The truth behind the number on the scale
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The document discusses the significance of body composition over the number on the scale when it comes to weight loss and health. It emphasizes that body fat percentage is a more accurate health indicator than weight or body mass index (BMI), warning readers against relying on visual assessments or societal perceptions of 'ideal' weight. The author shares personal experiences of overcoming binge eating and offers insights on proper body fat measurement techniques.
The truth behind the number on the scale
- 1. ROK SPROGAR THE TRUTH BEHIND THE NUMBER ON THE SCALE The number on the scale isn’t half as important for weight loss as most people believe.
- 2. Copyright Neither the publisher nor the author is engaged in rendering professional advice or services to the individual reader. The ideas, procedures, and suggestions contained in this book are not intended as a substitute for consulting with your physician. All matters regarding your health require medical supervision. Neither the author nor the publisher shall be liable or responsible for any loss or damage allegedly arising from any information or suggestion in this book. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher. Copyright ©2014 AHS, LLC (Medvode, Slovenia) All rights reserved. Published by AHS, LLC, Medvode, Slovenia http://www.leanhigh.com Cover design by Nastja Pungracic http://photography.leanhigh.com
- 3. About the author I have a confession to make, and it’s something I used to be really ashamed of. I am an overeater, or a binge eater, if you will. This means that I love food so much, that I can eat way beyond any reasonable thresholds, sometimes even all the way to a pregnancy-like feeling. But that’s not even the weird part. Countless hours of my own research have led me to believe, that eating enormous quantities of food, might actually be a pretty natural behavior for human beings. Before you write me off as crazy, just hear my case, and then decide. My arguments are actually based on science, so you might be in for a surprise. But I can’t present my case in the “About the author” chapter or even in this book, for that matter (visit my website for more information). Here, I can only mention another amazing breakthrough that happened during years of my studies on the subjects of health, nutrition, fitness, psychology and human evolution. I have learned to control my behavior around food at a pretty impressive level. Even though my overeating habit is still pretty much alive and kicking, I have trained my mind to be able to comfortably stick to some pretty restrictive carrot sticks & celery regimes. I can now skip a meal or two, I can eat a single meal per day, or I can eat nothing at all, for as long as I choose to. And the beautiful thing is that I have learned to pull this off without suffering through the usual emotional struggles. I don’t know what your thing is. Perhaps you want to learn how to avoid chocolate, maybe you just want to start eating less, adopt a healthy long- term diet, or simply survive a certain weight loss diet. Whatever it is, if a food enthusiast like me can learn to stop eating food for days at a time, then I’m sure I can teach you to do whatever it is you want to do.
- 4. Table of Contents Introduction.......................................................................................................1 Looks and opinions of friends can be deceiving................................................2 Is Body Mass Index (BMI) really so problematic?..............................................4 What did you actually lose?...............................................................................5 How to measure your body fat levels?..............................................................7 What is a healthy body fat percentage?............................................................9 How to properly monitor your progress?........................................................11 Conclusion........................................................................................................14
- 5. The Number On The Scale Doesn't Matter by Rok Sprogar 1 Introduction People, who want to lose weight, usually set some ideal target weight as their goal, or they simply decide that they need to lose a certain number of pounds (kilograms). I have met so many people, who were confident that they have already reached their ideal weight, or were at least confident about what their ideal target weight should be. Upon closer examination of their body composition, we found out that even at their supposedly “ideal” weight, their body fat percentage was still too high. In some cases, their body fat was at a health-endangering level. Naturally, this realization takes most people by surprise. You don’t want to be one of those people. Most people rely on how they look, or how they used to look at a certain weight, to determine their ideal target weight. Some people use some sort of a calculation that tells them, what their ideal target weight should be. For example, Body Mass Index (BMI) is one of the most widely used indicators people use to determine if their weight is at healthy levels. The problem with such calculations is that they are too generalized and they usually consider too few factors to be accurate enough. You would be surprised, how many people still carry on too much body fat even after they achieve their (BMI- suggested) target weight. Well, then, how do you determine your ideal target weight correctly? Simply put, you don’t. Target weight is not half as important, as your body fat percentage is. The level of your body fat is the only true indicator of your health and fitness (I’ll explain why later on). In your weight loss efforts you should always strive to achieve and maintain an optimal body fat percentage, without worrying too much where your body weight is going to end up.
