Are you losing the right type of weight?

Muscle Versus Fat

All weight loss is not considered equal.  This is a mantra to live by as you embark on your weight management program.  Though we all are conditioned to determine our success solely by the weight loss shown by the scale, it is much more important to judge our achievements based on our changes in body composition.

All weight loss is not GOOD Weight loss. All weight gain is not bade weight gain.  -R. DeVito

Body Tissues

The human body consists of a variety of different types of tissues, lean tissue and fat tissue.  The lean tissues include bone, muscle and organs.  Muscle and organs are considered metabolically active, whereas fat is metabolically much less active.  This means that muscle and organs help to increase your metabolism and burn fat and calories, while fat tissue does almost nothing.  Therefore, it is essential to maintain muscle tissue while losing fat, thus the additional movement will increase your metabolism.  

Muscle dose not weigh more than fat. It just takes up less space.

Weight

It is important to realize that a pound of muscle is denser and more compact than a pound of fat.  It is helpful to think of a pound of fat as a pound of feathers, and a pound of muscle as a pound of iron.  The pound of feathers would clearly take up a lot more space than that same pound of iron.   By gaining lean body mass (water, bone and muscle) while losing body fat, you will look and feel lighter, your clothes will fit better and your overall sense of well being will improve.  In summary, body weight is only one of the many determining factors of success.   

Changing your Body Composition

To decrease your percent of body fat, you need to create the right balance between the calories you consume and the calories you expend.  The most effective way to do this is to decrease your consumption of calories and increase your activity level.

General Body Fat Percentage Categories*

Classification	Female  % of Body Fat	Male % of Body Fat
Essential Fat	10-12%	2-4%
Athletes	14-20%	6-13%
Fitness	21-24%	14-17%
Acceptable	25-31%	18-25%
Obese/Undesirable	32% +	25% +

* American Council Exercise

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Stress, Cravings and Preventing Weight Gain

What should I do when I’m stressed and crave sugary and salty junk food?

Become mindful of your stressors, how you are dealing with stress and your choices.

Learning new methods for stress relief will help 

prevent avoidable weight gain

Managing food cravings is a simple but difficult process. In my experience, I have seen that when an individual makes a emotional judgment and gives into eating when they are not hungry it is often do to temporarily losing sight of their goal(s) and/or continuation of habits.

First, understand that there are physical needs during stressful times. Your body is burning sugar and your cravings are present so you will replace immediate energy stores. Also know that an Apple is a better choice than junk.

Second, understand your role in the habits and choices that you have created. You MUST own your choices and your result. Look past your immediate desire and play out in your mind how you will feel while eating this  "much needed" food. Play out the after effects. How do you feel once you've finished? 

A few "rules" I have my clients to focus on is:

Become Mindful

Before you begin to feel stressed is the best time to focus on how you are handling your day. Monitor your stress levels. If you are becoming "STRESSED!!!" it is time to take a break, contemplate your thoughts and actions and choose your next action. This 2-3 minute reset of thinking and breathing acts to calm you and allows you to retain focus.

Smile. It relieves stress.

Remember: staying in the stressful situation will INCREASE your stress. You must change your thinking and your actions right there.  

Control your kitchen

Keep temptation out of sight. Clean the area of "junk" and create a scenario where you have to go purchase the items you want so badly. This will act to slow down your reactions.  Choose fruits and vegetables first while you focus on breathing.

Know WHY you are eating what you are eating

Say it out loud - "I am eating due to stress, not hunger."

Own the fact that you need to control your stress differently to create a long-term change.

Try these tips for controlling food cravings:

1. Develop a mantra. Something like: "I feed my body and my needs, not my taste buds."  
2. Ask yourself questions: "Why am I going to eat this?  Is it because I actually want it and need it or am I re-actively responding to an immediate desire?"
3. Keep focused on your goal. Post it in sight and refer to it often.
4. Drink a glass of water to slow the decision making process down. Water can make you feel a little fuller AND it will give you something to do while deciding if you are actually going to give in to your cravings.

 

End your stress eating here.

To your health,     
Robert DeVito