Date: Sat, 15 Mar 2003 03:32:15 +0000 (GMT) From: Elizabeth Atsumi Subject: "I'm not seeing results!" Checklist - VERY LONG The past month there have been quite a few ppl who are concerned about their (lack of) results. Here's a list of questions to ask yourself, that pinpoint the majority of the problems out there. 1. ARE YOU EXPECTATIONS REALISTIC? If you are close to ideal weight, you are not going to drop 20 lbs, or even 10 lbs in one challenge. If you do, you should be very worried about muscle loss. You may not see any movement in the scale at all. Get off of it! Your measurements also may not change - but pictures will show everything getting tighter and more defined. Body fat can be really inaccurate. If you are in a healthy body fat range already, you may only lose 1% body fat in a challenge (which is great!) but the body fat error ratings can eliminate that. If you have a lot to lose, how long did it take to gain that weight? Well, it isn't going to come off in 12 weeks. Maybe it will take 3 or 5 or even 7 challenges for you to get to ideal weight. That's ok - you're making positive changes every day! If you have a lot of fat on you, you are very sensitive to water changes. This wreaks havoc on the scale AND many body fat measuring devices (BIA, caliper, measurement based). Do you have elastic waist pants? Do you shop in plus sized clothing stores? Guess what, each "size" actually spans about three sizes. So as a plus sized person, it is impossible to tell if your pants are fitting different - they have elasticized waists!! You need to pay attention to how long they are. As you slim down, they waist may fit the same (because it is elastic), but your pants will get longer. Finally - are your expectations based on the champion pics in the book? Those results are all "exceptional". Great thing to strive for... but more than 90% of us are just going to get average. Those pics are the best of thousands of people who enterred the contest. They are not average. It is great to strive for exceptional, but realistic to expect average. 2. WHAT ARE YOU USING TO MEASURE PROGRESS? Scale: vThe scale is useless. If you don't know why they are useless, read the article about scales under "Good Links" on our links page. Tanita scales are even more useles (very inaccurate). Body fat IMO is also useless - the error rating is WAY too large for you to get a real indication of what is happening. Losing 4% body fat in one challenge is quite good. This can be eliminated by error rating. Tracking body fat over time is fine - but 3 months isn't long enough to cancel out error ratings. Think a whole year to see a trend in those numbers. Tape measure: Great way to check progress BUT... Are you really measuring in the same place? Grab a tape measure and measure your thigh. Move it up slightly and measure again. Move it down slightly and measure a third time. Bet those measurements are out by 1/2" or more. Is the tape measure always level? If it is on an angle you aren't getting an accurate measurement. Use landmarks on your body so you consistently measure the same place. Do it in front of a mirror to make sure the tape is level. AND don't fret if things don't change. Sometimes the changes are happening in other places. You may not see your waist/hips change, but your UB could be thinning out. You wouldn't know this because you are building back muscles - which means your chest measurement may stay the same, or even get bigger. Pant-o-meter: See comments above about elasticized waists. Don't use just the waist to see if they fit better. What about across your buttocks? Thigh area? Are they longer? Use the same pair of pants. 2 pairs in the same size are not the same cut. Pictures: You've taken four week photos and can't see any changes.... well, four weeks is not that long. They changes will be small. First, make sure you take your pics in the same outfit (or outfit of similar cut). If you are close to ideal weight, wear something skimpy as possible - you can't see muscle definition if you are covering it with long shorts or a racer top. Make sure your pics are taken at about the same distance. It is much easier to compare things that are the same size - if you are 3 feet further away in one set, you are going to look bigger in one photo whether you've tranformed or not. Next, put your pics side by side. Front pose directly beside front pose. If you are uploading pics to our site, pls combine the two poses together. I can't remember what you looked like in your start photo, when I am on your "now" photo. Put them side-by-side in one photo and it is much easier to compare. Finally, what to look for. Check out how defined the calvicle is. What about chin/jaw line. Look at the fit of the clothes (this is why the same outfit is important - you may be the same shape but smaller and the clothes will fit differently). Did the legs firm up? Still having trouble seeing anything? Turn the pics upside down and cover your face. Try again. Often this trick eliminates some of our own "blindness". And remember don't look for things that haven't changed. That's the wrong attitude. 3. ARE YOU DRINKING ALL OF YOUR WATER? You MUST drink your water. Ten glasses a day is the minimum. I'd recommend more. If you don't drink your water, your body has nothing with which to flush away the fat. Basically, you metabolize fat, it floats around in your body and water flushes it out. If you aren't drinking the water, the fat just floats right on back to your butt. Drink up. 4. HOW IS YOUR NUTRITION? Are you eating per the book? That means SIX meals a day, not five. If you cut a meal you are only getting 83% of your nutrition right. 