- 6. The Number On The Scale Doesn't Matter by Rok Sprogar 2 Looks and opinions of friends can be deceiving Estimating how much body fat someone carries around from the way they look can be a challenge even for fitness experts. Even if they knew a person’s actual body weight and height, this would only tell them a part of the story about how much undesired body fat that person might be carrying around. To understand why looks, body weight or some other measure like BMI can’t tell the whole “optimal” weight story, you first need to understand body composition. Our bodies are composed of body fat, muscles, bones and various organ tissues. The weight of any of those tissues can vary significantly between individuals. Let’s look at an example of three people that just happen to be of the same weight and height. One of them is a runner, and you can tell by the way he looks that he is in good shape (in a skinny kind of way). The second one lifts weights regularly, and he also seems to be pretty fit (in a muscular kind of way). The third person looks pretty average, he doesn’t seem overweight and neither does he look overly skinny or muscular. How can all these people have the same weight at the same height? How can they all fall in the same category according to the BMI? The answer is a completely different body composition. The runner will have a lower percentage of body fat and muscle weight, while having a higher percentage of bone and organ tissue weight. The weight-lifter will also have a lower percentage of body fat weight, a higher percentage of muscle weight and a lower percentage of bone and organ tissue weight. The “normal” person will have a higher percentage of body fat weight, a lower percentage of muscle weight and a lower percentage of bone and organ tissue weight. Even though these people are of the same weight and height, they have completely different body compositions.
- 7. The Number On The Scale Doesn't Matter by Rok Sprogar 3 For the three people above it would be pretty easy to determine that only one person is packing on too much body fat based on looks alone (since they are intentionally picked examples from three opposite extremes). But in reality, people are notoriously bad at judging body fat levels in a “visual” manner, both for themselves and for other people. When I started losing weight, people started commenting, I was becoming way too skinny even when I was nowhere near optimal body fat levels yet. If all of your friends suddenly lost all of the unnecessary body fat, you would probably think that they just returned from a Nazi Camp. Do not rely on what other people think about you, unless you are comfortable with the fact, that their opinion might be completely wrong. People also tend to believe that they have much more muscles than they actually do. Our bodies store fat in all the wrong places and one of them is also inside and around muscle tissue. So don’t be too surprised if your biceps start to shrink considerably once you start melting away the redundant body fat. This can happen even, if during your weight loss period you provide sufficient nutrition and strength training, for your muscle mass to remain unchanged. Body fat can be lost at a much faster rate, than muscle tissue can be grown, so it is entirely possible to finish a weight loss program stronger, and with more muscle tissue, while ending up with visually smaller biceps. I can’t emphasize this enough, but looks should never dictate how much body fat you are carrying around with you. Many people stick to unhealthy body fat levels simply because they believe that they look just fine the way they are, or that they would look to skinny if they lost additional weight. Forget about the way you are supposed to look, especially if that is dictated by other people, and let your main concern be your health. Bring your body fat to healthy levels and if the new “skinny” look bothers you, start solving this by
- 8. The Number On The Scale Doesn't Matter by Rok Sprogar 4 putting on more muscle mass or tone, and not by holding on to your redundant body fat. Is Body Mass Index (BMI) really so problematic? Body Mass Index (BMI) is a widely used indicator of whether or not a person is overweight, or underweight for that matter. The BMI is calculated by dividing a person’s weight and height (squared): BMI = mass (lb) / (height(in))2 * 702 or BMI = mass (kg) / (height(m))2 Instead of doing the calculations yourself you can easily find an online BMI calculator, or an online BMI chart to determine your own BMI. There are four categories you can fall into, according to your calculated BMI: Underweight (BMI < 18.5) Normal range (BMI 18.5 - 25) Overweight (BMI 25-30) Obese (BMI > 30) While there has been some dispute, where the “overweight” and “obese” thresholds should be set, there is no doubt that if your BMI gets over 25, you really should start doing something about it. While the “underweight” BMI range is not really a common problem, getting close to the dangerously low body fat levels has been known to happen to some overzealous people. BMI takes into account both your body weight and your height, which is a big improvement over observing body weight alone. Body height is the next most important factor to consider, when determining if a person is anywhere near his “healthy” body weight. But even this method is not without shortcomings. Like I said before, people can share the same weight and height but can have
