An Effective Weight Loss Diet Measures Progress

Alright everyone, here is Lesson #7:  Measure Your Progress…

One of the things I did to ensure I was following an effective weight loss diet and heading toward success was to measure my progress.  I did this in many ways, from measuring body fat to noting the number of repetitions I could do for specific exercises.  I knew that if my body fat decreased, and the weights and repetitions in my exercise program increased, I was making progress.  If these measurements weren’t moving in the right direction, I knew something was wrong. I also wrote everything down.  This way, I didn’t have to remember what I did yesterday or last week, and I could use the information to help plan workouts and goal weights and reps.

Recording your progress in writing will help you remember what you accomplished in previous exercise routines.

How many people do you know that tell you they work out, yet when you look at them they look the same as they did 2 years before, and they’re still overweight? These people are not practicing a fundamental principle of fitness and exercise: they are not measuring their progress (or lack of it).   If they did, they would realize the lack of progress and conclude that they were not following an effective weight loss diet and exercise program.  They would also realize that something needed to be changed in order to re-start their progress.  But, without measurements, there is no way to know.

The only way to be sure of your progress is to use measuring devices that give you clues as to whether you are headed in the right direction. On the Amazing Fat Burning Formula program, for example, you will use a tape measure to take the initial circumference of your chest, upper arms, waist, hips, legs, and calves.  Then, every two weeks, you re-measure to assure progress is being made. If the measurements have not changed, or if they have increased, you know that something is wrong.

And, it is okay to fail, as long as you recognize the lack of progress, identify the problem, and fix it. In most cases, it is diet. You’ll notice that I haven’t said anything about the common scale.  Yet, this is the device that most everyone uses to measure progress.  We have been brainwashed to think that “lost weight” is the best indicator of how we are progressing in a diet/exercise program.

Yes, you will lose weight if you have significant amounts of fat to lose. However, you can be fooled into thinking no progress is being made if the scale doesn’t budge: in fact a great amount of progress can be happening right under your very nose.  Consider this scenario: say that you started your program, faithfully performed your cardio and weight training exercises, and watched your diet very carefully.  After some initial weight loss you notice the scale has not budged in the past 2 weeks. Although your clothes are fitting looser than ever, you still see that the scale is stuck on the same number. Is the scale broken?

Relying solely on the numbers reflected on the scale may give you an inaccurate idea of your progress since lean muscle weighs more than fat.

This can be a very frustrating time for some, and such discoveries have caused many a casualty in the fat loss wars. In your case, following the Amazing Fat Burning Formula program, this is what happened: because you were lifting weights and feeding your muscles the proper nutrients, you were actually increasing your lean muscle mass.  At the same time, and because you were taking in less calories than your body needed, your body was relying on your internal fat stores to make up the calorie difference.

Faithful use of your tape measure would tell you that the inches were still coming off.  So, why didn’t the scale reflect this? The answer is simple: you might have gained 8-10 lbs of muscle and lost the same amount of fat.  Thus, the net change in your body weight was exactly the same.  Yet the progress you were making might have been outstanding.  Indeed, you can make huge gains in progress, and the scale might very well not reflect your achievements.

This is exactly why you must take periodic photos of yourself.  Along with your ‘before’ pictures, you must also take pictures approximately every 3 weeks. The mirror alone is not sufficient. There is something about a mirror that deceives and prevents us from seeing changes in progress, or even the out-of-shape condition we allowed ourselves to get in.  It is only when photos are taken and analyzed that we can we truly assess our bodies and the progress we have made. For maximum success I strongly recommend that you take photos of yourself on a regular basis.

Now that you have ways to measure your progress, what happens if your measurements indicate that you are not progressing? It’s ok to have periodic plateaus where the forward progress slows down, or even stops. However, any longer than 3 weeks without progress is cause for concern.  In this case, a review of the guidelines in these Lessons and your Amazing Fat Burning Formula manual is critical to pinpointing the cause of your stagnation.  Almost all instances of halted progress can be linked to food issues.

Friends, I challenge you to take charge of your diet and your life. Track your progress, know where you are today so you can see your progress tomorrow.

Take Charge!

P.S. Don’t forget to sign up for my Revolutionary Fitness Event this coming Tuesday, July 7th, at 9:00 PM EST. I’ll be discussing details of my Amazing Fat Burning Formula Program and answering all of your pertinent questions. I call this Fitness Event a “Watershed” event because it will literally be marking a change in the history of how someone goes about getting into shape. This, I dare say, revolutionary new “synergistic” way of eating, exercising, and supplementing, will alter the course in which people choose to get in shape. You will be the first recipients to experience and learn this new way of transforming your body.

Since so many people will be attending, and I only have 200 lines available for the event, enter your first name and email address to be on the Advance Notification List for this event:

And don’t forget that for those that do sign up AND come to this website and ask me any question that relates to health, workout programs, fitness, or supplements, I’ll give them the entire MP3 recording of the event for free. PLUS, a very special secret surprise gift you’ll REALLY find useful (You really want to get this!). GO NOW to this link and ask me your question: http://instantTeleseminar.com/?eventid=8076315

(make sure to enter your email address when you ask your question so I can check to see if you got on the advance notification list too – I really want to give you this free MP3 recording of the event – I know it will truly help you get fit once and for all)