Please stop weighing yourselves...

I used to love weighing myself, probably did it twice a day EVERY day.

I'd get obsessed about gaining weight for rugby.

I'd even set weight goals for each day.....'I'm gonna hit 13 stone by the end of today or die trying!' I'd affirm to myself.

Then inevitably the scales would make me unhappy as I wasn't heavy enough.

So I'd eat a pizza, 6 bananas and a protein shake....purely to re-weigh heavier a few hours later.

The key observation here is this:

"My weight influenced my eating habits"

Which is the exact same as you getting on the scales, not being happy with your weight, then starving yourself as a result.

Undereating is the BIGGEST mistake I see in my clients when they want to lose body fat.

If you do not eat the minimum calories required for your body to stay alive, you don't magically lose body fat.

First your body slows down energy turnover (metabolism) so you don't burn as many calories at rest.

Your appetite drops and you won't feel as hungry.

Your body gets into a vicious cycle of not feeling hungry yet requiring more energy to get out of starvation mode.

Bottom line is - eat more.

But emotion-wise, this is very hard to do when the scale is saying you're 'too heavy'.

Because we all think eating less = weighing less.

not true

Make sure you are eating clean foods, limiting carbohydrates (mainly low carb meals, carbs after training), and training intensely 3-4x per week.

And you will lose weight.

Specifically talking calorie targets, this may mean you need 1700 calories or more each day, but you are only actually eating 1000 calories.

You may have to almost double your food intake!

Or, you may be eating 1000 calories 3-4 days per week, then overeating 2000+ calories 3-4 days per week.

This is bad. Because undereating puts your body into starvation mode AND prepares for fat STORING.

Overeat in this 'mode' and you will unsurprisingly store fat!

So focus on eating more, but also eating consistently (calories vary no more than 5% each day).

For example, if calorie target is 1700 per day your consistency can vary like so:

Mon - 1700

Tues - 1740

Weds - 1617

Thurs - 1780

Fri - 1702

Sat - 1650

Sun - 1735

^^^ that is consistent.

Compare this to:

Mon - 1200 (missed breakfast)

Tues - 989 (only ate one big meal and a few biscuits)

Weds - 2300 (went out for lunch and pizza for tea)

Thurs - 1013 (missed breakfast again)

Fri - 2400 (bottle of wine, cake and a few sandwiches)

Sat - 2000 (burger and chips, another bottle of wine)

Sun - 3000 (skipped breakfast, ate cake and a roast dinner)

^^ if all other meals in this inconsistent week were clean foods. Then you could be fooled into thinking you are eating correctly because you're eating clean 'most of the time'.

A few high calorie foods though and it's easy to overeat!

Compound the misery of not losing weight by weighing yourself daily and seeing the weight shoot up or remain the same.

And.....SHIT. Panic panic panic!

The above examples have a daily average calorie intake that's about the same.

But the consistent 1700 cals per day scenario fuels the muscle and burns fat.

The other inconsistent 1000-3000 cals per day scenario starves the body then stores fat.

And just to discredit weighing scales, your weight will fluctuate due to:

> undigested food in your intestines

> hydration levels

> whether you need to urinate or not

> salt levels/water retention

> low carb/high carb foods (glycogen storage)

....not so much body fat loss.

You may have retained water, need a big poo and then get upset that you are too heavy.

Crazy, right?

Consistent eating, every day, training hard WORKS for fat loss.

The dirty secret of fitness is that boring, daily hard work is always the way to progress!

....but it's very hard to do by yourself.

So get some friends around you, have someone give you a good plan and hold you accountable to do the work, and you can stop weighing yourself and start buying a smaller sized pair of jeans.

Train hard.

Ant