- 9. The Number On The Scale Doesn't Matter by Rok Sprogar 5 completely different levels of body fat. Many factors can influence a person’s weight, besides body fat. Bone size (and density), muscle mass, even salt intake that causes water retention, are only some of the examples that can distort the reality about actual body fat. If a person puts on a lot of muscle, he might have an extremely low body fat percentage when compared to a sedentary person of the same height and weight. Some studies have actually shown that things are not all that bad, when BMI is used as an indicator of proper body weight, while other studies have confirmed that the BMI calculations can be way off in some cases. There were cases that fell in the normal weight range (according to the BMI), but their body fat measurements immediately placed them in the overweight category. There were also cases of overweight or obese people (according to the BMI), but when their body fat was measured, their body weight turned out to be perfectly acceptable. BMI is all about average numbers, and while for some individuals the BMI classifications can be way off, the results even out on a larger population. This means that while BMI works well for most people, the only way you can actually be sure of your actual body fat levels, is to use a more reliable body fat measuring method. If you can’t afford or are unable to measure your body fat for some reason, then BMI is still your next best choice for determining your optimal body weight. What did you actually lose? When people try to lose weight, they don't usually worry too much about doing it properly. They are simply watching the number on the scale, and they are happy if they end up lighter than they were before they started their weight loss program. However, they only know how much body weight they lost, yet they know nothing about what kind of weight has actually been lost. Did those pounds actually come from their body fat? Or did they just come
- 10. The Number On The Scale Doesn't Matter by Rok Sprogar 6 from water weight or even worse, they were taken out of their muscles? What if weight loss came out of their vital organs, like their brain?!? I'm just kidding on the vital organs part, there really is no need to worry about that unless you are planning a prolonged starvation and malnourishment. To lose weight the right way, you should learn how to maximize your body fat losses while minimizing the losses of other tissue (also called “lean body mass”). I already mentioned that besides body fat tissue, our bodies also contain water, muscle, bone tissue and organ tissue. And while many people ignore this fact, it should be pretty obvious that you should focus on losing only your fat tissue, while trying to keep everything else unchanged. Losing weight the right way means being able to monitor not just how much weight you are losing, but also how much of it is actually coming out of your body fat. There are many different methods of monitoring your body fat, but most people either buy a scale to measure their body fat percentage in the comfort of their home, or they have a professional, like a fitness trainer or a doctor, do that for them. Measuring how much body fat you have at the beginning and at the end of a weight loss program is the only way of telling how effective the program was, in terms of actual body fat loss. I said that you should focus on losing body fat exclusively, but that is not entirely true in some cases. Many people can actually be retaining excess water weight in their bodies, because of consuming too much sodium (salt), but more on this in a later chapter. This is the only example where it would beneficial to lose some weight by getting rid of excessive water in your body. However, limiting your water intake is not the way you should approach this. The right way to approach this is to clean up your diet and eliminate foods that make you retain more water than necessary. In general, whenever you are losing weight, you want to be drinking sufficient water to keep you hydrated at all times. Don’t worry about drinking too much, since any
- 11. The Number On The Scale Doesn't Matter by Rok Sprogar 7 excessive water will be quickly eliminated by your body, while drinking too little water can actually work against your body fat loss efforts. Research has shown that people who are losing weight by restricting calories can minimize muscle loss by consuming sufficient protein, the building blocks of muscle tissue. While I am against consuming too much protein, which unfortunately most high protein diets recommend, our daily protein requirements should always be met, regardless of whether you are on a weight loss program or not. To start losing weight the right way, the first thing you should do is completely forget about how much you weigh, or how much you think you should weigh. Instead, you focus on how much body fat you have and how much fat tissue you need to get rid of, to bring your body fat to a healthy level, which would be neither too low nor too high. How to measure your body fat levels? If you are on a weight loss program, you need a proper way of measuring your progress. If you simply monitor your body weight, you can’t truly know what is going on with your body. You might be losing weight simply because you are not getting in enough liquids, or you might be losing weight because you are losing muscle mass. Even though the number on the scale is coming down, you might not be efficiently targeting your body fat reserves with everything you are doing to lose weight. Lowering your body fat levels should be the ONLY target of any (good) weight loss program. The first and the most accurate method of body fat measuring is underwater weighing. Your weight is measured when you are submerged underwater and then compared to your “land” weight. Muscle tissue is denser than fat tissue, and the higher your body fat percentage, the lower your submerged body weight will be. But even this method is not an exact one and will only produce
