Hey everyone! This is Sean Nalewanyj from howtoburnfat.com with another fat loss video lesson. And in today’s installment, I am going to be talking about one of the biggest mistakes people make when trying to loose body fat and getting into impressive shape. See, when most people embarked on a fat lose program, they end up paying very little attention to this aspect of their approach when in reality, it is one of the most important ways to ensure that you see the fastest results in the shortest time. I am talking about the issue of progress tracking, objectively measuring your improvements and body composition from week to week. After all, if you do not have a concrete way to measure your overall changes and body fat, muscular mass, measurements and overall appearance, how will you know for sure if your program is even working? Most people simply carry on with the routine each week in the hopes that they are on the right track. They step on the scale each day, glance in the mirror and assume that this is enough information to determine how well their program is working. Well, this can be often enough to produce measurable progress over the long hall if you want to achieve the most explosive results in the absolute shortest period of time. This is an obvious and costly error. Accurately tracking your progress will allow you to see if your program is being carried out as efficiently as it could be and will help you to identify areas of your fat burning approach that could possibly be improved. Well, there are literally an endless number of different possible methods that could be used to track your progress. I would recommend that the majority of you out there make use of the five approaches I am about to discuss.
Progress tracking period number 1. Changes in body weight. This is the most common method of fat loss progress tracking that is used, and well, it should definitely be included in your box of tools. Relying on it as the sole means of analyzing your results is an obvious mistake. The reason is simple. Tracking your overall body weight does not take into account your body composition which is the ratio between your body fat mass and your lean body mass. And when it all comes down to it, improving your body composition is the ultimate goal of any effective fat loss program. Your goal is not merely to lose body weight but rather to lose body fat while maintaining muscle. Doing so will keep your body’s metabolic rate operating at peak levels and will produce the shapely and athletic appearance that the majority of you are probably striving for.
So, that brings us to the most important factors of all. Progress tracking method number 2. Changes in body fat percentage and progress tracking method number 3. Changes in lean body mass. Although these are technically 2 separate issues, they ultimately go hand in hand. While overall body weight is still an important factor, it is best used as one of the variables in accurately determining your changes in body fat percentages and your changes in lean body mass. Since your ultimate goal is to lose body fat while maintaining muscle, measuring your body fat percentage and lean body mass is easily the most telltale sign as to whether or not your program is taking you in the right direction. There are a ton of different methods that can be used to measure your body fat percentage, but for the majority of individuals, skin fold measurements are going to be the most practical and accurate procedure. Most of the body fat that you’re concerned with loosing is located directly underneath your skin. And by pinching and measuring the thickness on different sites of your body with a caliper, you can get a pretty reliable reading as to your overall body fat levels. Once you have determined your body fat percentage, you can then combine it with your overall body weight in order to determine your body’s overall body fat mass and lean body mass. Your fat mass refers to how many pounds of your body weight are derived from fat and your lean body mass refers to any type of body weight that is not fat such as muscle, bone and water.
The formula to calculate this is very simple. First, you multiply your over all body weight by your body fat percentage. This will give you your fat mass in pounds and secondly, you subtract your fat mass from your overall body weight, and this will give you your lean body mass in pounds.
Here is an example, let us use an individual who weighs 200 pounds and has 16 percent body fat. As you can see, this individual has 32 pounds of fat mass and 168 pounds of lean body mass. This is definitely the most important method of progress tracking as it will show you exactly how much body fat you are losing and how this is affecting your lean body mass from week to week. The underlying goal of your fat loss program is simple. Loose as much body fat as possible while maintaining as much lean body mass as possible. If you only ever used your overall body weight as your gauge for measuring progress which is what most people do, you would never know if you were actually traveling in the right direction.
For example, you might lose a bunch of muscle mass and only loose a very small amount of fat yet the number on the scale would lead you to believe that you were experiencing impressive results or you might lose a reasonable amount of body fat while maintaining the majority of your lean body mass. The number on the scale would only decrease very slightly when in reality, you would be progressing in a highly positive fashion. The only way to truly know if your program is working is to measure how much body fat you’re losing and how this is affecting your lean body mass.
Progress tracking method number 4. Body part measurements. If you are trying to lose body fat, then most likely, you are also aiming to decrease your overall body size as well. In order to determine if your body shape is actually changing, you can use a basic measuring tape once per week to check on all of your major body parts. These are the body parts I would recommend measuring. Your chest, waist, hips, upper arm, and thigh. If you want to really get detailed, you can also measure your forearm, cuff and neck, but these body parts will most likely not show any significant change and measurement from week to week. As an overall guideline, I would stick with the five body parts listed.
And finally, progress tracking method number 5.Overall appearance. If you are like most individuals, then your ultimate bottom line goal in losing body fat is to change the way you look. For this reason, you should certainly use your changes and appearance as a gauge for your progress. There are three main ways I would recommend using this tool. The first is your appearance in the mirror. You are the one who is motivated to make this change and you are the one who sees yourself everyday. So the mirror is one useful tool in watching your physical progress. However, I would recommend that you would be very cautious with this method since our perception of our own body is often distorted from the way that others see it. For that reason, I would also highly recommend making use of before and after pictures. This is the best way to get an objective look at how your body is changing over a set period of time without your perceptual filters getting in the way. Try taking a picture of yourself once a week and then directly comparing the shots to see how your appearance is changing.
And finally, you can use objective opinions from friends and family. Obviously, there is no set approach for using this method. But if you run into somebody that you have not seen in a while and they ask you if you have been working out, then you can be pretty certain that you are on the right track. I would highly recommend making use of all five progress tracking method I just talked about on a once per week basis, first thing in the morning before any meals or work out sessions. It is very important that you keep the same conditions each time you measure as your activity level and diet can affect the reading quite significantly. If you have not been tracking your progress up to this point, then I would strongly suggest getting started on it. If you do not have an objective way to measure your results each week, then you can never know for sure if your program is working as well as it could be. Leave the scale and mirror. Only approach to the casual people who are not truly serious about changing their bodies and start keeping detailed records of your progress if you really want to achieve an impressive head turning body as quickly as you possibly can.
If you want to learn all of the step by step details behind structuring the most effective fat burning approach possible, make sure to visit my personal web site using the link in the description box. There, you can sign-up for my free online fat burning email course, six critical keys to rapid fat loss reveled where I go into detail on all kinds of highly effective fat burning and muscle building strategies that you can start incorporating into your program right a way You will also have the chance to download my printable fat loss progress tracking booklets and access the first 2 chapters of my hugely popular 266-paged ebook “The Truth About Burning Fat”.
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