You really don't want to lose weight

Weight is a horrible, horrible indicator of your fitness. I weigh more now than I ever have but that's because I've put on muscle. If I just looked at the scales as an indicator of my health I would be depressed and quit exercising and watching what I eat. Why bother training and dieting if there's no change? If weight is my only guide then I wouldn't be happy.

If you decide to lose weight and begin to exercise what do think is going to happen? You are going to burn fat. That's good. Congratulations. Burning the fat means that you will lose weight. But guess what else is going to happen? All those muscles you are exercising are going to toughen up, get bigger and stronger and you know what that means? It means you are going to put on weight. When you get on the scales and see that the weight hasn't changed how are you going to feel? Horrible, right?

Weight is a horrible indicator. It has it's place but, as a sole indicator, it is not helpful. A better measure is your fat content. If your fat content is going down and your weight is staying the same then you are putting on lean mass - that's a good thing. If your fat content is going up and your weight is staying the same then you are losing lean mass - that's not a good thing. Measuring your fat is a healthier measure than weight alone.

So how do you do it?

Let me suggest two ways of measuring your fat content. In both cases you will get a reasonable gauge of your fat content as a percentage of your total weight. For me, I like mini goals and quick feedback so I will measure myself once a week to see that I'm making gains toward my goals.

Currently I am currently using Accu-Measure Calipers. They give a quick and accurate measure of my fat percentage. They are very easy to use and aren't very expensive. You can purchase them online (here in India). They come with a chart that quickly lets you know where you are within 2%.

The second method is the US Navy Calculator. This is what I used when I first started measuring my fat content. All you need is a tape measure. An online calculator can be found here, here and here. There are two formulas running around the internet, an older one and a new one. One formula for working it out yourself is:

Men in inches: %Fat = 86.010*LOG(abdomen - neck) - 70.041*LOG(height) + 36.76
Men in cms: %Fat = 86.010*LOG(abdomen - neck) - 70.041*LOG(height) + 30.30

Women in inches:%Fat = 163.205*LOG(abdomen + hip - neck) - 97.684*LOG(height) - 78.387
Women in cms: %Fat = 163.205*LOG(abdomen + hip - neck) - 97.684*LOG(height) - 104.912

At some point in your journey toward fitness your body fat won't matter. What will matter is how you feel about yourself. Do you like the person you see in the mirror. When you get to that stage the measuring tape will no longer be your friend - get rid of it.

Be as lazy as you can to be fit and healthy

There are lots of diets and exercise programs out there and most of them work - for a while. You try the watermelon diet and you will lose 5kg, 10kg and then a year later you put it all back on with 20% interest. This cycle of lose-gain-lose-gain results in a billion dollar weight loss and fitness industry and a generation of obesity. The secret to being fit and healthy all year round is to be lazy.

Lazy is an unwillingness to work or use energy and that's the key to being fit all the time. You must be unwilling to work, unwilling to do any more than you need to in order to achieve your goal. You must do the absolute minimum to get there. If you can get to your weight loss goal or your fitness goal with the least amount of work then you have a much better chance of sustaining it.

If you want to be thin then there are lots of unsustainable methods. If you want to be thin all the time you need to make lifestyle changes. Often those changes are just small tweaks that build up over time that make your goals a reality. The same goes for fitness or health or strength.

Of course, if your goal is to be an athlete then your level of lazy will be higher than someone who wants to attain an average level of fitness. The point I'm making here is that the less you can do to achieve your goal the more likely you are to maintain it. If it's a lot of work and effort to achieve your goal then you are less likely to maintain what you have achieved.

For me, right now, I'm trying to lose about 4kg of fat. I'm doing 2 things to achieve that. I'm following a diet that isn't difficult that is 500 calories less than what I would normally eat. That amounts to about 20% less food per meal. That's doable. And I'm exercising 4 times a week for about 30 mins. That's 2 hours per week. That's doable too. It should take me about 12-20 weeks. That's realistic. When I get to the goal I get to eat a little bit more and the exercise is still only 2 hours per week. That's lazy fitness.

Are you doing too much to achieve your goals? What's the absolute minimum you need to achieve your fitness and health goals? What could you achieve between now and the end of the year? Leave a comment and let me know.