As a personal trainer, I have decided to focus on WEIGHT LOSS and MUSCLE GAIN programs. To see someone physically change before my eyes is such an amazing feeling for me, I don’t know how to put it into words. I have trained house moms, the busy professional, and athletes. As you can imagine, each group has very different lifestyles, but they all have one thing in common; what the weight scale says and counting calories are very important TO THEM, but NOT to me. Actually, let me refrain what I said. Calories and the scale hold some relevance. I consider the information I get from the amount of calories in a meal plan or the information I see from the scale nothing more then just a piece to the rest of the picture.
What is important to me is WHERE THESE CALORIES are coming from. Let’s say I want to lose weight and I put myself onto a 1200 calorie plan. Is this good? Depends on how big of a person you are, how active you are, and where you are getting your calories from. How about I put you on a 1000 calorie diet. Does this mean you can eat 1000 cal of doughnuts? Of course not. Also, consider that your body needs enough fuel to function and when it doesn’t get it, your metabolism slows down.
Oh and that dreaded scale. Here’s a quick story, I had a gentleman go through an 8 week program. At the end, the scale DID NOT CHANGE! He was pissed. In reality, he lost 10 lbs of FAT and gained 10 lbs of muscle. He looked so different, his clothes were so loose, people were given him compliments every day; but because of the number on the scale, he did not see it.
Make sure your trainer takes your BODY FAT readings. This calculation will determine how much FAT and how much MUSCLE your body has. These numbers are excellent to use in determining your goals. For example, you can now declare you want to gain 5 lbs of muscle and lose 15 lbs of fat. Now, that’s a good solid goal that NO WEIGHT SCALE could ever tell you.
If you are looking for a fitness/nutrition program; check out some of my TAKE HOME FITNESS/NUTRITION BOOKS. These are 12 week programs all written out for you. All you gotta do is go the gym. http://www.koolbody.com
-Scott Elliott
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