Article
by Tom Venuto,
NSCA-CPT, CSCS
Lose
20
Pounds Fast
Back “in the
day” when I was
a full time personal trainer and I met with weight loss clients in
person
at my New Jersey Health Club, the first thing I would always ask during
the initial consultation was:
"Tell me
what you want...
and I'll show you how to get it."
Typical
reply from client:
"I want to
lose 20 pounds
fast."
My reply:
"Are you
SURE that's what
you want? ...If I can show you how to lose 20 pounds REALLY fast, will
that make you happy?"
They nodded
their head affirmatively
as their eyes lit up in anticipation of the rapid weight loss secrets I
was about to reveal...
Their face
went white when
- with a totally straight face – I pulled out a hacksaw and started
walking
towards them.... menacingly.
Not sure
whether to laugh
or run in sheer terror, they said,
"What the
heck are you doing?"
"You said
you wanted to lose
20 pounds fast. This is the easiest, surest, most effective way I know
to take 20 pounds off you FAST! In fact, I figure that right leg of
yours
might even weigh 25 pounds!"
I kept
walking closer and
started to get into sawing position, wielding my fast, effective and
guaranteed
weight loss tool...
"Bear with
me because this
IS quick, but sometimes it takes a few minutes for me to cut through
the
bone."
By this
time, my client (and
I) are either completely cracking up, I have seriously scared the
living
you know what out of them, or they just think I'm a complete lunatic...
(depends on whether I was able to keep a straight face or not)
Finally,
the light bulb goes
on, and my client would see where I was going with this:
"Okay,
smart alec," I get
it... I don't want to lose WEIGHT, I want to lose FAT."
Sometimes I
would be having
so much fun, I would just keep on playin'...
"But why
not? This is easy,
fast and guaranteed - just what everyone wants these days... it's even
better than taking a pill! Come on... let me hack it off! You'll be my
next testimonial: 'I lost 20 pounds in 5 minutes!' Imagine what that
will
do for my business!"
"Very
funny. I told you,
I get it! I want to lose FAT, not muscles and bones. I need my leg!”
Naturally,
of course, I don't
always have to pull out my trusty blade. Every once in a while... about
as often as a total solar eclipse... a client answers my question like
this:
"What do I
want? Tom, I want
to lose 20 pounds of body fat in the next 12 weeks. I want to do it
slowly,
safely and healthfully and then keep it off permanently. I want all the
fat around my hips and thighs completely gone and I want a firm flat
stomach.
I want muscle all over my body while still looking feminine. I'd like
to
see myself at about 16% body fat and maintain all my muscle or gain a
few
pounds of lean mass if I can, especially in my arms. This is important
to me because I want to set a good example for my kids, I want to be
healthy
and live to at least 90 and I want my husband to look at me and say, "I
love your body," and I want to be able to *honestly* say back to him,
"me
too!"
It is on
these rare occasions
that I know there is still intelligent life on this planet.
If you
could answer the question,
"What do you want" with the lucidity, clarity and specificity that this
woman did, I don't think you would ever have any difficulty reaching
your
health and fitness goals... or any other goal in your life, for that
matter.
Her answer
was what you call
a very "well-formed" goal, backed up with lots of emotional
motivation-inducing
"reasons why."
"I want to
lose weight" is
a poorly-formed goal.
"Weight" is
not the same
as "fat." Weight includes muscle, bone, internal organs as well as lots
and lots of water.
If you only
learn ONE thing
from all my newsletters, articles and books, PLEASE learn this:
WHAT YOU
REALLY WANT IS TO
BURN THE FAT, WHILE KEEPING THE MUSCLE!!!!
FAT LOSS is
what you want,
not weight loss.
If your
body were 100% rock-solid
muscle, with absolutely nothing that jiggled (unless it was supposed
to),
would you care how much you weighed?
I bet you
wouldn't! And if
that’s true, then…
STOP
WORSHIPPING THE SCALE
AND START MEASURING YOUR BODY COMPOSITION!
By
measuring your body fat,
you take the guesswork out of your health and fitness plan and you get
an accurate picture of what's really happening in your body as a result
of your diet and exercise program.
Instead of
worrying about
whether you are losing muscle, or wondering if you are losing fat, you
can measure it and KNOW for sure. (I always get a good chuckle when
someone
tells me they're worried about losing muscle when they don't even
measure
how much muscle they have!)
Instead of
being confused
by all the "opinions" from weight loss and exercise "experts" who are
all
telling you something different, you can MEASURE your body composition
and based on the results, you can KNOW for sure whether your program is
working.
A very wise
man once said,
"A single
measurement is
worth a thousand opinions."
So, how do
you measure body
fat?
Thanks to
technology, there
are some methods today that are so accurate, they can tell you whether
your left pinky has more fat than your right pinky! Unfortunately, many
of them are either too expensive or they are inaccessible, being found
only in hospitals or research facilities
If you want
to learn a LOT
about various body fat testing methods, chapter 3 of my e-book, Burn
The
Fat, Feed The Muscle (www.burnthefat.com) goes into great detail about
the pros and cons of all the various fat testing methods. Instead of
re-hashing
it all here, let me give you three quick and easy, practical
suggestions:
Suggestion
1: Have a trainer
or fitness professional measure you if this service is available at
your
local health club. Sometimes, there's a charge - usually $15 - $25,
although
some clubs offer the service for free to all their members.
Suggestion
2: Purchase an
Accu-measure skinfold caliper. Do a google or yahoo search to find a
reseller.
The
Accu-measure was designed
to allow you to measure your own body fat in the privacy of your own
home
(you don't need someone else to measure you)
Some people
wonder if this
is really accurate. Truth is, it's not quite as accurate as a multi
site
skinfold test from an experienced tester, but what's most important is
not the "accuracy" per se, but the reliability and consistency of your
measurements so you can track your progress. Skinfold calipers in
general
are not accurate or inaccurate, it's the person doing the test that is
accurate or inaccurate.
Suggestion
3: If you have
a spouse, roommate, or friend who can measure your body fat, you can
purchase
a Slim Guide body fat caliper (or just about any brand of caliper) from
Creative Health Products: chponline.com
The
Slimguide is the best
inexpensive caliper available (about $20), but it wasn't designed for
you
to measure your own body fat like the Accu Measure. You'll need someone
to measure you with this caliper. Other models of body fat calipers (if
you want to splurge), range from $150 to $450. (At our health clubs, I
use the electronic "SKYNDEX" caliper with the 4-site "Durnin formula.")
The
calipers come with instructions,
or you can use these formulas, which I have used and found to be very
accurate:
4 Site
formula for men (abdomen,
suprailiac, thigh, tricep)
% fat =
.29288(sum of 4 skinfolds)
- 0.0005(sum of four skinfolds squared) + 0.15845(age) - 5.76377
4-Site
Formula for women
(abdomen, suprailiac, thigh, tricep)
% Fat =
(.29669)(sum of 4
skinfolds) - (.00043)(Sum of four skinfolds squared) + .02963(age) +
1.4072
[Source:
Jackson A S, Pollock,
M (1985) Practical assessment of body composition. Physician Sport Med.
13: 76-90.]
Body fat
percentages vary
based on age and gender, but 20-25% body fat is average for women
(15-19%
is ideal), while 15-20% is average for men (10-14% is ideal). I have
detailed
charts for body fat charts in my e-book if you're interested.
Once you
know your body fat
percentage, then weigh yourself and record your weight and body fat on
a progress chart such as the one found in my Burn The Fat Feed The
Muscle
Program (a fat loss program, not a weight loss program). This chart is
how you will track your progress and "keep score."
You can
calculate your lean
body mass (muscle and other fat free tissue) very easily just by
crunching
some numbers:
For
example, if you weigh
200 pounds and you have 10% body fat then you have 20 pounds of fat
(10%
of 200 = 20). That means you have a lean body mass (LBM) of 180 pounds.
Now we're
talking! With this
data, you can get a really clear picture of how your exercise and
nutrition
program are affecting your physique.
Losing
weight is very easy.
Losing fat - and keeping it off without losing muscle - is a much
bigger
challenge. If you simply wanted to lose weight, we could just chop off
your leg.
Or,
(slightly less painful),
I could show you how to drop 10 - 15 pounds over the weekend just by
dehydrating
yourself and using natural herbal diuretics. Wrestlers do it all the
time
to make a weight class. But what good would that do if it’s almost all
water and you’re just going to gain it all back within days?
You don't
have to "throw
away your scale" like many "experts" tell you to. By all means, keep
using
the scale, the tape measure and even photographs and the mirror - the
more
feedback the better - but body fat is where it's at.
By the way,
I recently bought
a chain saw and a shiny new axe from Home Depot, and I've been
practicing
my "American Psycho" and Jack Nicholson, "The Shining"
impersonations...
so if you want to come to my office any time soon for personal
consultation,
you'd better have the right answer to my question, "What do you want?"
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