Last month's FitBit was about Intermittent Fasting and since then, we have had a lot of questions on the best way for your personal training clients to lose weight (specifically, to lose fat). You already know that "FAD Diets" never work over the long term.

They can deliver some short-term weight loss (typically losing as many lean tissues as fatty tissues), but to have healthy, manageable, long-term, quality weight management where you can lose fat, and maintain or even gain lean body tissues such as muscle, bone, and essential internal organs, you will need a lifestyle change to include exercise, healthy nutrition, sleep and stress management, and healthy lifestyle changes that include avoiding unhealthy activities like smoking/tobacco use, recreational/performance-enhancing drug use, and excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages.

This month I want you to take a hard look at the factors that do lead to healthy weight management. So, the question becomes, "What really works in successful weight management programs?"

Best Practices in Weight Management:

Every successful weight loss method is rooted in one, universal, scientifically proven method. That successful method is "The In-Go, Out-Go Method!"

Every member of our Human Race has a great deal of common physiology, and one common feature of our physiology is that if we Humans, consume more calories than we expend, we will gain weight. Typically that weight gain will be in the form of fat. Fat is how our bodies store energy. We have been genetically engineered through millennia of the evolutionary process to store fat. The ancient members of the Human Race that could not store fat, died when insufficient food sources were available.

The opposite is also true. If we expend more calories than we consume, we will lose weight. If done correctly, the body will use up the stored energy from the stored fat inside the body. If done incorrectly, the body can use stored proteins, and stored proteins come from muscle, bone, and the body's essential organs.

So, the best practice for weight loss strategy is to incorporate methods that maximize fat loss and maintain lean body tissues.

The IN-GO-OUT-GO METHOD

Mathematically, the In-Go, Out-Go Method is:

Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) + Daily Activities + Exercise = Out Go

Food + Drinks (every calorie consumed) = In Go

To calculate BMR, use the Revised Harris - Benedict Formula:

Due to the many significant differences between male and female physiology, use the appropriate formula:

• Men: 66.47 + (13.75 x weight in Kg) + (5.003 x height in cm) - (6.755 x Age) = Men's BMR
• Women: 655.1 + (9.563 x weight in Kg) + (1.85 x height in cm) - (4.676 x Age in years) = Women's BMR

Note: For those who need a quick math refresher. Do all the math functions in parentheses first. And just for future reference: higher math functions such as multiplication and division are performed before lower math functions such as addition and subtraction. For those mathematically challenged, there are numerous BMR calculators available on the web.

There are multiple references available to determine the approximate caloric expenditures for a wide variety of activities and exercises, including those supplied to you in your IFPA Personal Trainer and Sports Nutrition Textbooks.

After you perform your calculations:

• If you decide you want to lose one-half pound/week, you will need to consume 1,750 fewer calories than you expend in a week.
• If you decide you want to lose one pound/week, you will need to consume 3,500 fewer calories than you expend in a week.
• If you decide you want to lose two pounds/week, you will need to consume 7,000 fewer calories than you expend in a week.

Most overweight women can safely manage one-half to one pound of weight loss per week. Most overweight men can safely manage one to two pounds of weight loss per week.

One successful technique to execute your goal is to make a Graphic Depiction, using graph paper of your short, medium, and long-range goals. For example, make a graph on graph paper depicting a one-pound-per-week weight loss.

Make a Yellow WARNING Zone at two pounds, and make an ALERT area at anything greater than two pounds/week. Make a proportional depiction on the opposite (Top Side) indicating a lack of progress toward the goal. Depending on the graph paper you use, you can even break it down into smaller increments indicating daily goals, though the weekly goal point should be your target since weight can fluctuate for many reasons on a daily basis; monitoring weekly goals will be more valid.

You should weigh yourself daily. I have been preaching the importance of weighing yourself daily for four decades and have received much criticism for my technique. I found most of the criticism comes from academics who have never trained anyone and never guided clients in weight loss programming.

Finally, in 2015, The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics published research that I was right about all along, that people who weigh themselves daily had the greatest weight loss success compared to people weighing themselves weekly or monthly.

The conclusion is simple, logical, and common sense. When people see their weight on a scale each morning, they get immediate feedback on the results of their caloric consumption/expenditure from their previous day's actions and can take appropriate action to adjust toward their goal. Without this feedback, your clients will be flying blind!

_{©April 2023}