"Listen, it's just bass fishing!"

I had a conversation recently with a client about her concern over whether or not the number she read on the scale was a big deal or not. Her entire existence, it seemed, was wrapped up in "that number."

I tried, in vain I felt, to put some perspective on it...but it didn't seem to really have much impact. Then it struck me.

I said, "You're married, right?" She said, "Yes"

"Happily?", I queried. Again she said, "Yes."

"And what about your kids, are they doing well and are they healthy?" She looked at me kind of strangely, smiled and said, "Sure...they're fine. