Why the Scale Doesn’t Really Mean Anything

I lost 30 pounds approximately in around 3 months during my recent heart health issue. That averages around 10 pounds per month of weight loss.

So if I started out fairly lean before the 30 pounds of weight loss then I must have been totally shredded after losing 30 pounds? Unfortunately that is not how things work.

Let’s get into the math a bit of what happened:

10 Pounds is equal to 35,000 calories as an energy comparison when in fat stores, normally to lose 10 pounds of fat in a month, one would need to be in a 1200 calorie deficit everyday consistently. So if was burning 3000 calories per day via my BMR (Base Metabolic Rate) and combined activity, then I would need to be eating 1800 calories per day to be in a 1200 calorie deficit.

So unless I was in such a deficit every day for those 3 months, how is it possible to lose that much weight so quickly?

I can guarantee I was not in a calorie deficit during this time, there where of course days where I ate very little but other days I ate like a horse and during this time my actively was either zero to not much above zero. Meaning I was most likely only burning around 2000 calories or just above per day. I would need to be eating 800 calories per day to be in a 1200 calorie deceit to lose so much weight!

So what the heck was going on then?

Muscle has a water consistency of around 80% while fat has a water consistency of 20%.

Out of 10 pounds of muscle, 2 pounds is cellular, while out of 10 pounds of fat, 8 pounds is cellular. As you know, water has zero calories so the energy from either muscle or fat has to come from the cellular tissue. This means fat has approximately 4 to 5 times the energy per pound compared to muscle so you should be able to gain 4 to 5 pounds of muscle while losing 1 pound of fat while maintaining a neutral calorie input.

Example of what this means:

If I weighed 180 pounds and gain 8 pounds of muscle while losing 2 pounds of fat, I would end up weighing 186 pounds without having to eat in a calorie surplus.

This is one reason why a person can be in a moderate diet (calorie deficit) and actually gain weight at the same time. This can happen when a person is dedicated to weight training at the same time and is able to put on a fair amount of muscle during the diet phase. As a person get’s leaner this does get harder to do as fat stores are not as prevalent and the bodies ability to continue to gain muscle has it’s limitations.

Get Fit Over 40 - Human Trainer Back Workout

Moving forward with my series utilizing the Human Trainer Body Weight Suspension System, I focus on the back and go over some of the best core exercises to strengthen and build your back muscles. Pull-ups are some of the best exercises you can do for your back, the Human Trainer allows you to do some great variations of pull-ups and even give yourself a bit of assistance if you can not yet do a full pull-up on your own.

I also show you how you can do a traditional row using the Human Trainer and again add some variation to it for better focus on the back.

Make sure to also checkout my Human Trainer Chest Workout Video and also my quick Preview Video for the Human Trainer.

Get Fit Over 40 - Human Trainer Suspension System Chest Workout

Todays YouTube Workout Video focuses on the Chest using the Human Trainer Body Weight Suspension System.

As promised I wanted to make some videos for my viewers where I show you how to use the Human Trainer Body Weight Suspension System. I was thinking about splitting them into two videos, an upper body and lower body video but then quickly realized that the videos would have to much content and I would be rushing thought them and getting really tired ;)

So anyways I am going to break the videos down into each separate body part, some will have only one or two exercises and some will have several for each body part but this way I can really focus in and show you how to use the Human Trainer Body Weight Suspension System.

GetFitOver40 Update Video - Human Trainer and Upcoming Fitbit Flex Review

Here's a bit of an update and preview video all in one for you. First of all I did shoot my Fitbit Flex Wristband Movement and Sleep Tracker Review Video today but still need to edit and post it so hopefully I can have this for you later in the week, It is not a comparison video to my Jawbone Up but I do make a few cross references to it during the video review. So stay posted for that one...

I was so excited to try my Human Trainer Suspension System that late last night I gave it a go and got a really great workout in, I have to say it really does give a good workout, even with my limited knowledge of how to really get the most out of it at this point. SO in this video I show you a few exercises I learned last night while testing it out, again keep posted for my upcoming review of the " The Human Suspension Trainer System"

Lower Body Workout Using Body Weight

This video looks at using just your body weight to do exercises that will tone and build muscle in the lower body areas.

Some of the exercises demonstrated are: Squats, Lunges, Calve Raises, Rear Leg Raises, Side Leg Raises, and Pelvis Raises.

All of these exercises can be done with no exercise equipment at all!