More Graphs on Weight Loss, Body Composition and Muscle Mass
What is tracked, improves! That’s why I graph my weight loss. A reminder on my graphs. I use normal graphs and reverse graphs as I believe a graph should always go up! When graphing weight, or body fat % loss, you want the biggest number at the bottom and the number should go down giving you an “up graph.” When graphing lean body mass (muscle, bone and connective tissue) the smallest number at the bottom. So when you are going in the right direction the graph will go up.
This is easier to understand when looking at the graphs themselves.
Body Weight In Pounds
As you can see on my body weight graph I had that “magical” pound a day weight loss which is true weight loss but it wasn’t fat loss. Then your body rebalances and some weight might come back, which it did.
I was not worried though because the next two graphs, which were going in the “wrong” direction (down) while the weight was coming off, are now moving in the “right” direction (up).
Body Fat Graph
On the first days of the Keto Diet my body fat percentage was going up. Remember, this is a reverse graph so the better number is at the top and the worse one is at the bottom. Again, not a problem as this happens to me every time I go on a strict Ketogenic, low carb diet.
Lean Muscle / Tissue Graph
This graph was also going down, making it look like I was losing muscle but I knew I wasn’t. My body was just rebalancing water, fat, lean tissue, hormones, etc. The graph crashed, but is now going in the direction I want. The way to keep lean tissue is to eat enough protein and to do intense training.
There are several names now for this; High Intensity Training (HIT), High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) or my version, High Intensity Resistance Training. HIRT
The summary of this section is that on most diets there will be dramatic changes in WEIGHT at the beginning but they are often false.. One cannot lose more than your resting metabolism rate (calorie consumption or RMR) plus your movement consumption, in one day. This could be a pound but you would have to be fasting to lose that much.
I don’t fast other than skipping breakfast 95% of the time.
Ketogenic Diets will give you very dramatic weight loss, in pounds, at the beginning. But it is NOT fat loss. It is burning fat that we are after.
We also want lean tissue to stay the same, or increase otherwise your metabolism will go down and your RMR will be lower.
Happy Mother’s Day!
Leo Hamel
