Table of contents:
- Fitness: Why weight doesn't really say much
- Muscle is heavier than fat - so change your mindset and goals
Actress Kate Winslet said she hasn't stepped on a scale in 12 years. Why you should follow their example!
Hollywood star Kate Winslet is a role model when it comes to a healthy body. In an interview about her new film "The Mountain Between Us", she told about a scene in which she is being pulled on a river by co-star Idris Elba: "It was pretty hard for him. How hard, I don't know. I haven't stood on a scale in 12 years."
In recent years, Winslet wore sizes 38, 40 and sometimes 42. "But none of that has anything to do with whether I'm fit."
Fitness: Why weight doesn't really say much
More and more fitness experts are advising us to do the same for Kate Winslet. In her opinion, fitness and flexibility should be more important than being obsessed with weight loss.
Rich Tidmarsh, for example, personal trainer of top athletes and one of the stars of the fitness scene, says in an interview with the "Independent": "Actually, you shouldn't lose pounds through workout, but keep your weight - and still get leaner because yourself your body tones and shapes."
When you get healthier and fitter through exercise, you lose body fat - but at the same time you gain new muscle mass. Muscles are not significantly heavier than fat, but they weigh around 15% more for the same volume due to their higher density. Which means that there is hardly any change on the scales. If in doubt, you will even weigh a little more than you did before you started training.
Muscle is heavier than fat - so change your mindset and goals
So instead of concentrating desperately on losing weight while exercising, you should make sure that you improve your performance. For example, by doing more sit-ups in a row, holding out longer while planking, stretching your running distance or increasing the weights during your strength training.
Tidmarsh's recommendation: "Building muscle is the most important thing. In combination with a high-protein diet and fewer carbohydrates, this is the guarantee for a healthy, beautiful body." In fact: with just 1.3 kilograms more muscle, you will burn almost 300 grams of pure body fat in eight weeks!
Important for this success: You need a positive protein balance. Proteins are the building blocks of muscle - you need at least one gram per kilo of body weight every day. The best time for protein intake is up to 45 minutes after strength training (scientifically: "anabolic phase"). Now it doesn't matter whether you consume high quality protein (e.g. from milk, meat or eggs) or less high quality (e.g. from beans, wheat or rice) - the body uses everything to repair the stressed muscle structures.
Your body starts to work and break down fat. So you will definitely be able to tighten your belt - even if the scale does not show less. In addition to the positive change in figure, you will also notice other effects:
- Your posture improves
- You reduce stress, gain energy and have a more positive charisma
- Your joints stabilize
- Your coordination skills increase
- Your bone density is increasing
Does that mean we never have to stand on the scales again? Nonsense. It makes perfect sense to do a quick weight check every few weeks. But we no longer have to obsessively sprint on the scales every day and see whether we weigh one kilo less. Loss of body fat and improved health are much more important goals.
