Last weekend, a friend approached me and proudly announced he'd lost 15 lbs. I asked him how he'd shed the weight.
"I'm watching what I eat," he replied.
"Exercise?" I asked.
"Noooooo," he said, shaking his head as if I'd nonchalantly dropped the f-bomb in front of his grandmother. "I don't want to gain, only lose."
Sigh.
"I'm watching what I eat," he replied.
"Exercise?" I asked.
"Noooooo," he said, shaking his head as if I'd nonchalantly dropped the f-bomb in front of his grandmother. "I don't want to gain, only lose."
Sigh.
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing: My buddy's aware that muscle weighs more than fat, but he's victim to bad weight loss psychology.
As I've discussed, people often confuse good weight with bad weight, which leads them to make outrageous statements like my friend.
The thinking behind why people often confuse the two is simple: Individuals equate size with fat. Those who weigh a lot tend to harbor a fair amount of body fat, so the rationale is "If I lose weight, I won't be (look) fat." However, as I outlined the first week of The Thor Challenge, you can be thin and still house a large percentage of blubber. Even though fat people are, by nature, unhealthy, you can be thin and in poor health. Why is this?
The human body is non-discriminatory. When a person chooses to lose weight by calorie restriction alone, the body will feed on its reserves, all available reserves. This means muscle as well as fat. In order to keep the brawn but lose the fat, an individual has to give the muscle a reason to stick around, which means exercise (and additional protein intake). My friend is undoubtedly lighter because he's shed fat but also lost some of the muscle he had built up.
As I've discussed, people often confuse good weight with bad weight, which leads them to make outrageous statements like my friend.
The thinking behind why people often confuse the two is simple: Individuals equate size with fat. Those who weigh a lot tend to harbor a fair amount of body fat, so the rationale is "If I lose weight, I won't be (look) fat." However, as I outlined the first week of The Thor Challenge, you can be thin and still house a large percentage of blubber. Even though fat people are, by nature, unhealthy, you can be thin and in poor health. Why is this?
The human body is non-discriminatory. When a person chooses to lose weight by calorie restriction alone, the body will feed on its reserves, all available reserves. This means muscle as well as fat. In order to keep the brawn but lose the fat, an individual has to give the muscle a reason to stick around, which means exercise (and additional protein intake). My friend is undoubtedly lighter because he's shed fat but also lost some of the muscle he had built up.
He's better off having dropped a few pounds, but his concern isn't about being in shape, simply looking like it. There is a difference. A big one. For example, Mike Tyson weighed 240 and, at his height (5'10"), was considered obese but, I ask you, Was he out of shape? Better yet, Did he look fat? The reason he didn't is that a large majority of his bulk was muscle, not fat. To put this into perspective, below are two pics of the same person before and after weight training. Kyle weighs the same in both photos—200 lbs.—but clearly is in better health and looks better as a result. Why does he weigh the same? Again, muscle weighs more than fat. He replaced a larger volume of fat with a smaller, denser amount of muscle. |
Check out Kyle Looney's transformation story here.
Needless to say, the same applies to women. Adrienne lost ten inches off her waist, but only weighs two pounds less.
Check out Adrienne Osuna's transformation story here.
This is the difference between good and bad weight.
The easy way to avoid weight obsession is to let the mirror and the measuring tape, not the bathroom scale, be your guide.
Moral of the story: Weight comes in many different forms, but fat is fat. People who want to look healthy lose weight; people who want to be healthy lose fat.
#ThorChallenge #BeYourOwnSuperhero #Bodybuilding #Psychology #GoodWeight #BadWeight #StarTrek #NextGeneration #CaptainPicard #PatrickStewart #CommanderRiker #JonathanFrakes #FacePalm #Fat #Muscle #Protein #MikeTyson #IronMike #Healthy #Appearance #ScaleObsession
https://primitivarum.weebly.com/thorchallengeblog
The easy way to avoid weight obsession is to let the mirror and the measuring tape, not the bathroom scale, be your guide.
Moral of the story: Weight comes in many different forms, but fat is fat. People who want to look healthy lose weight; people who want to be healthy lose fat.
#ThorChallenge #BeYourOwnSuperhero #Bodybuilding #Psychology #GoodWeight #BadWeight #StarTrek #NextGeneration #CaptainPicard #PatrickStewart #CommanderRiker #JonathanFrakes #FacePalm #Fat #Muscle #Protein #MikeTyson #IronMike #Healthy #Appearance #ScaleObsession
https://primitivarum.weebly.com/thorchallengeblog