What gets measured, gets managed!

Peter Drucker a well known thought leader on management issues said "what gets measured, gets managed". This came to mind as I was working out tonight. I was thinking about the progress I have made in fat loss and muscle development. As I have progressed on this journey to fitness, I realized that my focus has shifted away from the scale, and onto the caliper (fat measurement tool), and my clothing as a measure of my performance. You may know that muscle weighs more than fat, which is why the scale is not always the best measure of your "weight" loss. So what is your goal? Weight loss or Fat loss? For me, the specific focus on fat loss was more objective. Weight loss had an emotional component, whereas fat loss involved applying a systematic approach to body chemistry.

As soon as I got over the hyper sensitivity to the numbers on the scale, I could really establish a SMART Goal! Here's what I recommend business leaders do when they are setting business goals, and oddly enough, it works for fitness and weight loss as well!

Here's an example of SMART Goals should be:

Specific – Reduce my body fat percentage from 24% to 19%, so that I can compete in a body building contest.

Measureable – I will use a caliper to measure and document the body fat % weekly

Attainable – Yes this is attainable

Realistically high – It is tough enough, but not too difficult to be overwhelmng

Time Bound – I planned to achieve this by Oct 19, 2009 – the date of the body building contest!

I bet you want to know if I achieved my goal… Well, I did get close, on the day of the contest my body fat was at about 20% (not perfect for the show, but I gave it a try anyway) Here's a link to the results of my first show! http://www.musculardevelopment.com/lindsay/index.php?mode=contest&eventcode=1365

You may also want to incorporate WHY into your goals as well:

Written – Yes, write it down!

Harmonious – You need to be okay with this goal you have set.

Yours – If it's not your goal… you will not be harmonious

Writing it down, is a very important part of the process! In addition to the regular measurements with the caliper, and yes the scale, I also created a log book to write down my exercise and eating habits daily. A funny thing happened when I started doing this; I paid more attention to both my diet and my exercise! And I continued to see measureable results… in both directions, I must admit. The results were measureable after Thanksgiving alright!

To change your body, you must change what you eat!

I know that we have all heard that "you are what you eat" since we were children, but once you have eaten too much and then decided it's time to take off the excess poundage, the message finally starts to sink in. I may have mentioned before, that I LOVE TO EAT! My weakness is cookies and ice cream… my rationale is that "just a little bit won't hurt". The funny thing is that it does matter! No wonder I have a hard time losing that "little bit"!

So here's what I have learned: if you want to BE LEAN you need to EAT LEAN. My chef-coach-boyfriend, always reminds me that there are really only three things we eat:

1. Protein (chicken, beef, pork, fish, eggs etc)
   
2. Carbs (bread, pasta, cereal, fruit, veggies, candy. etc)
   
3. Fat (oil, butter, cream, cheese, milk, hard fats from meats, etc)
   

So, we should watch what we eat, and of course that is easier said than done. It first requires changing your relationship to food, food is fuel… what are you fueling? Are you fueling the fat or the muscle? Changing your diet also requires a commitment to changing your lifestyle. Our shopping, cooking and "drive through" habits all contribute to the development of our mid-section. As a single mom, I used to purchase primarily the processed foods you find in the freezer section. Processed foods are easy, and don't take much time to prepare, but if you stop to read the labels, they are notorious for being high in fat and carbs. The fast and easy mentality does not serve a healthy diet very well.

I was talking with some friends a few weeks ago, and we were talking about health and fitness, and my workout schedule. I had mentioned my journey to fitness and how I had begun to transform my body from fat to muscule. They wanted to know what I eat in the typical day, so here you go:

Previous diet:

Breakfast: Cereal & toast, OJ & coffee (carb heavy)

Snack: Snickers bar or other junk food (more carbs)

Lunch: Sandwich or burger & fries, dessert (carbs, fat & a bit of protein)

Snack: Snickers bar or other junk food (more carbs)

Dinner: Pasta or fried foods, bread, side veggie - mostly processed foods from the freezer (carbs, fat & a bit of protein if I was lucky)

Late night snack: ice cream, cookies or toast (more carbs)

 

Here's what I try to eat now:

Breakfast: Breakfast Burrito (with eggs and roast beef, or other kind of meat)

Snack: Protein Bar or nuts

Lunch: Roast beef, chicken, pork or fish (roughly 4oz), if I have a side it's usually veggies or a small amount of rice or potatoes

Snack: Protein Bar or nuts

Dinner: Roast beef, chicken, pork or fish (roughly 4oz), if I have a side it's usually veggies or a small amount of rice or potatoes

Late night snack: Try not to… but if I do, make it a light snack high in protein

 

Now I am not perfect, it is tough not to cheat, and sometimes a Starbucks mocha or bowl of Rocky Road ice cream just call out to me. But as in sit at Starbucks drinking Iced Tea, I realize that at 380 calories, a venti mocha is lunch… not coffee!

My quest for a flat stomach!

My Goal – To have a flat stomach again!

As I have progressed on this journey, I have had to re-evaluate my goals upon occasion. I had lost about twenty pounds, and still was not really satisfied with my results; I still had a pudgy stomach! I was frustrated. Then Vey asked me a couple of simple questions "What is your goal?", "What are really trying to accomplish?". I thought about that and said... "I want a flat stomach again". So I began re-focus my goal to sculpt my body, not just lose weight.

