THE SCALES ARE SABOTAGING YOU

Get yourself into peak shape and know why the “scale weight” mentality is holding you back.

Let’s get down to brass tacks: we all have an “ideal weight” in our heads.

I certainly do.

It’s been drilled into us, from a very early age, that our weight is the most unequivocal and understandable metric for gauging how well we’re doing physically.

And how well our physical appearance is perceived by our peers...

My ideal weight?

14 stone.

Or 89kg for new money.

But I’ve been “14 stone” for the past 10 years.

And my physique now is completely different…

When new clients sign up with me, and discuss their goals, a goal weight is invariably a high priority.

If not THE priority.

But while this might represent some level of precision and clarity for some, pursuing it solely on its own merit is likely to leave people disappointed, missing out on their true potential and unable to abandon the restrictive diet that got them there.

It’s a mirage.

The reasons behind this are simple; if we simply wanted to hit your “goal weight” as fast as possible, we’d need to do everything possible to make you arrive at it in your worst possible shape!

We’d avoid resistance training completely for a start – this will simply add tissue to your frame and affect the rate at which the scale numbers dwindled.

You would do endless cardio instead, and drop your calories (especially carbs) down as they’ll hoard water weight in your muscles (and of course we wouldn’t want that)

You’ll arrive at your goal weight in double time: fatigued, depleted, lacking muscle tone and ready to pile most (if not all) of the weight back on again when you resume a normal eating pattern.

Endless cardio yields diminishing returns (your body becomes more efficient at using stored fat as energy)

Additionally, without a focus on building strong, metabolically active muscle tissue your metabolic rate will plummet. And you won’t have any of the “tone” you wanted at your goal weight anyway!

One approach sacrifices how you look, feel, your food and your freedom to make the scale happy.

The other may take longer, may require more nuance, but makes you look your BEST and feel your BEST.

And ultimately allows you the most culinary and social freedom once in your best shape, as you’ll be metabolically equipped to keep your results.

People are also discouraged when they see the scale weight progress and then stagnate.

And possibly regress slightly…

…before progressing again.

It’s possible, even on a deficit, to tarry at a certain weight for days, even weeks! Before seeing another spell of seamless enough improvement.

This is seen very frequently – especially when doing things the RIGHT way – and can often discourage people from continuing with their plan completely.

This is an unnecessary mistake.

There are a myriad of factors affecting weight loss: hydration status, time of day, the food you’ve eaten (and still digesting…)

With women the menstrual cycle also plays a part and can create a temporary fluctuation of 2-3kg.

The amazing work and discipline you’ve put in, throughout your training and attention to your diet, might not show up on the day or even he next week afterwards.

It’s an important thing to note; weight loss isn’t a linear path, it’s a staircase.

A series of plateaus followed by seamless progress.

Your body is complex and will start fighting you as time goes on.

It pulls its punches at first, but the deeper you go into the program the harder it will fight, and the more diligent, committed and patient you will need to be to overcome it.

If all this sounds hard, that’s because it can be hard.

At times.

But I promise you, achieving the best version of yourself is infinitely more in reach than you think!

And outside of netting your gym sessions, being aware of your food and experiencing occasional FOMO and hunger pangs, by far the biggest virtue you will need to have IS patience.

And a very clear, actionable set of goals along the way.

But with this approach, you have to first acknowledge that using the scale alone is a relic of a bygone era – the Dark Ages of weight loss – and adopt a new, more fulfilling abundance type mindset instead.

The numbers on scale don’t matter as much as the following: the numbers you’re lifting, the numbers you’re running, the numbers you’re showing around your midsection.

And your BF%.

Pursue performance relentlessly, and with the right plan and nutrition in place your best shape will happen imperceptibly and assuredly.

Will your best shape be the same as your goal weight?

Probably not.

And the sooner you can reconcile yourself with that, the better your results will be.

Jordan