Don’t set yourself up for failure

We all know we can be better, stronger, leaner. But we often don’t know how to get there. The first step toward doing that—without frustration and disappointment—is to know where you are starting from. That begins with a proper assessment.

For example, time and again a mid-50s woman will walk in our door and the first thing she says is, “I need to lose 20 pounds.” She knows exactly how much she wants to lose and from where she wants to lose it.

This is an unfair challenge for her. She doesn’t realize that if her body isn’t “fit to purpose,” that is if she is unable to have a pain-free, energetic, purposeful life, no amount of losing weight will get her where she needs to be.

She has set herself up for failure because she is associating weight with health and fitness. If she is deficient in musculature and posture, no amount of weight change will help her achieve her goal. What’s more, if she “diets” heavily she will slow down her metabolism and compound the problem.

The medical profession and its obsession with the scale plays into the misconception about how to lose “weight.” They look at your height and the reading on the scale to determine your body mass index.

By those standards, I am considered overweight.

I am 5 foot 7 and weigh 179 pounds. But my pants have a 30-inch waist and I measure out at 11 percent body fat. Overweight? Nope. Why the discrepancy? because muscle weighs two and a half times as much as fat.

So if your goal is to lose 20 pounds you need to ask yourself, 20 pounds of what? Fat? Water? Muscle? Focusing on weight without proper body composition won’t get you into that size 8.

What’s the answer? You need to figure out where you are. The best way to do that is to consult a professional trainer who will test to see if you body has:

• strength
• balance and stability
• muscular endurance
• cardio-respiratory functionality
• absence of pain
• correct range of motion at each joint
  

Following the assessment, the trainer will determine if your goals are realistic, and then identify the steps to get you to your goal. It’s just like a road trip. First you figure out where you want to go and then you map out the route. That isn’t to say that you might not encounter a road block or a detour along the way, but if you know where you are starting from and where you are going, eventually you’ll make it.

For our mid-50s client, that meant recalibrating her goal—taking the scale out of the equation—and creating a program to improve her muscular deficiencies so she could begin to make healthy strides forward. We let the fit of her clothes determine the success of the project. She eventually dropped two full sizes without “losing an ounce.”

When is it time to seek the help of a trainer?

1. Your doctor has given you a clean bill of health, and may even be telling you to “diet and exercise”
2. Your clothes aren’t fitting
3. You have pain or difficulty with everyday activities
4. You have balance issues; i.e. you have to sit down to put your pants on
5. You are sitting for most of the day
6. You have tried on your own and haven’t been successful
   

How to select a professional trainer:

1. Ask for recommendations: As with anything else, personal recommendations are always a great place to start.
2. Check the trainer’s credentials: At minimum the trainer should be certified and experienced; many trainers have college degrees in exercise science, sports training and related disciplines.
3. Make sure you ask the trainer if he or she has dealt with someone who had the same concerns you have. You want to make sure they have enough experience to help you with your particular issues.
4. Be wary of someone who promises too much too soon. Remember it is a journey. You want someone who will be realistic but motivational about what training can do for you, without specifying a timeframe. Don’t fall for someone who says they will get you in shape in a month or two, and don’t press the trainer to meet your timeline. There is no way to tell how quickly or slowly you will progress.

Originally published in Grosse Pointe Today.