Strange questions/ myths I get told about FAT LOSS…….Part ONE

1. Muscle weighs more than fat

Ok, so this is quite a confusing one, but also one I hear a lot, particularly in women who have just started their exercise regime, in fact it seems to be a little mantra chanted over and over again ‘Muscle weighs more than fat, Muscle weighs more than fat” 

1lb of muscle = 1lb of fat – They weigh the same, HOWEVER, what is important to remember is that Muscle is denser than fat. It’s like comparing metal (muscle) with wood (fat).  Metal sinks in water; so does muscle.  Wood floats; so does fat.  The correct way to state the muscle weighs more than fat scenario is, “Muscle is heavier by volume than fat.”  A woman weighing 9 stone with 19% fat will look much smaller (and be much healthier) than a woman at 9 stone with 35% fat. They weigh the same, yet the composition is different. Because muscle is more dense than fat ,the person with less fat and more muscle will look smaller.

It would be far wiser to stop obsessessing with body weight and start paying attention to body composition. How much body fat do you have compared to muscle? Simply seeing how much you weigh isn’t very helpful.

This leads me nicely onto my next point…

2. I weigh myself every day…..

Please note… THROW THE SCALES AWAY, THEY ARE NOT YOUR FRIEND!!!!!!

How many of you weigh yourself more than once a day? How many of you allow the scales to determine your mood in the morning? I do not own a pair of scales, and throwing them away some 6 years ago (along with my ex husband) was one of the best decisions I ever made!!! hehehe!!

You need to be measuring yourself – Your arms/legs/waist and hips preferably and focusing on fat loss rather than weight loss.

If you are losing weight, you could be losing water or even muscle.  Therefore by monitoring your measurements you are more likely to gage whether you are achieving real results , not weight loss (or gain)  from the consequences of your daily habits, hormonal shifts and changing hydration levels.

This also seems to be closely linked to ‘punishing’ one-self. Take the example of client A. She weighs herself twice a day. This particular day, she feels she has been really ‘good’. She has barely eaten a thing all day, she goes to the scales in the evening and is really happy that she has lost 2llbs. As a reward, she buys herself two bottles of wine. During the evening, she is sitting at home watching the X-factor, drinking her wine steadily, and begins to get cravings for FOOD. Biscuits seem appealing at that point, and this client begins to gorge on the biscuits. More wine and more biscuits and a slight sinking into denial. The next morning our client goes to the scales. It is not good, client A has regained the 2 lbs and put on a further 2lbs. Her mood plummets, she looks despairingly at herself in the mirror and binges for the rest of the day on unhealthy bad food choices.

You can see here not only how the scales can DE-MOTIVATE  you, but how this can contribute to extreme dieting/binging behaviour.

3. These next two points are closely linked.. I starve myself all day/ and – or I drink alcohol instead of eating a meal.

Both quite dangerous and both do not lead to the right kind of weight loss. If I had a pound for the amount of times a woman has said to me, “But if I drink instead of eat, I lose weight” .  This generally leads to the skinny/fat phenomenon. Where women do hours and hours of cardio or aerobics classes, eat virtually nothing, and think nothing of consuming large quantities of wine or vodka in the evening. I have one word for you ladies OSTEOPOROSIS. The less muscle you have, the less work your bones have to do, and they begin to shed that incredibly valuable osseous material: your bones, which are, in fact, living tissues directly related to your blood, immune system, strength, longevity – even your mood.  You have to feed your bones, and incorporate weight-baring activity to keep them healthy. Muscle which we mentioned earlier also plays a part here as the more muscle we have the more we burn calories. No muscle = no calorific expenditure. Starvation = very low metabolism = little calorific expenditure. Alcohol = liquid sugar = fat storage around the middle (muffin top anyone).

I will expand this article in part TWO. For now, please leave any comments, or let me know of any other strange rituals you know that us women do or think leads to being thin!!

Charlie Wall

www.purplefitness.co.uk

www.out-fit.ning.com

“This burden to be thin leaves countless people victimized by failure, as they crumble under the added weight to fit within the bi-laws of a materialistic community” RKHenry.