Monday 20 May 2013

Facing the truth (Body fat %, Calorie intake and Complete Body workouts)



I told you all I was going to have a chat with a personaltrainer at the gym this post is all about the surprises during my session with the trainer. I had an appointment first thing Saturday morning, as soon as we met the first thing she asked me to do was get on the scales!!! I have not done that even once in front of somebody else naturally I was terrified, I check my weight regularly but I had not let anybody look at it so when she asked me to get on I just said a silent prayer and hopped on, luckily for me that went well..it was as expected and it was in the normal range so I was happy, next she checked my heart rate again this was also good because I have been working out regularly. Finally it was time to check my body fat percentage. I have never got this checked so I had no idea what to expect, I was actually terrified because I expected this to be high, I had read in many articles that even if your body weight is in the correct range your body fat % might not always in the correct range and this was one of the most important numbers, so you can understand my fear...
Here comes the surprise my body fat % was very low, it was actually lower than normal I was so surprised. My trainer said said that it was not good for my body fat to be so low, surprisingly in the half hour that we were taking my measurement she also asked me if I have problems with my body image, this question also surprised I never in a million years thought my body image issue would be so transparent to a third person. So basically I went in expected everything to be high/more but the situation turned a complete 180, I’m actually supposed to increase my food intake and my body fat %. She has decided to increase my food intake and my micro nutrition ratio should be 40% good fat 30% proteins and 30% carbohydrates.
After this we went in for a 40 minute workout session, squats, lunges, burpees, mountain climber circuits all with different weights, again this went well she said my fitness level was good but I need to increase my upper body strength. All in all through this session I realised my fitness levels were good but my calorie intake was really low and I had major issues with my body image both these things were unknowingly hindering my performance.
Lessons to remember (from my first session)
  1. Fuel is as important as the effort you put in: Personally I was noticing less improvement in my workouts, I expected to be able to run longer or lift heavier weights because I was putting in the effort, but somehow I couldn’t so I pushed myself by working out harder but I realised it was my calorie intake that was pulling me back. 
  2. Should focus on a complete body workout: When I started out I focused on my lower body, I did a lot of cardio, squats, lunges but I ignored my upper body for a long time, now when I want to get more fit this pulls me back because I can’t lift heavier weights even for my squats and lunges. If I would have worked out on a complete body workout I think my fitness level would have been better now. 
  3. Decide your calories based on your workouts: I always thought I was eating well, I don’t feel hungry but as mentioned recently I have started feeling tired faster and I have noticeably less energy levels but I could have never guessed I was eating less or I was close to starvation mode. I stick to eating 3 meals + 2 snacks but I realised my portion were too small and my calorie count was too low for the amount of exercise I was putting in. 
  4. Good Body image is very important: I’m so surprised that my body image is still bad and it is so obvious, I know I have come a long way but I still see myself as a fat unhealthy person, it is so difficult to see myself in better light. I noticed that it is also pulling me back, the reason I avoided trainers for so long was because I was scared they would call me fat!!! I actually had a dream that people in the gym were laughing at me because I was fat..I still have no idea how to work my way out of this one but I know I need to because that is one thing which will pull me back from getting more fit and healthy
If you see yourself making any of the above mistakes please STOP!!! I can sincerely tell you from my experience they reduce productivity and just spoil your health
(I will be starting sessions with my trainer from mid June will keep you all updated about how that goes.)
Keep Reading I will Keep Writing 
Tanvee


10 comments:

  1. Hi Tanvee! There are a LOT of good points up there. You're now noticing that your "weakest link" of your body is going to hold you back. That is SO true. I do my "dreaded exercises" mainly because I know they are dreaded because I am not very good at them--they are my weakest links. You're going to improve an exercise and realize that the improvement makes a seemingly unrelated exercise so much better. I find that quite often.

    I looked at your pics and I *disagree* with your trainer. You look like a perfect body fat percentile, and I'm a bit surprised that any trainer would say to go upwards for fat percentile. No trainer in the U.S. that I know would say that unless a woman is missing their period from such low fat percentile. So I respectfully disagree on this point. (But maybe you have confidential health issues you told the trainer about that I don't know.)

    Lastly, I got *much* better with all of my exercises with more days off from the gym. Rest days make the days at the gym become really powerful. Then, you just crank it to the limit.

    :-) Marion

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  2. Hi Marion, I was surprised about the body fat thing too.. My body fat is 18%, she said it supposed to be around 20 -21% and if I don't get it up soon I will experience hormonal problems (just now I'm all good,touchwood) i will also be reducing my workout days so i will be working out 4-5 high intensity sessions now..lets see how that goes and eating a few more calories...

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    1. Hi again. I re-examined your photos of you that you recently put onto your blog, and seriously, you do not look underweight for your bone frame. In my opinion, you look really good and healthy to me. 1) Are you underweight for your height? 2) Are you a normal clothing size for your height? Is this trainer over exaggerating all of this? In your photos, your legs don't look dangerously lean. They look very normal to me. Am I wrong? I'd hate for you to get fatter just because one person thought it was a good idea when it was totally unnecessary. Let me know these answers. 3) And how exactly did she measure your fat percentile (some ways to measure are notoriously inaccurate)?
      :-) Marion

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    2. I'm normal for my height 56-57 kgs for 5.4-5.5 ht and my legs are no where close to lean....she used some machine which she connected to my arm and legs..I'm not sure what you call it. Don't worry Marion I'm not going to increase my food intake...I think think the mistake i was making was i increased my workouts a lot (3 times in a day and 6 days a week) and for that much workout i was not eating enough...so now I'm sitting down and making a new plan i will not increase my food or eat unhealthy. I will be working with her on making my workouts more challenging, I'm scared to give away my food control complete

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    3. * I'm scared to give up my food control completely to anybody...

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    4. Hi Tanvee! After all the facts you've given, that weight seems perfect for your height and build just like your photos show. You look super good. You're slim but not dangerously skinny. I wonder why that trainer said this to you. Oh well. The other stuff she said about exercise was good.

      And, you know, if you *want* to gain more weight, don't let my opinion stop you, because you could weigh another 10 to 15 pounds more and still look really good. I'm not trying to make your decisions for you. Apparently, your trainer feels differently about this. It's ultimately up to *you* to make up your own mind about this. I know you'll make a good decision. Decide for yourself even if it's different than what I said. ~ Marion

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    5. I will not put on any more weight even if all the trainers in the gym want me to :) but I think I will work on improving what I eat and how much I eat so that I can put more effort in my workouts...so my new plan is to improve my food (even if the calorie count is the same or a little more..it should all be healthy and help me exercise better)
      thank you so much for all your advise Marion, I really appreciate it and you definitely gave me confidence to stick to my decision of not giving up my food control to somebody else..

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  3. I really like how you've listed the points you've learned from your meeting with the personal trainer. At least now you know what you want to focus on in order to see the improvements you think are necessary. I know my regime still needs tweaking!

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    1. Hi Ayesha, I think putting down all the points is very useful for me..I keep going back to bad habits easily just glanching through such points helps me stay on track

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