- 12. The Number On The Scale Doesn't Matter by Rok Sprogar 8 an estimate, based on your age, race, gender, etc. Other factors, like how much air you are able to exhale before being submerged, can also affect the results. Even with some shortcomings, this method is still considered the “golden standard” of accuracy. It is the best we’ve got, but it is still quite impractical for most people, since it is usually limited to medical or university research centers and the whole procedure can be quite expensive. The second body fat measuring method is called skinfold testing. This method is based on the fact, that most of the body fat is stored directly under your skin. By measuring folds of skin in the different areas of your body, you can get a good enough estimate of your body fat percentage. The measurements are taken with a device called caliper. Somebody “pinches” a fold of your skin with the jaws of the caliper, and if they have enough experience with taking such measures, they can come up with some pretty amazing results. Apart from the possible inaccuracy of the results, especially if an inexperienced person is taking the measurements, calipers are a relatively cheap and convenient option for taking a body fat percentage measurement. Another way of measuring your body fat is with the help of something called “bioelectric impedance”. This method takes into account, that the muscle tissue conducts electricity better than fat tissue, because muscles contain a much higher amount of water. The accuracy of this method depends greatly on how much water we drink (or don’t drink) before measuring our body fat percentage. There are many scales or handheld devices available for measuring your body fat in the comfort of your own home. They are usually a bit more expensive than most, especially the low-end calipers, but are still quite affordable for most people. Convenience and relative reliability on results are two of the biggest advantages of this method. I personally measure my body fat percentage with a (bioelectric impedance) scale that has sensors both on the scale and on the handle that is attached to
- 13. The Number On The Scale Doesn't Matter by Rok Sprogar 9 it. I simply step on the sensors barefooted, grab the handle and the reading is done within seconds. Such a scale has an advantage over handheld devices since it takes into account the conductivity of the whole body, as opposed to just the upper body. The results can vary throughout the day, for example after exercise, a drink, a meal or a shower but by taking multiple measurements, I can get a close enough estimate of where I’m currently at. The convenience of taking measurements at home, and the fact that this scale set me back for less than a $100 dollars more than make up for the potential inaccuracy of the results, or having to pay a professional for results, which would also be of unknown accuracy. What is a healthy body fat percentage? By now, you understand that as far as weight loss goals are concerned, you should be focusing on your body fat percentage, instead of going after some predetermined body weight. We also looked at some of the options for measuring your body fat percentage, some of which can even be done in the comfort of your home. The one last thing you need to understand is what body fat percentage you should strive to achieve. Let’s look at how to determine your ideal body fat percentage, one that also leads to your optimal weight. While healthy Body Mass Index (BMI) ranges have been determined a long time ago and are now accepted worldwide, any official determination and recommendation of healthy body fat percentage ranges has yet to be published. When I first learned this, it kind of took me by surprise, since the shortcomings of determining your ideal body weight based on a generalized measure like BMI, are well known among even in the weight loss community.
- 14. The Number On The Scale Doesn't Matter by Rok Sprogar 10 The American Council on Exercise (ACE) has issued a body fat percentage chart that can be used as a guideline for setting your ideal body fat percentage target. This chart shows different body fat percentage ranges among men and women that belong to one of the 5 different health and fitness categories. Body fat percentage chart for men and women Description Women Men Essential Fat 10% - 13% 2% - 5% Athletes 14% - 20% 6% - 13% Fitness 21% - 24% 14% - 17% Acceptable 25% - 31% 18% - 24% Obesity 32% or more 25% or more From this chart you can see that women are naturally “blessed” with a higher percentage of “essential body fat”, which is the minimum amount of body fat our bodies need to function properly. This is simply because of the basic differences between male and female anatomy. While the increased body fat reserves are stored throughout the entire female body, some of the more noticeable places would include breasts, belly, buttocks and thighs. Holding on to higher body fat reserves seems to be the nature’s way of preparing women for increased energy demands during pregnancy. But don’t let the naturally increased body levels of body fat fool you. In spite of the higher body fat percentage, properly developed female abdominal muscles (the infamous six-pack) can still look pretty damn athletic. While even this fat percentage chart has some shortcomings, mostly because it ignores some other factors, like age or ethnicity, it is still the best we got at the moment. In spite of some potential shortcomings, this chart is at least way more accurate than if you simply chase after some “ideal” body weight.
