It’s amazing how much trust I put in the ability of our family wagon (the Nissan Qashqui) to tell us how many miles we have left in the tank.
Imagine if your car says it had 100 miles of fuel in the tank but it actually only had 75 miles?
If I don’t fill up in time, I’d break down, right?
Luckily, it seems they’re pretty accurate….Unlike the human body…
You see, I often get asked questions from ladies on our Fit For Life Body Transformation Programme saying that their Fit Bits say they should “lose 4 lbs this week” based on their exercise, but they don’t?
Is it them? Is it their “slow metabolism”?
^^^ I’ll come on to that another day
So why don’t they lose what these “smart” devices say they should lose?
Well, it could be for any of these reasons:
1* They’re based on “averages” and could be up to 45% out…
2* You could burn over 100 calories LESS during the Follicular phase than the Luteal phase of your menstrual cycle
3* You didn’t sleep well – just one poor nights sleep can reduce how many calories you burn by 5-20%
4* Those with a certain good bacteria in their guts can burn up to 150 calories more per day (luckily, this can be changed through your eating habits 😃)
5* Could your “tablespoon” of olive oil be more like 2 tablespoons of olive oil? Or as is the case with my beloved peanut butter, could your tablespoon be heaped and actually more like 2 tablespoons? Either of these done daily for a year could add up to 10lbs extra in a year….
6* Your body might be becoming more efficient to the exercise you’re doing…put simply, I burn a lot of calories when I swim because I’m rubbish at it…when you get better and fitter, you’re generally more efficient! My advice here? Make sure you’re progressing, be it through time, intensity, steps, hills etc. Let’s face it, humans are happiest when they progress anyway!
And it’s for all these reasons that I like to shift your focus to things you really can control. I mean, Fit Bits are great for motivating us to do more steps and get off of our bums a bit more. No doubt. My tracker certainly helps me move more and this can only be a good thing.
But when it comes to obsessing over how much you should lose based on this? I’d say the stress of worrying about this is hampering your fat loss…
Which is why we use our Fitness, Food, and Focus system to help you track your progress.
1 point for hitting your food
1 point for hitting your fitness
1 point for you focus (taking time for you…me time…headspace app..)
You see, this way you know whether you’ve done the things you need to do to get the things you say you want.
In other words, it helps you separate the FACTS from the FEELINGS.
Task for you today:
Score yourself on how well you do with having a palm sized portion of protein with each meal today (this could be a few eggs, chicken, fish, lean meats, tofu, beans yoghurt etc.)
Matt
Free 7-Day Trial On Our Fit For Life Body Transformation Programme