By understanding what’s happening to your body and your weight, you will be able to determine if you are on the right path.
You will avoid the frustration when the scale is not budging or -even worst - when it moves higher. Trust me, at the same point, this will happen! It’s simply part of the weight loss process.
And our next step, you will weigh yourself only once a week, and even you’ll need to fully understand the shortcomings of the scale, Starting right now, however, pay attention to how your clothes fit - this is an overall way to gauge the loss of body fat. Why? Because fat takes up considerably more space than water, For the most part, if your clothes are fitting more loosely, your losing body fat. If they fitting more tightly, you’re gaining body fat.
In next Phase, when you combine the correctly interpreted information that the scale gives you with how your clothes fit and you should have a good idea if you’re gaining or losing fat.
When you finally do start weighing yourself, be sure to always:
Use the same scale.
Weigh yourself only once a day per week, at approximately the same time on the same day each week. Monday mornings work well since this day may prevent you from indulging throughout the weekend.
Be consistent with what you wear.
Seasonal Weight Gain
Have you ever noticed that you carry more heavyweight in the winter months?
This is maybe why many of us begin our serious fitness programs in January, There are several reasons for this. For one, whether it’s out of habit or due to the inclement weather, we move less in the winter. When we spend more time indoors, we tend to have fewer choices of activities, which, in turn, could lead to eating more. On top of this, Most of the power eating “ holidays occur in the colder months. Finally, there actually may be a biological mechanism that causes us to gain weight in the winter. And while this is not 100% proven or understood, it does makes sense. Perhaps your body is “Programmed” to store more fat in the winter to ensure you are insulated from the cold and won’t starve in case there is a shortage of food. Most health professionals will tell you to avoid overeating at holidays and to keep your activity level consistent throughout the winter months. I would certainly agree with this advice, however, I also believe that your weight will stay exactly the same the whole year round. I think you should allow your weight to fluctuate in a range with which you are comfortable and that takes into account your body ’s natural cycles. Otherwise, you’re constantly fighting nature and driving yourself crazy.
A friend of mine says he’s eating stays fairly consistent all year long, as does his activity level. However, he is five or six pounds heavier in the winter months -- and this pattern has occurred for as long as he can remember, except for one year when he developed a severe craving for pecan pie, which lingered well after the holiday season. Pecan pie being one of the most calorically dense foods on the planet, those five or six pounds became ten that year!
Typically, though, these five or six pounds feel very comfortable to him. In fact, he’d probably miss them if they didn’t show up one winter, he told me, though he is glad to see them go in the late spring, He can’t imagine being bothered by this seasonal weight gain to the point of exercising obsessively or overly restricting his eating during the holidays.
I strongly recommend you ignore moderate seasonal weight fluctuations and just continue being active and eating right. Seasonal weight gain is natural, as well as temporary, and there is no need to adjust what you are doing to respond to it. If your seasonal weight gain is higher than, say, eight pounds, especially if this is more than you’ve experienced in the past, it’s time to look at some other explanation for the gain.
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After Effects When You Quit Smoking
No need to spend a lot of time in explaining how smoking accelerates nearly every disease process known to man, including heart disease and various forms of cancer -- I am sure you are aware of that. But what you might not be aware of is how smoking places a ceiling on your level of fitness and can make permanent weight loss more difficult
Many smokers have a desire to quit smoking someday. However, when they actually do, they have a good chance of regaining any weight they maybe have lost until that point. The average weight gain is between eight and fifteen pounds. The frustration in gaining back weight that was lost often causes them to start smoking all over again. While smoking raises your metabolism and therefore allows you to maintain a lower body weight in the short term, the long-term effect of this addictive habit always negatively affects your health, your level of fitness, and your, motivation to improve either. Smoking lowers the amount of oxygen that is carried in your blood. This significantly inhibits your ability to both exercises and ultimately burn fat.
Just remember that smokers who are overweight and continue a smoke tend to remain overweight. But ex-smokers who consistently exercise have the best chance of both remaining of cigarettes and keeping their weight under control.
The act of exercising significantly decreases your urge to smoke. Exercising will also reduce the negative effects of stress in your life., primarily through the release of endorphins, which are natural painkillers, produced by your body. This effect will further curb the urge to smoke. In addition, you now know that it is common to gain few pounds of water when you first begin exercising, so you will be physically prepared for an initial weight gain at the beginning. Don’t fool yourself into thinking you will give up smoking after you’ve lost a certain amount of time. You’ll probably less willing to risk a sudden weight gain at that time.
The bottom line is that you should make your plan to quit smoking now and stick to it.
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Biological Adjustments
Keep in mind that you need a certain amount of body fat to survive. Body fat protects your internal organs, insulates you from the cold, is an important course of stored potential energy. Therefore, when you begin to lose fat too quickly, a certain biological mechanism is triggered to protect you. We don’t completely understand how these fail-safe protections work, but we do know that from time to time your body needs to take a breather from losing weight. Once your body is adjusted to the changes it is making. It will go on in its merry way, losing fat.
If at any time in our fitness process you find that you ‘ve just stopped losing weight, there is a good chance that this is due to one of these biological adjustments. Be patient and continue what you are doing, If the plateau in your weight continuous for three or four weeks, you may have hit what is called a ”real weight loss plateau.”
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