I get this all the time, to the extent I no longer jump straight on my soap box when I hear it;
“𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑘 𝑒𝑛𝑗𝑜𝑦𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒, 𝑎𝑙𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑖𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑔𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑢𝑝 𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑙𝑦 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛. 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 '𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑛', 𝑎𝑠 𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑘 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔.”
Yup, those are the words uttered by a client this week. And it’s not the first time either, despite us talking at length about it on coaching calls.
So off I go to check the stats and sure enough, this is the heaviest she’s weighed in a long time.
“𝑂ℎ 𝑚𝑦 𝐺𝑜𝑑. 𝐼’𝑚 𝑠𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑎 𝑟𝑢𝑏𝑏𝑖𝑠ℎ 𝑐𝑜𝑎𝑐ℎ. 𝑀𝑦 𝑚𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑑𝑠 𝑑𝑜𝑛’𝑡 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘. 𝑀𝑦 𝑐𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑔𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦’𝑟𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟!”
No, of course I didn’t think that, because I know it’s absolutely not the case.
Because when we look at the clients 𝐌𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐔𝐑𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐒 back when she last weighed the same, and compare those to the current ones, we see the following:
Chest: 1cm LESS Waist (at smallest point): 2cm LESS Waist (at belly button): 2.9cm LESS Hips: 3.9cm LESS Thighs: 2.8cm LESS (both sides) “Saddlebags”: 3.8cm LESS
And this is a client who is isn't carrying excess junk in the trunk and resistance trains 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐝 4 to 5 times a week
So we can’t even look at those measurements and say that it’s that much less in fat. Because she has been gaining muscle over that period too!
So, for example, where we’re seeing 3.9cm less on the hips, that may actually be 10cm of fluff OFF and 6.1cm of muscle ON (without a DEXA scanner it’s impossible to accurately determine that, but you get my gist).
Now… this is the kicker:
When this client started working with me, she was eating around 1400 calories a day.
And she was dog turd tired!
Fatigued.
Lacking energy.
Her mood was low.
So I upped her calories, despite the panicked cries of “𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑤𝑜𝑛’𝑡 𝐼 𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑛?!"
She’s now eating 𝟏𝟗𝟓𝟎 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐚 𝐝𝐚𝐲.
Is feeling tons more 𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡𝐲, plus her 𝐦𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲.
And the centimetres are dropping off.
So she weighs the same, but is smaller.
Where’s the fricking problem here?!
There isn’t one.
Well, not with her physical progress anyway.
However, it cannot be ignored that we still have some way to go before the penny finally drops that 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐥. And in fact, to follow them is massively counterproductive!
And that’s where I come in, and the value of coaching evidenced.
Because this client doesn’t need that much help on her nutrition, now she's not on stupidly low calories. Yes, her training needs tidying up to make sure she’s getting the most out of each session.
But where the work really needs doing is on 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐬𝐞𝐭.
Because left to her own devices, those years of “𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑓𝑜𝑐𝑢𝑠 𝑜𝑛”, will cause her to revert to low calories and lots of exercise, resulting in feeling dog turd tired and not making progress.
Which is the path she’d be back on without me, and the path I keep gently pulling her off and will continue pulling her off, until she can skip down it on her own without my help.
So, the motto of the story is:
The 𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚 𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐲 𝐩𝐢𝐞𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 – don’t just look at one piece out of a hundred and base your progress and success on that. Consuming 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐟𝐞𝐰 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐠 𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐝 and won’t get long term results, because you won’t stick to them.
𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 than 𝐲𝐨𝐮 think you should be eating, will get you 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐳𝐢𝐧𝐠 (note the “you” in bold there – because what you think you should be on, usually isn’t what your trained and experienced coach knows you should be on, to guarantee your results. Also note here that 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐧𝐮𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬).
Even when you have a basic understanding of the mechanics and are seeing consistent progress, you may still 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐟𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐮𝐩 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬
If you don’t understand how all of this works or 𝐜𝐚𝐧’𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐨𝐛𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐚𝐜𝐡.
If you’re currently on a mission, looking for instant gratification each time you jump on the scales, and are basing your progress solely on what they say each week, you’re going to end up very disappointed either next week or the week after.
Because what those scales are telling you, won’t be linear.
And they don't tell you what’s really going on anyway.
So try pulling out a 𝐭𝐚𝐩𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 tomorrow morning after you’ve stepped on the scales, and use the results from that and the scales, to keep a log of how well you’re doing.
And if you’re still wobbling, either through lack of energy because you're eating less than a 3 year old, don't have full 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐦𝐞 (do you even have one? A proven one?), or are you own worst critic and so need someone to be objective for you, then drop me a line.
Because figuring out what works for you, as an individual, tweaking it so it doesn't feel like hard work to get consistent results, and to be there with the evidence to help you extricate your head from your backside and get to your goals, is what I do for a living.
And it works!
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