to remain alert, maintain energy levels, and keep your body burning fat rather than storing it.

1) Carbohydrates: Consistent with Consumer Reports article, The Zone by Barry Sears, and numerous other diet plans. One of the biggest keys to a successful weight loss program is taming your blood sugar. The body’s use of carbohydrates is the key to success and is a regular part of diets. There are essentially two types of carbohydrates: Low Glycemic such as vegetables, whole grains, legumes and food rich in fiber, and High Glycemic, which include foods such as white rice, pasta, refined flour, bread, potatoes, and sugar. During digestion carbohydrates are broken down into sugar (glucose) molecules. When they reach your blood stream the pancreas releases insulin, which is the only way cells can uptake the glucose and hence use the glucose for energy. However, fasting-acting, high-glycemic carbohydrates create an upsurge of blood sugar that is uncomfortable to the body (not to mention being stored as triglycerides (an indicator of heart disease risk)). In response the body unleashes a surge of insulin that often drives blood sugar levels below normal and thereby increases the craving for more (often high glycemic) carbohydrates. It is of importance to note that your brain is the second largest consumer of carbohydrates in the body, so drastically reducing or worse yet, skipping carbs altogether is an easy way to impair your clear thinking, not to mention your energy levels.

The key is to minimize the amount of high glycemic carbohydrates you take in at each meal. If you have a high glycemic carb in your meal make sure to include approximately double that amount of low glycemic carb. In that way you are able to control your insulin levels and hence your energy levels.

2) Protein: Other than the Atkins Diet, many traditional reducing diets restrict protein intake. However, recent research has shown that protein actually aids in the slowing of food absorption. For instance if you have a serving of fish with some white rice, though I suggest brown, your blood sugar will rise more slowly than if you consume the same number of calories of white rice alone. So protein can aid in a low-glycemic diet, as well as helping you control your insulin. Protein also serves the purpose of feeding your muscles. Without the amino acids present in protein, your muscles would starve. Maintaining your muscle (often referred to as lean mass) is what allows you to keep your metabolism up and hence burn more calories.
The key is to choose lean protein such as lean cuts of beef, pork, egg whites, fish, chicken, turkey, and reduced fat dairy.

3) Fat: Though for some time we have been lead to believe that fat is bad, recent research encourages the use of fats towards weight loss and maintaining good health. Fats such as mono- and poly-unsaturated vegetable oils, olive oil, avocados, nuts, and fish oil seem to protect people against heart disease. In addition adding fat to your meal slows the absorption rate of food allowing you to feel fuller longer. Further, this slowed absorption rate decreases the blood sugar surge that would occur if fat were not included in the meals containing high glycemic carbohydrates.
The key is to utilize healthy fats to maintain well-rounded nutrition and health.

4) Consistency: It appears that it is not so much what you do in your weight loss strategy as much as it is how often. Those that have the most success in weight loss and keeping the weight off, do so by making consistently better choices in food and adding exercise regularly.

Again, the idea is to meet your nutritional requirements while decreasing your overall calories and not feeling starved. One of the best ways to do this is to choose foods rich in fiber and water. The idea is to get your body to feel full before you’ve consumed too many calories. The easiest way to do this is to choose foods that are rich in fiber and water such as vegetables, grains, and lean meats. Merely drinking water after a meal, while helpful, does not create the same feeling of fullness as when water is a part of the food. An example used by Consumer Reports is of having chicken noodle soup versus having chicken and noodles side by side on a plate.

To summarize, eat every three and a half to four hours, include a protein, high glycemic and approximately double the low glycemic carbohydrate, and make sure to include fat in every meal. Exercise regularly and POW watch the unwanted pounds leave and stay gone!

Now if this all still sounds too complicated to get you results AND If you’re ready to have the body you always wanted contact me at kurt@energyfxfitness.com and I can help create a nutrition schedule that won’t break your bank and will get you results fast! Call me now at (310) 397-0089.

NOTE:

In the Spring of 2000, the U.S. Public Health Services’ Centers for Disease Control declared obesity an epidemic among all segments of the population, in all regions of the country. By 2001 the CDC officially recognized obesity as the No. 1 epidemic in America. According to the CDC, one in five American adults is obese, which is defined as being 30 percent above the ideal weight for one’s height. Obesity has increased among American adults by nearly 60 percent in the last decade and approximately half of Americans are overweight.
These extra pounds have been known to increase the risk of heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure as well as being associated with several types of cancer, including breast, colon, kidney, liver, pancreatic, and rectal.

BMI Formula (14 KB)

About the author:

Kurt Elder MSW, CPT is a Fitness Consultant and Result Coach. Kurt has been in the health, fitness and wellness industry for over 20 years. He has been a practicing psychotherapist, competitive athlete, and world record holder. He holds a certification from the National Academy of Sports Medicine. Kurt is currently the owner and operator of Energy F/X Fitness Consultants. Kurt is a highly sought after authority in rehab and sports conditioning as well as weight loss. His approach, aided by his unique background, allows an experience of total transformation of his clients. Kurt may be contacted at http://www.energyfxfitness.com or call me at (310) 397-0089.

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