Category: Slim in 6
I often get asked “Why should I take ALL these measurements?” The simple answer is, we need a baseline to compare progress against. The actual answer (to me) is, the more data we have, the better we can assess your current state and then develop a proper fitness program. So, get to measuring before you: begin a program, every few weeks to see your improvements (or lack there of) and at the end to see what you accomplished (or didn’t).
And more importantly: Don’t measure yourself every week. That is just a waste of time. once every 3-4 weeks will do.
What should you use to measure? Start by finding a good tape measure that will fit around the largest part of you. A cheap 4-5ft+ long tape measure is great to have around the house for LOTS of things. You will aways find something to use it for. Avoid yard sticks, meter sticks and rulers. Not very accurate unless you are measuring a string you are wrapping around yourself.
Where and how you should measure:
Technique is key here. You need to be consistent not only where you measure, but the tension on the tape as well. You want to tighten the tape so it won’t slide down your skin. Not so much that it is changing the form of your body. (Don’t pull the tape tight. Don’t dimple your skin) Over time you will get the hang of it.
I like to have a number of measurements to use as a baseline. These are very similar to what a tailor would take when making custom clothes for you.
For these measurements, don’t flex, just relax. Stand up straight, but don’t be tense.
- Neck: Standing up straight, take a measurement around the widest part of your neck.
- Shoulder: I like to take this standing up. Someone help you. With your arms down at your sides, and with your shoulders back (stand up straight), measure around your shoulders. This means the outside of your arms, at the shoulder. Not the at the bicep. At the shoulder.
- Chest: Standing up straight, take this measurement just above the nipple line. (Yeah, I said it. NIPPLE) This measurement does not include the arms. So keep your arms down, set the tape, take a breath and then exhale. (you don’t have to force out all your air) Take the measurement before you take your next inhale.
- Waist: Standing up straight. Take this at the narrowest spot, or midway between your lowest rib and your hip bone. This may be very close to your abdomen measurement. Take it anyway.
- Abdomen: This is my first men/women variation. Standing up straight. Men, take this measurement around your body at your belly button. Women, take this at the NARROWEST part of your abdomen.
- Hips: Standing up straight. Take this around your hips at the point where your butt is at its widest.
For these measurements, you can take them with the muscles relaxed or flexed. Heck, take the measurements both ways. Just document them as such. You should really do both arms and legs, you probably have 2 of each. For the record, your dominant side is usually bigger.
- Thigh: Standing up straight. Take this measurement below the butt, but above the knee around your thighs widest point.
- Knee:Standing up straight. You want to take this measurement around your knee. Take it over your kneecap and around the back of the joint.
- Calf: Standing up straight. Take this around the widest point of your calf, below your knee and above your ankle.
- Ankle:Standing up straight. (I want pressure on your ankle for the measurement) Take this around the widest point. (Side note: If the measurement from your knee to calf to ankle are similar, then you have cankles. And it will be my mission to help you change that!)
- Arm (Bicep): Take this around the widest part of your arm. (flexed or unflexed or both)
- Forearm: Take this around the widest part of your forearm. Below the elbow but above the wrist. (Unless you are Popeye, it will be closer to the elbow)
- Wrist: This is really hard to flex. Just a FYI. So take this measurement about 1-2 inches from where your hand is connected to your arm. Again, at the widest point.
Consistency of measurements is just as important as accuracy. You need to take your measurements at the same spot every time. (Unless you should be taking the measurements at the biggest or narrowest part, heck, this may change over time) So make sure you remember where you took the measurements!
Final Side Note: If you don’t have someone to help you, there is a pretty cool measuring tape tool called MyoTape. It makes taking measurements alone easier. Check it out.
-Rob
Thanks to everyone for visiting our site. We had our biggest day ever, 25,000 hits in one day! You all rock!
Now back to my regular cynical look at the world of fitness. We received a number of emails the other day defending several of the bullshit fad diets that are being presented to the general masses. People, please. Stop it! Don’t waste your hard earned cash on unproven supplements, diet pills, diets that promise quick results, or really stupid fitness equipment.
Let me elaborate. Unproven supplements: The health and fitness supplement industry is a multi-billion dollar business. For every good health supplement out there, there are 100 crappy ones. Do your homework, there is REAL information out there. Just because it says it is full of antioxidants or has some new super herb in it does not mean it is good for you. (See Phenfen, see any hormone inducer that gets decimated in that vat of hydrochloric acid you call a stomach, or any product only that has validation from marketing companies and bloggers.)
Diet pills: it’s a tool not a crutch. If you take them not to eat, and try to eat less than 1200 calories a day, you had better be 35 yeas old and 3 foot 5 inches tall. People need to fuel their bodies. That is what food is. Take responsibility. Track everything you eat, and make sure you are eating within you calorie range. If you do this, spread your eating across the day, you probably won’t even need the diet pills. These things are dangerous, and if you do them, tell your doctor you are using them.
Fad diet: Pick the latest and greatest. There are always a number of them claiming great results. If you think a shake, a cookie, cabbage, some insane cleanse or whatever is going to get you to lose weight and keep it off, you need a shrink. To lose weight you need to fuel your body with good food, in the proper ratio of fats-carbs-protein, and maintain a net calorie deficit. (what you burn to what you consume). This isn’t rocket science. It is resolve.
