Body Fat:
See It, Lose It

Trying to get rid of excess body fat?

Then take a look at this!

Yuck! Usually I put a cutesy cartoon right here, but this time I wanted to make a point.

There's nothing more motivating for me than seeing my blubber! It reminds me why I tend to pass on desserts and workout as hard as I do. But when I need that motivation...

I don't look in the mirror. After all, skin looks a lot nicer than subcutaneous fat.

No, I try to keep a glob of fat around (as in the picture above) as a reminder of why I try to eat like I do.

Would such a reminder help you?

Remember...

Each 1 pound blob of fat represents an accumulation of 3,500 calories. 5 pounds therefore represents 17,500 calories that have been consumed, but not burned off.

That's right. When you consume more calories than you burn, you store the excess calories as fat...aka extra poundage on the scale.

So more flab means your eating is outrunning your exercise. To lose weight you have to turn that around!

(Figure out how many calories you need in a day.)

If you're like most people, you rely on a scale to tell you whether you've gained or lost weight. Chances are you assume that as the numbers go up or down, it's fat you're gaining or losing.

That's not necessarily the case. A scale measures everything...

...fat, muscle, bones, fluid retention....

If you're interested in knowing how much actual body fat you have, consider having your body composition tested.

Many of my clients use a body fat scale at home.

It's simple, non-invasive, and inexpensive. Plus, it can be used every 1-2 months to determine progress. (Unfortunately, fat composition won't change much faster than that!)

In my work as a dietitian, I love to use visuals. I rarely present a lecture or have a consultation without sharing my fat replicas. Everyone loves to hate them!

These body fat models are a great tool to add to your bag of weight loss tricks. Nothing like a blob of fat on the kitchen counter as a blatant reminder that you shouldn't dig into the snack drawer after dinner!

People ask me all the time where I get the fat replicas, so I wanted to share the info here.

1 pound and 5 pound body fat replicas

If they're too gross to have around, try keeping five pound sacks of flour on the counter. If you need to lose 20 pounds, keep 4 out. Each time you lose 5 pounds, put one away!

More weight loss tools.

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