Mission 1, Day 27: Thoughts on progress
As I did my morning cardio, I started to think about progress and what it means to people. There seems to be a small debate amongst the Shredder Council about numbers and their place in the process. I am on the side that says that numbers are pretty much essential for measuring progress. While I can see the reasoning behind not focusing too much on the numbers, I feel like not focusing on the numbers is failing to plan. I've always been taught that failing to plan is planning to fail.
Now, if you don't focus on numbers I am not saying you are destined to fail, so don't get me wrong. At the same time, can you truly say numbers don't matter. One person, Lilla, commented that at one point she was 92 pounds and now she is about 110 pounds. She says that her body fat percentage was the same at 92 pounds as it is at 110 pounds. I say this proves the point that knowledge of the numbers is important. Let's say that Lilla was 18% body fat at 92 pounds. This means she had 75.44 pounds of lean body mass. Now she is at 18% body fat at 110 pounds. That's 90.2 pounds of lean body mass. At which point was Lilla healthier? Clearly she is in better shape now at 110 pounds than she was at 92 pounds. Without knowledge of the body fat percentage number we would not be able to come to this conclusion. Most people would immediately say that Lilla was healthier at 92 pounds in the absence of the body fat percentage number. Thus, that number is extremely important in the determination of how healthy a person is.
To me, the scale is irrelevant. I've proven, through crunching numbers, that I can stay at 230 pounds and still be extremely healthy just by dropping my body fat percentage down. It all depends upon your goal. There are reasons for having a low body weight as a goal. If a low body weight is your goal, the scale becomes extremely important. If having a low body fat percentage is the goal, the scale is extremely irrelevant. In fact, I could go up to 250 pounds, as long as my body fat percentage is dropping. However, I would not be able to be comfortable with this concept had I not crunched the numbers.
Society places alot of emphasis on the scale. In each post that rails against the number crunching I see the author discussing the scale and how we shouldn't be upset by what it says. I agree with that 100%, but I say that the scale is completely irrelevant and that is why we should never be upset by what it says.
Until tomorrow...
Hi Michael,
Just read your blog on numbers, and am confused. I have always gone by the scale...when it goes down am thrilled, but now, at my age, weight is hard to get off, if not impossible am thinking. My BF% is all over the place too. Am doing one used by the US Navy, and it is so high that I gasp. It´s now at XX%, and doesn´t come down no matter what. Am following MS, but finding it is getting so that have NO energy at all. How do you do those humongous weight workouts with no energy? Have gotten overtired driving son around for his work, but now am trying to get my energy back. Am sleeping more, but today is fruit day and blew it. Got weak and ate some eggs...anyway, what should I do to get my BF% to come WAAAAY down? I weigh 161 on the darn scale.
Desperate,
Lynda
Please black out my cute BF% if you publish this....
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Lynda, I started my journey a year ago at 30% body fat and now I'm at 18% body fat. You sound like the perfect candidate for paying attention to the numbers. The problem you seem to have is that you lack energy. That's because you're not eating enough food. It is a very common issue when people are trying to lose weight. Do you know what your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) is? If not, find a TDEE calculator on the web, run the numbers and find out what it is. From there, reduce your calories by 20% and you are on your way to fat loss success. Yes, MS has some interesting food days, etc., but you still need the calories. Without the calories you won't have energy. Now, to cover more about what I said in my blog post, let's consider two women. They both start at 140 pounds and 30% body fat. Remember that muscle burns fat. It is important for this discussion. Woman A has 98 pounds of LBM and 42 pounds of fat. Woman B has 98 pounds of LBM and 42 pounds of fat. They both start to lift weights and do cardio. Woman A increases to 150 pounds and reduces her body fat to 20%. Woman B decreases to 130 pounds and 20% body fat. Woman A now has 120 pounds of LBM and 30 pounds of fat. Woman B has 104 pounds of LBM and 26 pounds of fat. Woman A will burn more fat naturally than Woman B becuase Woman A now has more LBM. The interesting aspect is that Woman A gained 10 pounds while Woman B lost 10 pounds and yet Woman A only carries 4 pounds of fat more than Woman B. That's why I say ditch the scale and worry about body fat percentage. Get yourself an Accumeasure caliper and use it to measure your body fat weekly. Work hard at the cardio and eat clean and you will see the fat percentage drop.
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Hey Mike, good post..numbers are critical if you are looking to make progress. I agree the scale is completely irrelevent...The only time it is useful is for analysis ie. weight to BF to get LBM.
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Great post, I'm commenting a little late, but just wanted to know if you aren't smiling on purpose in your photo just to see if I'd pick up on it (after the consistency post)? Or were you just in deep thought about the whole numbers thing?
I myself am a victim of just watching the weight and not the BF%, mostly because I had no way to monitor it before. For a few years I stayed roughly the same weight, but it was essentially a slow muscle loss and fat gain until I just got pretty weak, and then packed on more fat. Now I've got my AccuMeausure. I just wish I was sure I was using it correctly!
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Do you have Tom Venuto's PDF on using the Accumeasure correctly? It has some great charts. However, as long as you are using them consistently the same way, it isn't the actual body fat number that matters, it is the direction the body fat is going that matters. By getting your results in the same consistent manner, you are proving whether that number is going up or down.
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