Stupid fitness gear: I don’t care if you shake it, slide it, squeeze it or swing it, stupid is stupid. What will get you fit is pushing and pulling weights (body weight or added weight). For the most part, when you see ripped people working a stupid workout device and the tiny words “results not typical” popup on the screen. RUN AWAY! (same holds true about supplements, mascara, and crap the drug companies try to get you to ask your doctor about.). Only spend your cash AFTER you have done your research (and don’t ask a nut job MLM marketer about it.)
Look, getting fit is a decision. A decision to build proper HEALTHY habits and a fit lifestyle. There is nothing easy about it. To get fit, you will sweat, you will feel discomfort and pain, and in the end, you will be WAY better off.
Life is tough, we are tempted to overeat all the time. If you do, adjust your eating and workout. For every action there is a reaction. Get used to it. Accept it. And if you fall down, get back up and start again. We are in this for the long hall.
And it DOES NOT get easier with age. So build those healthy habits now. The earlier the better.
-Rob
Here’s a question that gets asked a lot: “Should you look at the scale?”
I think absolutely you should* if fat loss is your goal. I know others will tell you to “ignore the scale,” but it is the most objective way to tell if you have your energy balance right for fat loss. When we add exercise to our regime, it is SO easy to overcompensate on the calories we think we are burning. We pour the cereal for a few seconds longer, we add just a little more peanut butter to our toast, we take just a few more noodles every time we have pasta– we don’t even notice it, but before we know it we’ve totally equalized or, worse, flipped the energy equation. Weighing and measuring food is one way to make sure this isn’t happening, weighing and measuring your body is the other.
It also bears mentioning that exercise has been proven to have more than just a physical effect, it also has a mental one. It improves mood, outlook and self esteem (all great things!) Unfortunately, what this can mean is that maybe we’re standing a little taller, looking at ourselves through different eyes, feeling great about ourselves and, thus, seeing some changes that might not really be there; The scale and the tape measure are two totally objective tests that won’t lie to ya. Especially if we are getting fit for health vs vanity, we need to move beyond the mirror and put some numbers behind it.
*To preserve your sanity, I suggest weighing only once per week, at the same time of day, under the same conditions, otherwise the waterweight fluctuations will drive you batty. If you insist on weighing yourself every day, use a tool like Google 15 to give yourself a running average and make adjustments to your program based on the average, not the day-to-day fluctuations.
Click the link below, and join Team Beach Body for free!
I want to join Team Beach Body!
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-Rob
Click the link below and sign up! (Use the free option for starters!)
http://beachbodycoach.com/fitlifesfrob
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OK, so our “week one” was comprised of 9 days, if anyone wants to be a real stickler about it.
Already, Trish is seeing some nice movement in her numbers:
4.6 pounds lost
Of that, based on bodyfat percentage, a full pound was pure fat (the rest probably waterweight, which is to be expected)
Nearly a full point on the BMI scale lost
For the next week, the program remains the same. Trish is still “ramping up” on the Slim in 6 program, and a main challenge is making sure she is eating enough food. We want her eating about 1600 calories per day (though her focus remains on eating all her portions, not counting calories), and then we’ll revise that as the weight starts to come off.
Why not a 1200-calorie Biggest Loser diet? Remember, our goal is ATTAINABLE and SUSTAINABLE. We want Trish to be eating an appropriate number of calories for the body she has, not the body she is going to have. In other words, she’s got enough extra weight on right now that I challenge anyone to carry an equivalent weight around all day, every day, up stairs and hills, at work, while working out, EVERYWHERE and tell me that a 1200 calorie diet is appropriate for the effort. Trish has a history of low metabolism, and the best way to ramp the metabolism up is to get her eating frequent, nutrient-rich, low-calorie density foods. The more her digestive system is revving, the more her metabolism is revving. By following an approach closely related to the core ideals of volumetrics, Trish should be able to stave off hunger and get enough high-quality energy in to fuel the workouts that will help her build muscle, which will in turn rev the metabolism. The “engine” or “furnace” anaolgy are ubiquitous for good reason.
Please join me in sending Trish a hearty “HELL YEAH!” for her week one accomplishments, and loads of support for the challenges ahead.
In deciding what kind of a program to build for Trish, we had her journal her food for several days. Here’s the thing- For Trish, the problem is not eating too much. Not by a long shot. She would eat somewhat sporadically, but, when she did eat, she chose calorie-dense, nutrient-deficient “convenience foods” like so many of us do. For example, on the days she journaled for us, she was on a Chinese food kick. Now, I love a good Walnut Prawn like anyone, but between fried and saucy, you are looking at a lot of calories in a small package with few nutrients (plus a lot of sodium and saturated fat.)
The good news is, she had some things going on with her eating- high sodium, low fiber, high saturated fat, etc.- that mean we can expect her to start seeing marked improvements both mentally and physically almost immediately upon starting the program.
Not a bad Satuday afternoon, if I do say so myself. We had 10 of us at FitLifeSF HQ, where 6 peeps did their fitness test. I’d say that was the highlight, but as fun as it was, the BBQ was way better!
Grilled Chicken, Dry Rub BBQ Brisket, grilled veggies! Best put: It was DAMN tasty!
Thanks for everyone who made it! We have decided to make this a montly event! We will announce the next fitness test for early July, later this month. So, stay tuned, and let us know if you want to join us!
(We are considering doing the test at the top of Bernal Hill!)
-Rob