Intermittent Fasting Journal – Week 29

In this broadcast, Donna Reish, blogger, curriculum author of 100+ language arts/writing books, and Intermittent Fasting teacher, teaches listeners about four metrics that we can use to track our Intermittent Fasting journeys. She starts out teaching about scale weighing, including the fact that the scale weighs everything that is placed on it—water, fat, muscle, bones, stool in our intestines….everything. She explains how to best use the scale as an effective tool, including averaging your weights for the week to get a total for that week’s weight, weighing at the same time in the same clothes, and not using the scale as your only metric. Donna then moves on to the tape measure as a second assessment. We need to remember that the tape measure can measure fat loss AND muscle loss, and that the measuring tape can be extremely subjective. Thirdly, Donna teaches about body fat percentage, including a few ways to measure it, the benefits of using it as a metric, and determining body fat goals. Lastly, she teaches her personal favorite metric, the goal pant. Here she helps listeners see the visual motivator that goal pants can be and advises on choosing the right pants so you don’t get discouraged. Today’s broadcast is sponsored by Plexus Boost, a plant based capsule that boosts metabolism, helps with hunger, and aids in energy boosting. This product has amazing botanicals, including caralluma fimbriata (edible cactus the ward off hunger!), green tea extract, yerba mate, higenamine, chromium, and bio-available B vitamins.

A. What Are Weight and Fat Loss Metrics?

1. Scales

a. Measure all body weight losses—fat, muscle, water
b. Pure mass measurement

2. Tape Measure

a. Measures inch loss
b. Can measure fat, muscle, and water too
c. Can be too subjective

3. Body Fat Percentage
4. Goal pants
5. We can’t change what we don’t measure

B. Weight Loss/Pounds/Scale

1. Needs a calorie deficit to lose fat weight
2. Can lose or gain weight based on losing muscle
3. Can lose or gain weight based on losing water

a. One gram of carb can hold 3 to 4 grams of water
b. This results in water weight gain or water weight loss

4. Can lose or gain based on what is in the intestine (super long)–
5. Too low of calories can result in losing muscle, not fat
6. Not best metric for how you look

a. If you lose muscle but not fat, you can look like a skinny-fat person
b. Muscle and fat weigh the same but look drastically different

7. Can throw out the scale if desired but only if you have other metrics that are moving in the right direction

a. Can’t blame “muscle gain” forever
b. Something should be reducing if we are losing fat—scale or inches or clothing shifts

C. How to Weigh for More Accurate Measurements

1. Don’t rely on scales alone for your metric
2. Don’t count on one weekly weigh in

a. Weight multiple times and average
b. Weighing when you are carb/water heavy or you “feel fat”

3. Using an average lets you see true fat or muscle loss (throws out the highs and lows of water, stools, menstruation, etc.)
4. Keep track on a graph
5. Having a weekly weigh in is not good emotionally or mentally

a. Leading up to it
b. Afterward

6. Use reliable, consistent scale

a. Same scale
b. Same clothing
c. Same time of day

D. Tape Measure

1. Can be subjective
2. Definitely need graph or columns showing your progress
3. Measure as many places as you need for your own peace of mind
4. Be careful about totaling measurements and “double dipping” as this can give you a false sense of loss (i.e. measuring both arms in five places!)
5. Measure enough places that you show loss ANYWHERE….inches can come from different places at different times
6. Inches can show what scales cannot

a. Two kinds of fat

1. Subcutaneous fat—fat that lies below surface of skin (lumpy, cellulite)
2. Visceral fat—lines the organs; weighs a lot more; harder to lose

b. Body stores visceral fat inside when things are out of whack; body will hold onto this fat; toxins can also be stored in fat within
c. Tape measure often shows subcutaneous fat, which is what most of us want but we also need to get the fat around our organs

7. We might lose inches (fat) but not weight if we are preserving muscle—but not all the time—eventually something must reduce or we aren’t really losing

E. Body Fat Percentage

1. Average body fat percentage

a. Women 25 to 31 percent
b. Men 18 to 24 percent

2. Fit body fat percentage

a. Women 18-23%
b. Men 10-15%

3. Body fat percentage can show muscle vs. fat
4. Can be more accurate than scales because someone can have a lot of muscle and weigh a lot but not be over-fat (A bodybuilder may be 8 percent body fat, yet at two hundred and fifty pounds may be considered “overweight” by a typical height-weight chart.”)
5. Muscle is denser than fat

a. Muscle is smaller than fat
b. Muscle is 18% denser than fat
c. If you lose 5 pounds of fat and gain 5 pounds of muscle, you will weigh the same but look extremely different!

6. Muscle burns more than fat!
7. Ways to measure

a. Caliper
b. Body fat scales
c. Others
d. Online calculator using weight and measurements: https://www.verywellfit.com/ways-to-track-weight-loss-progress-1231581

F. Goal Pants

1. Goal pants don’t lie—unless you just wear them super tight!
2. Can continue to use smaller and smaller pants for this
3. Visual motivator
4. Actually shows what people see
5. Measures many places all at the same time
6. Be sure you don’t choose pants that are too small

a. Should be able to fasten them but not breathe! 😊
b. Want to be able to wear them in a couple to a few weeks (and then put up new goal pants)

G. Plexus Plant-Based Supplements

1. Visit our store HERE
2. Hunger Control Slim (pink drink) HERE
3. Try a free sample of Plexus Slim Hunger Control (pink drink) HERE
4. Today’s Feature: Boost Metabolism Booster/Appetite Suppressant:

a. At our store HERE
b. Ingredients—all plant-based, botanicals and super foods; helps with hunger, metabolism boosting, thermogenics, and energy

i. Caralluma Fimbriata—Edible cactus eaten by tribesmen in North Africa and India during long hunting expeditions to ward off hunger and to help ancient peoples survive times of famine (a perfect ingredient for fasters!); has thermic effect for fat burning (raises core temperature to help melt fat)
ii. Green tea extract—equivalent to one cup of coffee; natural caffeine; helps boost metabolism; great for those who don’t want to drink coffee during the fast; natural energy
iii. Yerba mate—stimulant herb that assists with weight management
iv. Higenamine—sourced from tangerine peel and lotus seed and gives energy
v. Bio-available B vitamins—Nicaine, B 6, B 12 at high percentages—help with nerve, anxiety, depression, and other mood and mental issues
vi. Chromium—a natural appetite suppressant

c. Clinical studies show significant decrease in excessive hunger
d. Accelerator vs. Boost—very similar products except Accelerator has 5HTP, which helps with depression and accelerates metabolism; Boost has the Caralluma Fimbriata for hunger and also has a thermic effect for metabolism boosting so many people like Boost over Accelerator for weight training

Below are a couple of links to books I use and love. I am an affiliate for Amazon.com. If you click on the links below I will earn a small commission. Thank you for your support of this blog!