Is This Correct?

According to my scale, I have lost 10 pounds! Can this be right? On January 19, 2012, I weighed in at a whopping 148 pounds, which was very disappointing as this is the heaviest I had ever been. This morning, 2 months later, I weighed in at 138 pounds! I guess all of my hard work and dedication has been paying off.

It feels go great to know that powering through these past few months of intense exercise and strict eating habits has actually worked!

Progress Report

Tone your body, and your mind!

I’m sure that many people, especially students, constantly make up excuses to not go to the gym or to exercise because they don’t have time. I know from my own personal experience, I have skipped a gym session or two because I had to write a last minute paper or had some sort of assignment to complete. 

 

However, making time for some exercise could actually help you finish those assignments sooner. In a recent study, a research team from the University of Iowa evaluated over 100 cases and concluded that resistance training and aerobic exercise BOTH give your brain a boost—in different ways.  

Cardio workouts usually involve long and constant effort (depending on how they are performed). Scientists believe cardio activities can improve your cognitive ability to carry out multiple tasks for long periods of times. 

On the other hand, strength/resistance training requires a great deal of focus to maintain proper form. You must also concentrate on your breathing, and tune out others around you, while maintaining a steady pace and time, depending on your fitness goals. Researchers believe that the more you perform focused resistance training exercises, the more you will be able to avoid distractions in other areas of your life. As such, exercise is helpful for students (like me) when having to write papers, especially when on a deadline, as their brain activity would function faster.

Monthly Goals

As I have preached many times in my blog before, it is important to set goals. In order to achieve my ultimate goal of losing 15 pounds (of body fat), I must set smaller goals for myself on a daily/weekly/monthly basis. I have made some new goals this month, and thought it would be important to share them. 

Weekly Goals

In order to focus on my weekly goals, I have recently started a “goal board.” The board allows me to lay out tasks/goals I want to achieve during the week, and also gives me an opportunity to beat last week’s “score”. 

 As you can see above, I have made “Total” and “Last Week” columns which allow me to track my improvement and differences from week to week. The goal board is a great way to stay on top of my fitness goals, as well as staying organized with school assignments and other tasks.

Why you don't want to lose "weight"

People have been asking me why I want to lose weight, and I think I should clarify my goal. It’s not that I want to lose weight; I want to lose BODY FAT. When I say that I want to “lose weight”, I really mean that they thin out the layer of fat that is sitting on top of my muscles, and add more muscle to my body.

 250lb vs 120lb woman

This image compares a 250 pound and 120 pound woman. As you can see above, body fat is yellow in color, soft, flabby, and voluminous. Fat sits on top of our muscle as a layer that is as thick or thin as we allow it to be. Having a thick layer of fat is what makes our bodies bigger, softer and heavier than most of us would like. Unfortunately, there’s limitless potential for how thick this layer of fat can get. 

The majority of people today have a fat layer as thick as several inches off the muscle, up to a foot or more. In order to control the thickness of our fat layer, we must regulate our activity level, exercise, and most importantly, what we eat!

In order to tone or define our muscles, we must thin out the layer of fat so much that we are able to see and feel the hard muscle underneath.

How to Lose Fat and Only the Fat