PhoenixAsh
10th May 2015, 19:06
A lot of people here are trying to either gain or lose weight. I thought it would be useful to address some points about weight in general, weight loss and weight gain.
1).weight loss or gain as a goal
A lot of people here are trying to either gain or lose weight. I thought it would be useful to address some points about weight in general, weight loss and weight gain.
Weight is an objects total mass. In this case the human body. It is composed of different tissue. Most of the mass of the human body is composed of water, bone, muscle, fat and organs. Increasing or decreasing any one of these in mass means to gain and lose weight.
If somebody tells me they want to lose weight my immediate reply is to tell them to eat less, drink less and move more. If somebody tells me they want to gain weight my immediate reaction is to tell them to eat more, drink more and move less.
It really is that simple when you talk about weight in this sense. I just gave you the best advice based on your stated goal. Losing and adding weight is easy, simple and everybody can do it (barring people with medical conditions). Stop eating or eat more...step on the scale...if the scale indicates less weight or more weight then you either were successful or you failed.
End of story....unless of course, like the vast amount of people, you didn't simply mean to increase or lose weight and actually meant something different. For those who did mean that...see the advice above...you do not have to read any further.
People don't normally (although there are legitimate reasons why you do want to do this) mean they want to lose or increase weight...they actually mean to say they want less and/or more of a specific kind of tissue...normally fat and muscle....or they want to reduce their size (usually circumference) for whatever reason.
Be specific. Say what you want to achieve. Why? Because of several reasons...the most important ones being:
A specific goal requires specific actions to be taken or specific actions not to be taken. If you want to gain lean muscle mass my advice would be completely different then if you want to gain weight.
A specific goal also creates realistic expectations. And realistic expectations prevent demoralization.
A specific goal makes it much easier to give advice to you
A goal comes with limitations, hurdles and consequences which you should be aware of beforehand.
2). Forget about the scale.
The most common mistake for any goal is to use the scales to measure success or failure of achieving your goal. Scales are simply one part of the equation.
There are two things you need to keep in mind:
Weight is not a constant even on a day to day basis
Muscle is denser than fat
Ad 1
Weight can vary throughout the day and from day to day. The research seems to suggest a possible weight shift of 4.5kg (~10lbs) daily depending on several physiological or genetic factors. Don't worry about the specifics just yet...but the some of the most important factors are:
Glycogen stores: For every gram of carbs the body stores 4 grams of water. Eat less carbs then you retain less water. Eat more carbs then you increase water
Sodium stores: Increase or decrease salt levels...and you increase and decrease water levels
Dehydration: Speaks for itself
Hormonal imbalance (cycle): If you fuck with your hormones or if you are a woman and have a cycle then you can experience bloat due to water retention.
NOTE: Bloat through water retention has a larger visual impact than the same increase in weight due to fat increase by a 2.5 ratio. So 1 kg of bloat makes you look fatter than an actual weight increase by 2.5 kilo's of fat. Some even suggest the factor is 3.5 or higher.
Now this all seems very logical but the impact of this is huge.
For instance Paleo or Keto diets reduce the amount of carbs....and therefore people on these diets have less body water. If they stop their paleo and keto diets...that water will come back! Which makes it appear like their diet failed...when it didn't. Conversely high carb diets increase water. This means that people who start that diet retain more water than normal. Which can lead to the assumption that they are actually gaining weight and become/look fatter and that their diet doesn't work...when in fact...it probably does.
Ad 2
1 kg of fat weights exactly the same as 1 kg of fat. However...it takes up a lot less volume because muscle tissue is 20-15% denser than fat.
A simple illustration:
http://static1.squarespace.com/static/5163bc02e4b0928e3b203980/t/5423e4a9e4b0dab08d8e5163/1411638441200/
When you start training you will invariably increase muscle mass. This is a slow process. But as you burn fat and gain muscle...the scales may not register a change in weight. You did however become slimmer...lost fat, reduced fat%.
It is also important to know that if you now weight 90kg with 20% fat...you will have to buy new clothes when you weight 90kg with 15% fat. You weight the same but since you reduced fat and gained muscle (which takes 15-20% less volume) you have reduced your overall size.
3). Measuring progress
Scales are useful as one of the ways to measure progress over longer periods of times as long as you use them sensibly. How do you do that?
Well...always weigh yourself during the same time of day. See to it that you weigh under the same conditions as much as possible. See to it that you weigh yourself when you are empty of all excrement and urine. If you just changed your diet...then perhaps it isn't the best time to compare your weight to your previous weight without keeping in mind the above mentioned variables and their effects.
Weight is only one factor, as illustrated in point 2 above. You can weigh the same for weeks...while in the meantime you are burning fat like crazy and putting up some major lean muscle mass. I guarantee that you will reduce in size and that your entire body composition will look and feel differently.
So aside from scales there are several other important ways to measure progress.
Skin fold calipers: measure body fat % through a matrix correlation. Use them on the same spot. There is a lot to be said about their accuracy...but consistency is more important here.
How do your clothes fit: Really needs no explanation. If they become tighter or looser is a nice indication of whether you start to gain or decrease in size.
Take freaking pictures: Yes. Be vain. Give in to the selfie hype. You may feel you look ridiculous and vain in the gym...but there is NO more reliable way to see how your body progresses than by actually seeing it happen. And trust me...you won't be able to see progress when you do not have a mnemonic aid such as a picture.
Measurement tape: Yes...measure. It is hard on some body parts...but...well...it gets easier
And most important...so I won't include it in the list but mention it separately....KEEP A DIARY!!!!
Write everything down. The exercises you did. The distance, weight etc. The food you ate. The calories it contains. How much you weight. What measurements you have. How the exercise felt. Particulars that can be of influence. etc.
