Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Taking the focus off the scale

So here's my story.  After my second boy was born I still had about 5 lbs baby weight to lose.  I wasn't too hung up about it but I wanted to regain my body back and my focus was on that 5 lbs.

Over the last year and half, I have been doing some awesome workouts. I have taken my focus away from slow steady-state cardio switching to weight training programs that incorporate HiiTs,  cardio strength training (metabolic workouts like tabata).  Also moving the focus of these weight training exercises from isolation to compound functional exercises.  For example instead of doing a basic bicep curl which only works the bicep, I have incorporated chin-ups into my workout, which pretty much work every upper body muscle and gives the core a thrashing too.

So where did that leave me on the scales.  Well my nutrition is pretty good anyway, but the 5 lbs were still there, so I honed in on my eating towards the end of last year and finally got rid of the last few stubborn ones.  But really the ground work had already been done by incorporating these changes into my workouts and building up my lean muscle tissue.

I have just recently glanced at my starting measurements and body fat %, and thought why not redo them and see where I am.  And this is where my good news comes in, I have dropped 5% in body fat percentage down to 15%,  3 inches from my belly area, 2 inches from my hips and an inch from each of my thighs.

This to me is a much better way of gaging my progress. Of course its nice when the scales show a pleasing number, but when you can physically see changes in your body - whip out the tape measure instead, its a much more satisfying feeling!!!

Share you stories - anybody else had a similar experience?



1 comment:

  1. I have several clients who have lost a dress size and NOT LOST ONE POUND on the scale. That's how heavy muscle is! And no, these women do not look "big"... that's the typical fear women have about lifting weights.

    I encourage photos, tape measurements of the waist, and body fat analysis :)

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