urbanmommy’s BodyBlog

For the last few months, I’ve pondered how my life has changed; not just the changes in my body, but changes in the way I eat, the way I train, the way I view myself, and the way I think. EVERYTHING has changed. Here’s just a few major issues that are no longer issues for me. Maybe you will see something in this list that hits home for you.

1. The scale. That crazy thing that sits on our bathroom floor has the amazing ability to change moods. Have you noticed? I used to weigh in once a week at Weight Watchers, and if the number on the scale was down, I left that meeting and ate everything in sight. You are probably not like that at all; but that is how I used to do things. I figured I had one more week to weigh in, so why not binge a little now! On the other hand, if the number on the scale was up, I felt like crap. Nothing went right the rest of the day; I was a fat girl with nothing to offer anybody but a pretty smile and a shoulder to cry on. All because of a stupid machine.

No more, people!! And it’s not just because I have reached my goal. Yeah, I knew you were thinking that ("look at her…she’s at goal and she’s telling us not to look at the scale. Really, who is this chick anyways?!") . I’m telling you this because I’m sick and tired of being controlled by a number that means very little. Of course, our weight is important and I try to weigh myself once every few weeks just to keep myself in check. But the most important things to me are my fat to muscle ratio, my waist to hip ratio, my overall inch loss, my new found energy, and my new found strength. Aren’t those really what we are after?

The first thing my new client told me was he wanted to lose about 15 lbs. No problem. But I surprised him when I came back with this question: "What if you actually gained 5 pounds, but lost 3 inches in your waist? Which is more important to you?" Hummm….I think you know his answer. He probably has a pair of jeans he’d love to put on; and that’s his motivation.

I weigh myself only to get a number I can work with. If the number has gone up, I look at my inch loss or bodyfat % and realize I have probably gained some muscle. If my weight is up as well as my inches, then I need to reevaluate my diet and training program. New way of thinking #1.

2. Spot-reducing. Typical senario: Lady walks into a gym. She has no plan, no log with a training program on it for her to follow, no real thoughts on what she wants to do. All she knows is she wants a flatter stomach, a smaller waist, arms that don’t wave back at her, and thighs that don’t jiggle.

She gets on the treadmill and walks, at a leisurely pace, hands firmly grasping the handles. 30 minutes go by and she’s barely breaking a sweat, but she’s accomplished something. Now, it’s time for the "toning." She doesn’t want to be a bodybuilder; she just wants to look "firm." Sure, Ok. The first thing: her abs. She does 25 crunches. Next issue she wants to take care of is her waist. One time she saw someone doing side-bends; that seems right to her, so she grabs 2 dumbbells and bends side-to-side, about 20 times. Arms: she doesn’t care about her biceps (what woman wants big biceps?, she says to herself.) She grabs a dumbbell and pumps out a few tricep extensions above her head. Not doing enough to really feel the burn, but it’s something. Finally, her thighs. Inner thighs are her real issue, so she jumps on the Abductor/Adductor machines and slams out bunches of reps. The more the better, right? She ends with a few reps on the leg extension and leg curl machines, and she’s outta there.

Sound familiar? Most people have no clue what to do when they walk into a gym! After spending a year training my whole body, I have learned that my body doesn’t transform itself piece-by-piece, bodypart by bodypart. Spot-reducing is IMPOSSIBLE!! It’s all or nothing. I’ve learned how very, very smart my body is. It will burn fat if I work the ENTIRE BODY! Big muscles burn the most fat, so I make sure I really work the big guys: chest, back, shoulders, quads, hamstrings, and glutes. I still include triceps and biceps, but those are little guys, and I only work them cause it’s fun and makes for a more complete training session. And Cardio? Well, it’s short and sweet for me. I have a new love affair with High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). So cool how something so quick and intense can produce such amazing results!! I call it my "20-minute miracle." New way of thinking #2.

3. Diet. I won’t bore you anymore with how my view on food has changed. You can read my page and past blogs for that info. I’ll just emphasize how much my body loves good, clean food!! It responds well to eating 40% carbs, 30% protein, and 30% fat. Give or take. My abs look great when I eat well; my energy is high and the bloat in my stomach is almost non-existent. Who could ask for more? Food is more than pleasurable; food serves a purpose. It makes me lean, strong, fit, energetic, and happy! New way of thinking #3.

Gosh…I can’t believe all the stuff we can learn, through trial and error. We try one thing and that doesn’t work, so we switch our mindset and say, "Hey! Let’s try something new! Something I’ve never thought of!"

So free your mind this week and try something new.