Elite Physique The New Science of Building a Better Body

Assess to Impress
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• A camera, which you already have in your phone, to chronicle your progress
every four to six weeks. The one complication is that you’ll need a friend
or partner to take those photos for you, as I’ll explain in a moment.
One thing we can all agree on is
this: If your midsection is getting
larger, and you aren’t pregnant, you’re
gaining fat. And if your waistline is
shrinking, and you haven’t recently
delivered a baby, you’re losing fat.
Logically, measuring the circumference
of your abdomen is one of the
most meaningful ways to determine
if you’re gaining or losing fat.
To measure your abdominal circumference,
plan to measure once per
week first thing in the morning, after
emptying your bladder. Remove all
your clothes except your underwear.
Take a cloth measuring tape, wrap it
around your low back, and place it
across your navel. Using the mirror
as your guide, make sure the tape
is perfectly parallel to the floor and
even on both sides of your abdomen.
The tape should be snug enough to
Abdominal Circumference
FIGURE 1.19 The tape should be parallel
to the floor and snug, but not so snug that it
sinks into your skin.
eliminate any gaps, but not so tight it digs into your skin (see figure 1.19). Make
a note of the circumference, and then weigh yourself, as we cover next.
Body Weight
The scale is valuable for monitoring your progress, but it can also be maddening.
How can you wake up in the morning four pounds (1.8 kg) lighter than you were
the night before? How can your weight fluctuate so much from day to day?
The reason isn’t all that mysterious. It mainly comes down to your hydration,
or lack thereof. Let’s assume the human body is about 70 percent water. (The
actual percentage can vary from person to person and study to study.) That means
a 200-pound (91 kg) male carries an average of 140 pounds (64 kg) of water,
which can change quite a bit throughout the day. An hour-long hike on a hot day
can easily reduce your body weight by 3 or 4 pounds (1.4-1.8 kg)—all from water,
none of it fat.
Despite these daily fluctuations, we know consistent self-monitoring of scale
weight helps people lose fat (Butryn et al. 2007). The recommended frequency is
once per week (Madigan et al. 2016). Monday morning is typically the worst time
to step on a scale. Most of us eat and drink more on weekends, causing water
retention, which is bad for our confidence even if it’s ultimately meaningless. Your