1).weight loss or gain as a goal
A lot of people here are trying to either gain or lose weight. I thought it would be useful to address some points about weight in general, weight loss and weight gain.
Weight is an objects total mass. In this case the human body. It is composed of different tissue. Most of the mass of the human body is composed of water, bone, muscle, fat and organs. Increasing or decreasing any one of these in mass means to gain and lose weight.
If somebody tells me they want to lose weight my immediate reply is to tell them to eat less, drink less and move more. If somebody tells me they want to gain weight my immediate reaction is to tell them to eat more, drink more and move less.
It really is that simple when you talk about weight in this sense. I just gave you the best advice based on your stated goal. Losing and adding weight is easy, simple and everybody can do it (barring people with medical conditions). Stop eating or eat more...step on the scale...if the scale indicates less weight or more weight then you either were successful or you failed.
End of story....unless of course, like the vast amount of people, you didn't simply mean to increase or lose weight and actually meant something different. For those who did mean that...see the advice above...you do not have to read any further.
People don't normally (although there are legitimate reasons why you do want to do this) mean they want to lose or increase weight...they actually mean to say they want less and/or more of a specific kind of tissue...normally fat and muscle....or they want to reduce their size (usually circumference) for whatever reason.
Be specific. Say what you want to achieve. Why? Because of several reasons...the most important ones being:
A specific goal requires specific actions to be taken or specific actions not to be taken. If you want to gain lean muscle mass my advice would be completely different then if you want to gain weight.
A specific goal also creates realistic expectations. And realistic expectations prevent demoralization.
A specific goal makes it much easier to give advice to you
A goal comes with limitations, hurdles and consequences which you should be aware of beforehand.
2). Forget about the scale.
The most common mistake for any goal is to use the scales to measure success or failure of achieving your goal. Scales are simply one part of the equation.
There are two things you need to keep in mind:
Weight is not a constant even on a day to day basis
Muscle is denser than fat
Ad 1
Weight can vary throughout the day and from day to day. The research seems to suggest a possible weight shift of 4.5kg (~10lbs) daily depending on several physiological or genetic factors. Don't worry about the specifics just yet...but the some of the most important factors are:
Glycogen stores: For every gram of carbs the body stores 4 grams of water. Eat less carbs then you retain less water. Eat more carbs then you increase water
Sodium stores: Increase or decrease salt levels...and you increase and decrease water levels
Dehydration: Speaks for itself
Hormonal imbalance (cycle): If you fuck with your hormones or if you are a woman and have a cycle then you can experience bloat due to water retention.
NOTE: Bloat through water retention has a larger visual impact than the same increase in weight due to fat increase by a 2.5 ratio. So 1 kg of bloat makes you look fatter than an actual weight increase by 2.5 kilo's of fat. Some even suggest the factor is 3.5 or higher.
Now this all seems very logical but the impact of this is huge.
For instance Paleo or Keto diets reduce the amount of carbs....and therefore people on these diets have less body water. If they stop their paleo and keto diets...that water will come back! Which makes it appear like their diet failed...when it didn't. Conversely high carb diets increase water. This means that people who start that diet retain more water than normal. Which can lead to the assumption that they are actually gaining weight and become/look fatter and that their diet doesn't work...when in fact...it probably does.
Ad 2
1 kg of fat weights exactly the same as 1 kg of fat. However...it takes up a lot less volume because muscle tissue is 20-15% denser than fat.
A simple illustration:
http://static1.squarespace.com/static/5163bc02e4b0928e3b203980/t/5423e4a9e4b0dab08d8e5163/1411638441200/
When you start training you will invariably increase muscle mass. This is a slow process. But as you burn fat and gain muscle...the scales may not register a change in weight. You did however become slimmer...lost fat, reduced fat%.
It is also important to know that if you now weight 90kg with 20% fat...you will have to buy new clothes when you weight 90kg with 15% fat. You weight the same but since you reduced fat and gained muscle (which takes 15-20% less volume) you have reduced your overall size.
3). Measuring progress
Scales are useful as one of the ways to measure progress over longer periods of times as long as you use them sensibly. How do you do that?
Well...always weigh yourself during the same time of day. See to it that you weigh under the same conditions as much as possible. See to it that you weigh yourself when you are empty of all excrement and urine. If you just changed your diet...then perhaps it isn't the best time to compare your weight to your previous weight without keeping in mind the above mentioned variables and their effects.
Weight is only one factor, as illustrated in point 2 above. You can weigh the same for weeks...while in the meantime you are burning fat like crazy and putting up some major lean muscle mass. I guarantee that you will reduce in size and that your entire body composition will look and feel differently.
So aside from scales there are several other important ways to measure progress.
Skin fold calipers: measure body fat % through a matrix correlation. Use them on the same spot. There is a lot to be said about their accuracy...but consistency is more important here.
How do your clothes fit: Really needs no explanation. If they become tighter or looser is a nice indication of whether you start to gain or decrease in size.
Take freaking pictures: Yes. Be vain. Give in to the selfie hype. You may feel you look ridiculous and vain in the gym...but there is NO more reliable way to see how your body progresses than by actually seeing it happen. And trust me...you won't be able to see progress when you do not have a mnemonic aid such as a picture.
Measurement tape: Yes...measure. It is hard on some body parts...but...well...it gets easier
And most important...so I won't include it in the list but mention it separately....KEEP A DIARY!!!!
Write everything down. The exercises you did. The distance, weight etc. The food you ate. The calories it contains. How much you weight. What measurements you have. How the exercise felt. Particulars that can be of influence. etc.