Many people focus their training to be area specific… meaning that if you want a flat stomach, do sit-ups. However, that does not always solve the problem. If you want to have a sculpted body, or a flat stomach, you must lose weight all over your body, not just one area. Full body workouts are the way to go! One of my goals is to do at least 100 pushups a day. I don’t always meet that goal but it is easier if I break it up and do 3-4 sets of 25-35 pushups throughout the day. Vey tells me regularly that if I meet this daily goal I will reach my other goal of a flat stomach. And so I try.

Funny thing about losing weight and building muscle tone, people notice! I began getting regular unsolicited feedback about my transformation. That of course was very encouraging, and inspired me to continue my workouts. Then one day I picked up a marketing postcard for fitness coach Crystal Chiles www.fitnessdesires.com. Crystal is a professional figure competitor. I met with Crystal and she introduced me to the world of competitive body building, and this got me thinking. Wow, to be able to be in such good shape that you could stand in front of hundreds of people to be judged. Now that would be a goal!

They say that every dream begins with an idea, and the idea took root after I met with Crystal. She had introduced me to www.musclecontest.com and showed me previous competitors, the divisions and explained how it all worked.

I began to ask myself… Could I do that? Could I get myself in such shape that I could stand beside those incredible women? Hmmm, maybe. And so the next phase of my journey to fitness began!

On My Way!

Okay… so I have not been a very good blogger! However I have been working out, eating well and doing some research. Initially my goal was simply to lose weight. So I changed to the high protein diet my doctor recommended, and began to work out… when I could fit it in to my hectic schedule. I had heard from a number of people that weight training burned more calories than cardio, and being the sometimes impatient type… I began doing the 20 minute circuit training workout at 24 Hour Fitness.

I received validation of the beginning of my transformation to better health and physical fitness a year or so ago when I was facilitating a Train the Trainer class for a group of scaffold builders. The class had gone to dinner one evening and during our conversation, one of the younger guys said to me "You know, women your age… usually have saggy arms and I noticed that you don't, in fact… you have biceps!" I was amazed! I don't know what I expected, but it was not that! Wow, to have unsolicited feedback like that told me that I was on the right track!

Since then I have continued to work out and to learn the science of not only losing weight, but building muscle (not my original goal). I have dealt with the frustration of watching the scale appear to stand still even though I was working my buns off (literally), I learned that my clothes are often a better measure of my progress than the scale. I have learned about lean body mass, of course that muscle weighs more than fat, and that during transformational change the scale can appear to be your enemy. I had to get over THAT number as my only measure. My lesson, keep your perspective; it's just one measure, not the only measure. I could be wrong, but I think that women tend to be more focused on the number on the scale than men. My current stats: weight 133 body fat 23.3%, compare that to my stats on my first blog posting!

As my chef (and significant other) Vey tells me all of the time "feed the muscle, starve the fat", and it does seem to work. I have eaten well (steak, fish, chicken, etc), lots of protein and I have lost most of the weight. However, being a 47 year old woman, the tummy seems to be the last hold out! I have learned that once your body adjusts to a low carb diet, it no longer craves the carbs. I had heard this before and did not really believe it, but it is true. I used to absolutely love bread, pasta, cereal and such; they were always the first thing I would think about when I wanted a snack, now I prefer nuts or a protein bar. Amazing and un-imaginable.

So now, I have dropped roughly eight to ten sizes, depending of course on where you shop and what brand you buy! In fact I had purchased a few new size 6 suits in January, but recently every time I put them on I took them off again because they looked awful, they were too big! So last week I took them to the consignment shop, hey it's a tough economy – and they were really nice suits! I guess it's almost time to go shopping again.

The Begining of the Journey

It began about 2 ½ years ago, when I left my position as a Regional Manager with the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD). A 44 year old divorced mother with three children, I was a road warrior for 9 years sometimes traveling 50-60 percent of the time! Now if you have ever traveled for work you know how hard it can be to eat well and exercise, I did neither. Correction, I ate well, really, really well! I ate so well I moved from wearing single digit clothing to double digits, and was still climbing!

My reality check came when a friend emailed me a picture at my going away party; there I was, eating cake, overweight with an extra roll around my stomach and a double chin! Ouch! That’s not the person I envisioned myself to be!

The transition out of my job, into running my business was a perfect opportunity to also make a transition in my health. I scheduled an appointment with a doctor who specializes in weight loss, we did a full blood work up to check hormone levels and such, a analysis of my body mass index body fat percentage, and we discussed my diet and lifestyle. The stats were not good. I am a little over 5’4” and weighed in at almost 160 lbs, my body fat percentage was around 37.5% and the doctor said that I might be pre-diabetic if I kept this up! Ouch again!

The doctor introduced his recommendations for diet & exercise. He recommended a low carb diet, along with exercise. Additionally, I was to check in weekly for a weigh in. Then the doctor asked me the question that got my attention “are you ready to change your lifestyle?” He didn’t ask if I was willing to change, or if I wanted to lose weight, he asked me if was ready to change? This was my moment of truth, was I ready to change the way I LIVED? I reflected for a moment, and remembered the picture, if I don’t make a change now, when would I? Would I wait until I had serious medical problems as a result of my lifestyle? Or what?

I decided at that moment that it was time to make a change, that I was READY to make a change. And so it began. I immediately went home to share the news with my family, and begin my journey.

So join me on my journey, and learn what it takes to make change happen!