Ditch the scales!
How do you measure your success?
How do you work out how you are going to get to where you want to be?
What will be the one change that will tell you 100% that you are there, what will you see? What will you hear? What will you feel that will make you punch the air and say “hell yeah I did it!”?
It’s a bit out there but I’m going to tell you why I think you should ditch the scales.
Why I think you should be using other measures and the word ‘weight’ is the wrong word for your fitness goal.
Have you ever been on a fitness mission, you know been to the gym 3 times EVERY week for a month, hitting the treadmill and going to those body pump classes like there is no tomorrow?
One month down the line, you jump on the scales and….oh crap, no change!
You feel so demotivated you could cry, all that hard work and you are still at the same weight.
Pretty much enough to stop your progress right there isn’t it.
So imagine how you might feel if you threw out the scales and grabbed a tape measure instead.
Think you would see a difference?
This might sound radical but there are some very good reasons to throw away your scales!
It is so easy to obsess over that figure on the scales and weigh ourselves daily to see how much we have lost. The reality is that this is not a true reflection of your progress.
I have known many clients that have watched the scales and seen no change at all.
Give the same client a tape measure and that is where you see the change.
Like Hannah who lost 4cm off her chest, 6cm off her waist, 2cm off her hips and 3cm off her belly without seeing any significant change on the scales. All this in just 6 weeks.
How you should keep track of your progress
While your weight is important, what’s even more important is how much muscle you have. Muscle takes up less space than fat, making you look slimmer, and the more muscle you have the more calories your body will burn.
When you exercise, you gain muscle and burn more fat, but that fat loss won’t always show up on the scales. Where it will show up is in measurements, how your clothes fit and how your body looks.
All that can happen even if the scale isn’t moving.
So at Fit In Minutes we use a tape measure and a photograph, this is how we track your progress.
We also believe that your fitness levels are also a far better indication of your progress.
As your strength increases so does your muscle mass, as your muscle mass increases, so does your body’s ability to burn fat. As you make improvements to your diet we are working towards a state of balance in your body where you are burning unnecessary fat and fuelling your body to build muscle.
If I weight train will I get bulky?
Weight lifting and resistance training is vital for building muscle.
Fitness is made up of so many components; cardiovascular fitness, flexibility and strength all have equal parts to play in making your body fit and healthy.
Strength, however; is so often overlooked by women. They ask “will these exercises make me bulk up? – Pumping iron builds muscle right?”
The fact is that it is actually very hard for women to get big from building muscle, you would need to be lifting some serious weight and spending a serious amount of time in the gym to be anywhere near the point where you are bulking up.
In reality building resistance training into your workout will give you a toned body, muscle takes up less space than fat, making you look slimmer and leaner and the more muscle you have the more fat you burn, even when resting and the good news is that you don’t even need a gym!
Muscle can easily be built by using your body weight so there are hundreds of exercises you can do in your own home to start increasing your muscle mass right now!
I love to inspire women just like you to finally make that change, I can help you reach out and take that first step.
By providing you with daily exercise solutions, to coach you towards individual success whatever that looks like to you so that you can feel fitter, healthier and know you have a way of fitting exercise into your life.
Kirsty x
Fit in mind
Fit in body
Fit in your life
p.s. check out my free download – 5 Strategies to get you fit in minutes and you could make one simple change right now, go on you won’t regret it! www.fitinminutes.co.uk
