yeah yeah yeah, you got it!

So Mr. Fit or Fat wrote these stories that show why body fat % is the real number we should look at. Our gym has a scale that does the test. You get on barefoot and it checks you out.

"I remember Carol, a sad example of overdependence on the bathroom scales. When she started our program, she weighed 127 pounds and was 26 percent fat. After 6 months of aerobic exercise, Carol had dropped to 23 percent fat. She had lost 2 inches off her waist, 2.5 inches off her hips, & 1 inch off each thigh. She now wore a size 10 instead of a size 12. She looked better & felt better. But when we weighed her on the scale, she had gained 6 pounds. Obviously, because of the change in measurements, the 6 pound increase meant an increase in muscle mass, which weighs more but takes up less space than fat. (muscle is denser than fat) Carol quit the program.

Unless you are quite a lot overfat (raising my hand), there will be little if any reduction in your total weight and may even gain some weight.

"What does change is your shape. Alan was a most dramatic example. Alan didn't think he was overweight, but he had the typical middle-aged pot belly. He started an aerobics exercise program and in 6 months his waist went from 38 inches to 32 inches and he didn't lose one pound!"

Just stay around 65 to 80 percent of your max heart rate, to stay in aerobic exercise.

So let's just stick to the body fat % targets as our ultimate measures of health. It doesn't matter if you weigh like a pile of lead as long as you don't look like it. If we do this right, we'll be turning all the heads we can handle. I know I will...even more than now.

~jorge