It's easy to get overly concerned with "losing weight" or just seeing the number on the scale go down, but that's not necessarily a good thing if that lost weight isn't fat. About two years ago, in January of 2004, I decided I would join a gym, hire a personal trainer, and set out to lose weight. Unfortunately, I lost weight. Huh? Yes, I did go down from 212 lbs to 188 lbs in just three months, but I never got my body fat levels below 20%. So, I ended up Losing Weight, But Not Fat, with actually serves to lower basal metabolism. All bad.

To be honest, I don't have much ego when it comes to How Much Weight I Lift. I've seen far too many people in the gym who are way stronger than I am to think I'm anything special. I'm "above-average" when it comes to strength; that's all. Still, in order to know if I'm improving, I have to record how much I can currently lift to see if I'm getting anywhere. For that reason, I'm using this week before Christmas to write down how much I do of each exercise. I don't have any old numbers to compare them to, so this is where I'll be starting from.

Was pondering my diet after taking a break from fat burning and losing weight, so I wrote up this quick summary of My Old Lifestyle Diet. It's basically about what I'm used to eating through my childhood and my early adult years. I can only imagine that most people raised in the American culture must have a similar struggle when it comes to changing the way they eat because most of us have become addicted to certain types of foods from a very early age. That's not to say we can't successfully change our eating habits, but I do find it difficult to simply ignore the cravings for soda, candy, and fast food. I certainly know where the feelings come from.

This morning, I weighed in at 208.5 lbs, down from 223.5 only six weeks ago. Originally, I was aiming at 2000 to 2100 calories; but Chris Aceto's book made me realize that was too low for my size, so I did eat more and averaged from 2500 to 2600 per day for these past Six Weeks Of Burning Fat. Actually, I've had my basal metabolism measured twice in the past two years and that showed I burn around 2200 calories per day just for being Rick. Also, when I did the heart rate calculations in Aceto's book, they pointed me towards 135 to 140 BPM as my best heart rate range for fat loss at my age. So, I didn't cut my calories so much (at all?), I didn't have to do exhaustive levels of cardio (staying near 155 BPM required me to peddle like a madman), and I was able to lose 15 lbs in six weeks.

Today, I'm starting Six Weeks Of Burning Fat. I'm using the techniques outlined by Tom Venuto (www.fitren.com) , as well as the bodybuilding / fat loss principles detailed in books by Chris Aceto (www.nutramedia.com). His two most popular fitness books are Championship Bodybuilding and Everything You Need To Know About Fat Loss. In addition, I will be learning some recipes from, Laura Creaville, which are found in her books, The Lite Lifestyle and A Taste Of Club Creaville. I'd recommend these websites and books to anyone looking to get fit.