One of the first things I tell new clients, regardless of how fat or lean they are is to stop obsessing about their weight! So many people rely on their overall weight as a bellwether of how fit they are. The truth is your overall weight doesn’t really tell you much, and it can be exceedingly deceiving!
Body Composition Analysis
A body composition analysis breaks down your overall weight into the proportions of water, muscle, and fat. This is the information that’s actually useful to understand your currently level of fitness, set goals for improvement, and track yourself to those goals. If you want to improve your fitness stop obsessing about your overall weight and start focusing on your body composition. Specifically, you want focus on how much muscle mass you have and your percentage of body fat.
This article by WebMD suggests healthy body fat ranges for men and women as the following:
According to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, there are healthy body fat percentages based on your age. For people aged 20 to 39, women should aim for 21% to 32% of body fat. Men should have 8% to 19%. For people 40 to 59, women should fall between 23% to 33% and men should fall around 11% to 21%. If you’re aged 60 to 79, women should have 24% to 35% body fat and men should have 13% to 24%.
Now, mind you these numbers are for an average person. Generally speaking, people who are very fit are anything but average, and will tend to have lower body fat numbers. It makes them stand out in a sea of average people. Note that in the guidance above an average person’s body fat is expected to increase with age. Conversely, people tend to look and feel younger than they are with lower body fat. For example; a 62 year old man carrying a decent amount of muscle with body fat in the 10%-15% range can appear 10-15 years younger than his actual age.
For example; a 62 year old man carrying a decent amount of muscle with body fat in the 10%-15% range can appear 10-15 years younger than his actual age.
Focus on Body Composition and Stop Obsessing About Your Weight
The image at the top of this page drives home the value of getting your body composition done regularly. One of my 62 year old clients, who happens to be an engineer, loves data. He gets his body composition done regularly and then graphs it in a spreadsheet.
He’s been tracking his body composition since June of 2021 when he started training with me. The blue line correlates to the left y-axis and the green to the right y-axis. Blue is muscle mass and green is body fat. We want to see the blue go up and the green go down. Note that he does not plot his overall weight because it’s meaningless.
As you can see over time there’s lots of variation up and down on both muscle and fat, but the trend on both are in the right direction. Muscle continues to build and body fat continues to decline. Along the way you will notice plateaus, ramps and dips. Overall though, his body fat came down nearly 12%, and he put on 16 lbs. of muscle. This is the way!
Keep the Muscle, Lose the Fat!
As things progressed we had to change things up to keep the progress going. The first big improvement phase was from June of 21 to April of 22. When he started with me in June of 21 he was running 12-16 miles a week and starving himself by eating 800-1200 calories. He had lost 30 lbs. in 6 months, he wasn’t tracking body composition back then, and he was gauging his progress strictly by his weight. Because of his extreme level of cardio and his ridiculous eating behavior I can say with all certainty that a lot of that 30 lbs. he lost was muscle. Big mistake! The Fitness Revelation way is to build muscle while losing body fat.
The Fitness Revelation way is to build muscle while losing body fat.
Diminishing Returns
His metabolism had shut down. He had to keep running longer and further to keep the weight loss going. And his body started failing. His achilles heel started screaming and his legs were wicked sore all the time. This is what happens when you depend on extreme cardio and calorie depravation.
The Fitness Revelation Way
At our first meeting I told him:
- His nutrition was ridiculous because he wasn’t eating near enough calories. I raised his daily calories from 800-1000 to 1800, which was about double what he had been eating. In fact, he often commented about how difficult it was for him to reach the new calorie target.
- He was not paying any attention to his macro nutrients and was almost certainly not eating enough protein. I put him on a 40% protein, 30% carbohydrate, 30% fat macro plan.
- His excessive running was counter productive. It was beating him up. I told him to stop running, at least for a while.
Following this guidance and coaching, Look at his progress from June of 21 to April of 22. It transformed him. And drum roll please…. he was doing zero cardio.
And drum roll please…. he was doing zero cardio.
Proper Hormone Balance
Next I sent him to the doctor for a complete blood work up. From that we found that his testosterone was low in the range, even for his age. And his estrogen was high. Both of which were inhibiting losing fat and building muscle. Once we knew this we got him on hormone therapy to make things right. And equally important, he rarely missed a workout, and always gave it his best effort.
Setbacks Happen
Then at the end of April 22 he suffered a diverticulitis (intestinal) infection that caused severe abdominal cramps every time he ate or drank something. The cramps were so bad he wasn’t getting any sleep either. He went a few days without eating, after which he was able to only eat small amounts of soup at a time. He eventually went to the doctor who put him on antibiotics, which cleared the infection up within a week.
So, he was really sick for a week and then spent the next week recovering. Over that 2 weeks he lost about 10 pounds. You might think well at least he lost weight! What actually happened is his body cannibalized muscle for calories, and actually started storing fat. He lost 5 lbs of muscle and his body fat went up 1.5% because he could not eat right or train right for a couple weeks.
After he got back to eating his normal diet and training again, his improvements flatlined. His body was still trying to adjust from the infection and the calorie deprivation. In order to kick start his metabolism I increased his calories to 2,000, after which he tarted gaining muscle and losing fat again. We are constantly adjusting things to chase his goal of reaching 10% body fat w/o losing any muscle.
In order to kick start his metabolism I increased his calories to 2,000, after which he tarted gaining muscle and losing fat again. We are constantly adjusting things to chase his goal of reaching 10% body fat w/o losing any muscle.
Stop Obsessing About Your Weight / Focus On Body Fat and Muscle
So, here’s the deal. If you are serious about getting in the best shape of your life, which means losing fat and putting on some muscle you have to pay attention to your body composition, not your overall weight. Otherwise you are shooting in the dark.
This client has never been as lean or as muscular and strong as he is today. And he’s not done by a long shot. Together we will find his genetic potential. And by the way, the client is thrilled with his results. People regularly complement his physique in public. Even though he’s 62, people often guess his age at between 45 and 55. And as he laughs about it, he’s often flattered by women half his age hitting on him.
Get In The Best Shape Of Your Life
- Hire an expert personal trainer with extensive background and experience
- Set goals for body fat % and muscle gain and track your progress
- Get your nutrition on point and keep it there
- Show up for every workout come hell or high water and give it your best every workout. If you are traveling, find a way to get your workout in. There is usually a way.
- Lift more and do less cardio.
If you put your mind to it and get disciplined about it you can totally transform yourself in 6-12 months. I have no doubt. I have lived it and our clients see it all the time. Be the temple!
For more insights, check out these articles:
- Build muscle and lose fat
- How to fail at achieving your fitness goals
- The real work is in the kitchen
