This is the first post in the “Self Sabotage in Fat Loss Diets” series.
In this post, I will talk about 4 things specifically:
- How people often set unrealistic or unspecific goals for themselves
- What some realistic, specific goals are, and some examples of unrealistic, fuzzy goals
- The result of a lack of a plan
- The first steps you should take to develop a plan
Unrealistic and Unspecific Goal
To start off, let’s talk about what someone can really expect.
Many failed dieters just want to lose the fat. They are not well informed about the fundamentals of fat loss and think that by following a pre-determined set of rules (often prescribed by a particular fad-diet), that they will lose weight quickly and easily.
The result is a haphazard approach bound to fail in the long run.
At the very least: You should have some form of quantifiable target. For example, I want to weigh 10 kilos less than where I am at now. Or better still, I want to reach 15% bodyfat, down from the 25% bodyfat I am at now. As a rule thumb, always talk in numbers.
Unspecific Goals
The first problem I would like to talk about are unspecific goals. I define this by goals which cannot be approximately quantified.
The most common (and most annoying) goal from ladies is “I want to lose the flab in my arms” or “I want to get toned but not bulky”. The question then is, what is bulky to you? If you read this post by Leigh Peele on “Bulky Muscles and Female Training“, you’d know that different people have different perceptions of bulky.
Thus, a better goal would have been, “I want to reduce my bodyfat percentage from 30% to 25% to get this fat off my arms” or “I want to reduce my bodyfat to 25% and then add 3kg of muscle to achieve that lean, strong look”. No doubt, ‘lean, strong look’ is still horribly vague, but at least you have a qunatifiable goal of adding 3kg of muscle.
Even though you will never be able to measure your fat loss or muscle gain so precisely, the important thing is to have a general direction to proceed with which allows for a feedback mechanism. For example, you can quite easily monitor your weight and bodyfat percentage given a goal to lose fat. If both of then are going down, you know you’re on the right path.
The danger results when you have no idea of what to expect. How then can one proceed if you do not know your destination even in a vague sense. Just think, what does ‘lean but not bulky’ look like? Can you image that on yourself? How much fat do you think you need to lose to get there (give a number)?
I must add that it is probably horribly biased to say that females tend to set worse goals then men, but it is also very true. This is in part because the aesthetic ideals of females are less clearly defined than men.
Assuming that aesthetics is a primary goal of going on a diet, what then is the goal bodyfat for females? For men that’s easy, a value low enough to get that coveted six-pack, typically from 7-10% bodyfat. But for females, the examples of ‘beautiful bodies’ span across a larger range of bodyfat percentages. Not to mention the ideals the media imparts on us and all other factors.
Unrealistic Goals
Because we cannot specify some goals, our expectations tend to become unrealistic. Of course, it is entirely possible to create unrealistic expectations even with a clearly defined goal.
In terms of fat loss, the most commonly quoted value is 1-2lbs a week. Unfortunately, this is standard recommendation does not fit everyone.
To put it simplistically, you need a caloric deficit to lose fat. Eating approximately 500kcal less a day results in about a 1lbs fat loss in 1 week. To double fat loss, simply double your deficit and eat 1000kcal less calories a day.
Now consider two subjects, a 60kg (132lbs) average female and a 110kg (242lbs) obese male. The male subject probably has a maintenance caloric intake of 3900kcal/day while the female probably has a maintenance intake of 2000kcal/day. To lose 2lbs of fat a week, the female would be eating only 1000kcal a day, while the male could be eating 2900kcal.
See the disconnect? Larger and fatter individuals can expect faster fat loss from any diet. This is partly because there is so much fat to mobilise compared to a lean individual, and also due to the ability to create a larger deficit. Even if the female eats nothing at all, thats only a 2000kcal deficit, translating to 4 lbs a week, but you’d be gauranteed and a good portion of that weight would not be fat and your muscle/connective tissue instead. However, if the male does a rapid fat loss diet correctly, eating 1000kcal a day, he may be able to creating a 2900kcal deficit and pretty easily lose 5lbs of fat a week.
A good rule of thumb is: If in doubt, take things slow. Reduce food intake by 500kcal and lose 1 lbs a week. If you have access to a good trainer, or are experienced and have the fundamentals of nutrition set straight, then you can afford to be ambitious.
Remember never to want to get fit yesterday.
The Problems
As a result of unrealistic expectations and unspecific goals, many people do crazy things.
They would probably try to lose fat as fast as humanly possible (or so they think) and end up starving themselves. This inevitably leads to many other problems, including loss of lean muscle mass, unsustainable eating habits which cause them to put back the fat once the diet is over, or at worse, develop some sort of any eating disorder.
Hence the object is to define clear upper and lower limits to how far you can take things, as well as methods of measurement that you can use.
What you Should do
The first thing to do if possible, is to set a specific goal for yourself. Don’t forget to question yourself about the true purpose of wanting to reach that goal. For example, if you want to impress friends and family, would losing 5 kilos achieve that? Would losing that weight change your life for the better?
Once you decide, the next step is to set up the Fundamentals of Nutrition and from there, create a caloric deficit.
Next, you must have a way to measure your progress.
Lyle McDonald has written an article about measuring your body composition, which I do recommend you read.
However for simplicity sake, I will give my own recommendation.
My recommendation is to use 3 implements: The scale, a length of measuring tape, and the mirror
The scale is the most obvious of the 3. If its going down, you know you are doing something right. Sometimes this may not be the case, and we will explore why in the following article.
Next comes the tape measure. This works to tell you what type of weight you are losing. I would say that all people want to lose fat only and not their muscle. The tape gives an albeit imprecise but good enough approximation for changes in body composition. For males, the single best measurement is the waist. This is simply because men tend to store the most amount of fat in that region. It is also the region which fat will come off the last. Hence dropping waist measurements tend to be an indicator that fat is dropping.
For ladies, things get a little more complicated, since fat storage can vary quite a bit. Some females tend to store fat in their upper arms and lower body. Thus the complaint of fat hips despite a lean mid-section. The tape measure will thus have to go around various other areas. Thigh measurements seem to do well for most, but then again, ladies tend to store fat in different manners, so this may not always be extremely accurate. A good rule of thumb will be to take measurements everywhere. This includes but are not limited to: the neck, upper arms, waist, hips, thighs.
Finally, the most arbitrary one, look at the mirror. If you look better naked chances are that you’re on the right path.
Final and Important Note
I will strongly recommend that you only assess such information at the very most once a week. Females may even need to go to once a fortnight. Any time below this would yield to the varying uncertainties of the human body.
If you still have lots of questions, like why only measure once a week, or why I keep talking about females needing to do things differently, fret not, it shall be clarified in the next post. I will talk about in that post, the problem of self-perception and the disastrous consequences that result.
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