You need to know these numbers before starting your health and fitness program…

You ready to take back control of your health and fitness? Over the past few months if you haven’t realized how important it is to make your health and fitness priority, you’re in trouble. Not saying that to scare you, I’m saying that to make you take a look at what are you making priority, and in return sacrificing your health?

The amazing thing about this journey is it’s never too late to start! The key is understanding where your current fitness level is at, and starting from there. This is where most go wrong.

Some will try to pick up where they left off over 5 years ago, before having kids, career change, relationship change, or maybe an injury and think “this is what used to work for me.” This is where you hit the ground running hard, and burn out because your current demands in life don’t allow for the 1-2 hour workouts anymore. So you’ll quit because, you don’t have the time, what was working before isn’t working anymore, or your friends program isn’t as effective for you as it is for him or her….. and that’s because it’s not YOUR program.

Below are the key numbers that you need to look into before starting your journey to understanding and achieving long term results! ⬇️⬇️⬇️
1- How many days a week can you commit to? This is great for building momentum and confidence early in your process. After you’re able to complete 2-3 days a week of working out you’re getting quick wins and you can work on adding additional days from there. If you haven’t been in a routine in over a year, it’s not a good idea to tell yourself “starting next week I’m going start working out everyday day” you will be setting yourself up for disappointment.

2-Resting Metabolism- for effective weight loss and/or gain this number is important as this is the number of calories burned when you are at rest. Yes those of you with lean muscle mass, you are burning a lot of calories outside of the gym to feed that muscle and to keep the body functioning. Dieting?? Are you still doing that? Restricting yourself from calorie intake? This is a definite way to destroy your metabolism and have everything work against you once you are off that diet, and could take over a year to regulate. When starting your journey, find out what your resting metabolism is. This number is going to shock you at first because it’s going to be a number that is more than what your intaking now. More than likely, a lot more. 80% of the time, I have to tell a client who is just getting started that they have to eat more! (What trainer tells their client they need to eat MORE!??!?) I do, if I want them to be successful. I need you to fuel your body for the work we need to do ahead and the calories need to be available for energy. What happens if you’re not getting the sufficient amount of calories in? Your daily energy source will come from muscle, instead of bodyfat. Yes we want to lose 20lbs, but not 20 pounds of muscle.

3- Skelatal muscle/lean muscle mass- keeping this number in a good range, will keep your metabolism reved up and allow you to bend on your intake a little more. For most this happens when they’ve put in some years and made the process a lifestyle! (The best way!!) during your process you want to make sure your intake is on point as you don’t want this number to decrease too much, as well as increase to much if you’re not wanting to put on too much muscle mass. Sometimes the increase in muscle could cause the scale number to increase, but what you’re not seeing in that Scale number is the decrease in bodyfat% (which normally happens when your muscle increases) the increase in metabolism, and more energy!

4- Bodyfat%- again, get this number in YOUR recommended range, and your body is functioning at peak! Metabolism is high, energy is through the roof, appetite is healthy, and them jeans or that new suit that you want to get in Is yours! This also helps regulate body temperature, cushion joints and protect internal organs.

Now, we now what the damage of a high bodyfat% can do, but also too little may lead to osteoporosis in later years, leave your more prone to injuries, irregular periods and possible infertility.

5- BMI%-LADIES!!!!!! this is an important number for you, as this plays a big roll in the number that’s reflected on the scale. The number we use as a measure of success in your process (which we have to work on stopping) If you have a a couple of days of high sodium intake, this number will be up because that sodium is holding on to all the water in your body, you’ll feel the puffiness, and then for some strange reason, you’ll get on the scale🤦🏾‍♂️ Of course you’re heavier. If you don’t get in enough water, your bmi% will be up as well, again making your weight increase. You’ll then get on the scale, and yup, your weight is up 🤦🏾‍♂️ Time of the month? Yes, this is major water retention time, hormones are all over. Knowing this, guess what? You still get on the scale and your weight is though the roof! 🤦🏾‍♂️ During this time realize your weight is at least 3lbs up during your cycle, and bmi% is high as well. Only numbers that are pretty accurate during this time is your bodydat% and skeletal muscle/muscle mass. Last but not least, if you’re not getting enough sleep or you’ve been stressed, will cause your bmi% to increase as well as our body is producing some cortisol. But it never fails, you continue to get on the scale, validating why you never wanted to start the journey anyway.. sound familiar?

Get these numbers before starting your journey for longterm results, and an enjoyable process!