Every day I sit at our juice bar counter and make a list of which members I have to hunt down for their monthly weight check. I used the word "hunt" because that's what I feel I'm definitely doing -- I'm constantly on the prowl, trying to see who is trying to sneak out of having me check their weight and measurements. I've decided to stop. I've decided to stop not because it's not important and not because I don't care to hunt down members (I quite enjoy making them accountable actually). Instead, I've decided to stop because I've come to the realization that some members don't particularly care to check their weight and often it works as a discouragement towards their efforts.
Many members have dropped significant body fat but an almost equally amount of members haven't.
Those who haven't lost significant body fat or haven't gained much muscle mass usually almost always greet the shock with disappointing looks, a large frown and an occasional scratch to the head -- totally understandable. But what's understandable in their reactions are their looks of disappointment that seem to be directed towards me and/or Snickers, as if we haven't been training them hard enough or we haven't let them in on some big secret, like we're hoarding our weight loss secrets for VIP members only. There are no Oh I train my members hard enough, don't you worry about that. I've let my numbers slip down to only 1 member a week puking when it used to be 2-3 but that doesn't mean I've become soft with training them hard. The problem isn't with their training, it's with their eating and the total lack there of it for many after training!!!
Now days I've been really trying to push them to rethink their eating habits and doing so is like pulling teeth with some. Last Friday I told one young member who continually refuses to eat after training that he wasn't allowed to leave until he ate some food I quickly prepared for him. He sat there for about 30 minutes, thinking I'd give up. "I've got all night" I told him, "and it's only 10pm". He finally gave in and ate my food.
Tonight one of my G-Boys told me that he wants to lose 5kgs and I responded by asking him "What does that mean?" He looked at me puzzled so, perhaps to confuse him more or at least get him thinking, I added "I can lose 5kgs by tomorrow", and it's true. I didn't lie. If I train tonight, don't eat or drink anything after training or until tomorrow night than yes, this time tomorrow I can lose 5kgs. I've seen Snickers lose up to 7kgs in about four days for a fight and this was long after a month and a half of intense training and strict eating. It's called water weight. Of course my G-Boy wasn't referring to water weight but body weight really isn't a specific enough number of anything unless you deter from it and look at body fat percentages or muscle mass weight.
"Don't tell me you want to lose 5kgs", I told him, "unless you want me to head kick you", I jokingly added. The number that pops up on the scale can be very misleading so it irks me that people become so focused on it. A better goal for him that would be a truer indication of increase health and fitness would be something like lose 2% body fat or gain 2% muscle weight.
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