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In previous posts I discussed the concept of taking regular measurements to track you’re progress. In this post I will discuss how to use these measurements to analyse changes to body composition and make the appropriate adjustments.

In order to be able to track your progress, you firstly have to define your expectations of what you think your progress should realistically be.

Tracking Mass Building

In terms of mass building, your goal is to maximise lean muscle mass while minimising fat increase. Therefore, expectations would be defined in terms of the amount of muscle and the amount of fat you put on in a period of time. For example, you may look to put on 1.5 lbs a week with, at most, one third of this weight being from fat (some increase in fat is inevitable when bulking) and the remainder from lean muscle. This gives you a baseline by which to compare actual progress and make adjustments on a regular basis.

Expectations for progress are individual to each person - each person’s body is different and develops at different rates. These expectations will evolve over time as your expectations become more realistic as you learn how your body works and your body becomes to adapt to the regimes it is put through.

Once these expectations have been defined, you need to use the appropriate measurements to calculate what changes have occurred in your body composition between each measurement interval. These would be calculated as follows:

• Bodyfat weight = Total weight x bodyfat percentage
• Lean weight = Total weight – bodyfat weight
• Total weight change = Current total weight – previous total weight
• Bodyfat weight change = Current bodyfat weight – previous bodyfat weight
• Lean weight change = Current lean weight – previous lean weight

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By working out these figures, you can judge whether you are meeting your expected progress targets, and if not, make the appropriate adjustments. For example, if your body weight increased by 2 lbs but 1 lb of that is from bodyfat weight, this will tell you that you are gaining too much fat.

So, what are the conclusions you can draw from these figures and what adjustments should you make based on these conclusions? Well, let’s look at the scenarios and possible solutions.

1. Your weight is increasing but your putting on too much fat.
   This tells you that your calorie intake is most likely more than required. You need to increase activity or drop consumption of food. Assuming your diet is clean, the first place to look would be to drop carbohydrate intake.
2. Your weight isn’t increasing at all (or it is decreasing).
   This tells you that your calories aren’t high enough – you need to provide more nutrition to allow your body to grow. Again, look at your carbohydrate consumption and increase it gradually until you see the benefits.
3. Your lean muscle is increasing slowly and you’re not putting on any fat.
   This is a good place to be. However, you may be able to increase calories to improve the rate of progress and still stay within your acceptable limit of fat increase.
4. Your lean muscle and fat increase are as expected.
   Perfect – keep doing what you are doing.

Tracking Fat Loss

Fat loss follows the exact same formula – define your expectations, take regular measurements and tweak your plan according to short term developments. Expectations for fat loss are likely to define expected loss of body fat weight while ensuring a limit to the loss of lean muscle mass. For example, you may expect to lose 2 lbs a week, however experience no loss in muscle mass.

Similarly to when mass building, changes in lean muscle and body fat weight would be calculated at each measurement interval and compared against the expected values.

For fat loss, possible scenarios and solutions may be:

1. Your not losing any weight.
   This indicates you are not in a calorie deficit. You would need to look at decreasing calorie intake, possibly in terms of carbohydrates, or to increase cardiovascular work.
2. Your losing weight, but also losing lean muscle
   This indicates that calories are too low. Carbohydrate intake should be increased.
3. You’re losing fat and your lean muscle is remaining the same.
   Perfect – keep doing what you are doing.

The solutions above are simply suggestions, assuming that the rest of your plan is optimal. Changes may just as easily be required to your exercise routine, your protein intake or your sleeping habits. However, the main point stays true. Consistently take measurements of where you are, how you are progressing in the short term and make the appropriate adjustments to ensure that you gradually work towards your long term goals

In the last post, I will discuss how to use the mirror, measuring tape and training log to ensure you develop a well balanced physique.

Eat.Train.Sleep.