- 15. The Number On The Scale Doesn't Matter by Rok Sprogar 11 If you are a man who wants to look fit, you should bring your body fat percentage at least below 17%. If you want to achieve that athletic look (possibly with the addition of some muscle mass), you probably want to go below 10% (this is roughly where your abdominal muscles will start to emerge). Most men will receive the biggest benefits if they bring their body fat to below 20% (or women below 25%). Much more importantly than how you will look, such body fat percentages will help you avoid many of the negative health consequences excessive body weight usually brings to the table. How to properly monitor your progress? Now that we understand that the loss of our body fat should be our primary weight loss goal instead of focusing only on reducing the number on the scale. We also know what a healthy body fat percentage for men and women is, and how we can measure it. One final thing I would like to add is how to properly monitor your progress. Monitoring your progress regularly will let you know where you’re at, and whether or not you are effectively targeting your body fat. However, monitoring your progress too often, can also lead to misinterpretation of results which can lead to confusion and frustration. It is of vital importance to know how to approach this correctly. The first thing we need to talk about is how to correctly interpret the results and how to actually identify progress. Let’s suppose you take weekly body weight and body fat percentage measurements. Here are some sample results:
- 16. The Number On The Scale Doesn't Matter by Rok Sprogar 12 Initial Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Body weight (lbs/kg) 220 / 99.8 210 / 95.3 220 / 99.8 215 / 97.5 210 / 95.3 Body fat (%) 32 32 33 31 29 Total body fat (lbs/kg) 70.4 / 31.9 67.2 / 30.5 72.6 / 32.9 66.6 / 30.2 60.9 / 27.6 Total lean mass (lbs/kg) 149.6 / 67.9 142.8 / 187.2 147.4 / 66.9 148.4 / 67.3 149.1 / 67.7 The first week looked like you did really great. You went on juice diet and managed to lose ten pounds in a single week. While you lost more than three pounds of actual body fat, you also sacrificed some of the lean body tissue (you can only hope that this was mostly water and not your muscle tissue). The second week was not so great, but after a week of drinking only liquids, you simple couldn’t resist eating too much. Now you are back at your initial weight, except that you are packing on two extra pounds of body fat. You have walked right into the classic dieting yoyo trap. You smarten up and for the next two weeks you are using a combination of very mild calorie restriction and strength training/cardio exercise. While it now takes two weeks to achieve the same weight loss, the results are now completely different “under the hood”. Now you actually lost more than ten pounds of body fat and managed to gain some of the lean body mass (most of it must have been muscle mass, because you know you worked your ass off for it). And this is exactly what real progress should look like. Remember that the results are completely made up for illustration purposes, and that they are not necessarily achievable in real life situations. You also need to be aware of the circumstances you are taking your measurements under. In order for your results not too jump up and down too wildly, you want to make sure you are weighing yourself under the same
- 17. The Number On The Scale Doesn't Matter by Rok Sprogar 13 conditions every time. For consistency, it does not matter if you are taking measurements in the morning or in the evening, before a meal or after a meal, but once you pick a certain time of day, try to stick to it as close as possible. If you are wearing your clothes and your shoes, do that every time. If you are weighing yourself before breakfast, or even before going to the toilet, than try to stick with it each and every time. By keeping everything that can affect your body weight unchanged, you will get the most consistent results possible. How often you are taking measurements can also affect your results quite a lot. If you plan on weighing yourself on a daily basis, you need to count on two effects. The daily weight (and body fat percentage measurement result) fluctuations that happen because of the difference in hydration levels, salt/sodium water retention, weight of your meals, bowel movements and some other factors, which can be quite significant when put together. Be prepared for the fact, that some days can be quite the disappointment in comparison to others. Looking at things too closely can also start to feel like you’re watching the grass grow. While the difference over the course of a week or a month might turn out to be pretty significant, it will most certainly not look like that on a daily basis. I am taking my body weight and body fat percentage measurements daily and I have made a habit of doing it the first thing after getting out of bed. I recommend that you make a habit out of it even if you have not started your weight loss journey yet, or even if you have already reached your weight loss goals. But if the daily measurements are too much, and you tend to get all panicky, if your weight has increased by a pound of water or food in your colon from the day before, weekly or monthly measurements might be a better option for you.
- 18. The Number On The Scale Doesn't Matter by Rok Sprogar 14 Conclusion While understanding that setting your weight loss goals as your target body fat percentage, instead of going after some “ideal” body weight is definitely a step in the right direction, it is unfortunately still a relatively unimportant piece of the whole weight loss puzzle. The biggest challenge in front of me is helping people understand why weight loss was never really a matter of diet or exercise. Have a look at what I can do for you here.