17th October, 2012
Before we focus on the key fat-burning factors, I’d like to address the issue of your bathroom scale.
Your first assignment is: throw it out! You may be wondering, “why is she telling me to get rid of my scale? Yes that’s exactly right…..put your scale down! It gives you very limited information.
Has this ever happened to you? You are sticking to your diet, attempting to lose extra weight, and trying to get more exercise or activity in your life. You need a little encouragement and want to know how well you are doing, so you jump on the scale.
You know you’ve been doing the right things, but the scale says you weigh more, even though you had to cinch up your belt a notch. How frustrating! So you just give up and go back to your old ways.
What you need to understand is: you can only lose about half kilogram of fat every two days if you absolutely starve yourself. Yet since our body is 65 to 75 per cent water, our water weight can shift 1-2 kg a day with very little effort. How can you know what has really happened by weighing everyday? You can’t!
I’m a good example of someone who used the scale and failed. Some years ago, I tried all sort of methods to lose weight. I would get on the scale almost every single morning. One year after taking diet pills, I dropped from 95kg to 75 kg and from size 20 to a size 14. I was thrilled! I assumed I had lost lots of fat. Sadly, within one year my weight was creeping right back up, and I looked fatter than before!
Today the story has changed, my weight is reasonable for my height, age and sex.
Let’s answer this question: what is the difference? It’s the difference between muscle and fat. Muscle weighs more. So let’s go off the numbers and throw out the scale!
If you do the right things, your best body will follow. Who cares what the numbers say? If you want an accurate assessment of how your body is changing, use a tape measure and record your measurement every few months.
Or pick a pair of tight jeans and put them on every few weeks. When they fit comfortably, you can really celebrate your progress. And the best measure of all-stand in front of the mirror!
I’ve said it before , and I will keep on saying it: from a purely physical standpoint, the most important fat-burning factor is, was, and will always be: calories in versus calories out.
Everything else is secondary. I encourage you to stop researching every new diet, supplement, and designer food that you encounter. Just focus on those two key things every day, and you will have fat-burning success.
You can take fat-burning supplements, follow special food combining diets, and eat low-fat or high-protein diets until you are blue in the face. But the only time actual fat loss occurs is when the body burns more calories than it takes in. That’s it. Every gram of fat lost on every diet due to one thing —burning more calories than you consume.