80% effort only gets 60 or 70% of the results. Eating per the book also means a portion of protein and a portion of carbs at EVERY meal... no skipping carbs. Are you eating a true portion size? Meat is usually easy to measure for people. Women should be eating at least 3/4 cup of carbs, men at least 1 cup. These are for very tiny people. If you aren't tiny, eat more. Average women 1 cup of carbs, men 1.25 cups. Cottage cheese - women minimum 3/4 cup, men minimum 1 cup (again these are for very tiny people). Eggs - women at least 5 whites or 4 whites and 1 whole, men at least 7 whites or 6 whites and 1 whole. What are you eating? Are you choosing lean cuts of meat? Are you eating complex, whole food carbohydrates? Are you staying away from processed carbs? Are you limiting your use of condiments? What condiments are you adding? Have you read the labels of the condiments you are using - you might be surprised. Are you staying away from bars? If you answered "no" to any of these questions, then you have some nutrition things to work on. What are your carb choices? Are they on the authorized list in the book (not the website - that has some bad choices on it)? If they are not on that authorized list, who has told you they *are* authorized? Did you read the label and ingredient list? Did "a friend" who doesn't care about your results, and maybe even wants you to stay the same, recommend the product? Have you posted your meals including portion sizes (approximates) to the list for feedback? Are you basing your choices on food myths? 5. HOW IS YOUR FREEDAY? First, are you taking a free day? You need to boost your cals up one day of the week. You can get these cals from junk food if you want. If you don't want unauthorized foods, then just eat bigger portions of authorized ones. You need to keep your body guessing. Is your freeday crazy? If you have a history of binge eating, free day cals can add up quickly. Eat enough to satisfy yourself, but do you really need a whole bag of chips, or would half a bag do? Are you drinking on free day? Three beers will wipe out 1/2 lb in calorie deficit.... and you probably don't even register that as taking in calories. You also tend to eat more when you have been drinking. If you think your freeday is out of control, why don't you post it for some feedback? 6. HAVE YOU DONE EVERY WORKOUT WITH INTENSITY? Are you really hitting 10s? When was the last time you redefined your 10? Are you improving in at least one exercise EVERY time you go to the gym, whether that be one more rep, a faster cardio speed, or increase in weight? Have you missed any workouts? 7. ARE YOU GETTING ENOUGH GOOD FAT? I am keeping this separate from nutrition because EFAs fall under supplementation. BFL is very low in fat. You do need fat to lose fat - but it should be good fat. Make sure you are getting a serving of healthy fat every day. That can be UDO's or flax, or you can use natural foods. Cold water fish, canola, safflower and olive oil - these are a few easy ways to add in EFAs into your diet. 8. WHAT SUPPLEMENTS ARE YOU USING? How many shakes are you drinking a day? Many ppl see better results if they stick to whole food more often. Use the shakes for convenience. Take a multi-vitamin. Are you taking creatine? If so, you've got several lbs of water in you right now ... this means the scale is higher and the tape measure shows you got bigger. Do you really *need* the suppplements you are taking? Do you know why you are taking the supplements you use? 9. HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN ON PROGRAM? Last but not least, how long have you been doing this? Two weeks is not enough time to see progress. It simply isn't. Did you commit for 12 weeks, or until you decided it wasn't working? Sometimes you don't see results until week 10. Even at week 4, many people see minimal results. It isn't usually until week 8 that ppl start to see things. They can see changes in their pics, and start to notice clothes fitting differently and body changes. You must be patient. 10. Are you counting calories? Did you use Hussman's estimates to calculate your cals? Well, Hussman can be out by 25%. That is enough to put you into starvation mode or to eliminate a 1lb per week loss. Usually ppl go too low though on their calories. I have done calorie counting, and I do NOT recommend it. Palm and fist works great. Some ppl need to eat slightly more than palm and fist (like me) but how hungry you are will give you a good indication that you aren't eating enough. The other drawback to calorie counting is you tend to hit the exact same calorie level every day. Your body becomes very efficient at processing that. You need to be higher and lower on different days to keep your body guessing. 11. ARE YOU GETTING ENOUGH SLEEP? Most people normally need 7 or 8 hours a night to function properly. Well, on BFL you'll need at least an hour more. Make sure you are getting it. Your muscles grow when you are sleeping... and muscles fuel your metabolism. If you aren't repairing your muslces, your workouts will lack intensity. Lack of sleep also means lack of intensity cuz you are too tired to put in a full effort. Sleep is important. Try going to be an hour earlier if you haven't alotted more sleep time to yourself since starting BFL. So if you have gone thru this list, and everything is on track, then you can complain about lack of results. If I caught you not doing something though, you need to get yourself on program. Fully on program. 100% gets 100% results, then the law of diminishing returns kicks in. 60% effort probably equates to little or no results. If you are only putting in 60%, then you know why you aren't seeing progress. Liz