Articles
Weight is Nothing More Than Gravity Pulling an Object Toward Earth!
I remember taking my first Physics course my
professor defining weight as the force of gravity
being exerted on a body. When I heard this simple
definition, I started stating to my new clients
(when they complained about how much they weighed)
that "weight is nothing more than gravity
pulling an object toward earth!"
Unfortunately, we judge ourselves by how much we
weigh or whether we can fit into a size 2. We are
hearing it more and more often, that muscle weighs
more than fat, that we are not all built the same,
be proud of who you are, etc. However, this does not
change the stigma that has been created or the
emotions we feel when we look at the scale.
For some people, weight might be a good measure of
whether one should change their current health and
fitness program. This really only applies to those
who are excessively overweight. For those others who
are just wanting to lose a few pounds, it is not the
only measure that should be taken. Even those who
are considered to be obese, other types of
measurements other than weight should be
taken.
Two other types of measurements that come to mind
are body fat testing and tape measurements. Even
with those, you may need to use more than one kind
of testing. For example, with body fat testing I use
Biolectrical Impedance Assessing (BIA)and Calipers.
(The BIA is that thing that some of you have seen
that you stand on or hold on to, to measure body fat
and Calipers are those "pinchy" things
that you might have seen before.) Both types of
measurements can be accurate, but definitely
inaccurate if the person measuring it is taking it
at face value only.
To give you an example of what I mean, the BIA
scale that you stand on, only measures body fat
through the legs. As you can imagine, this can be
biased toward women and the assessment may not be to
accurate. As for tape measurements, this is not to
difficult to foul up.
With tape measurements though, you need to compare
it against weight and body fat composition, height,
sex, etc. Why you ask? Well, if you are a
6'2" male, then a 36 inch waist is not so
bad. However, a male with the same height and body
fat composition could have a 33" waist.
It's a difference in body types.
The error that I have seen made by other weight
loss management programs, is that they don't
fully understand the measurements and that they are
comparing them against averages (or those charts
that you see hanging up). This can be dangerous, as
not everyone is made the same and our programs need
to customized to fit the individual, not everyone
else. Furthermore, they may not give you an accurate
assessment of your lean body mass or LBM. Knowing
your LBM is important, as we can determine one's
caloric expenditure and create a meal plan (not
DIET) accordingly. Also, we can determine the types
and levels of activity one should follow to create
more "output" to "input."
Kelly Huggins, B.S., ACSM HFI
The Fitness MythBuster
404.303.8305 kelly@kellyhuggins.com
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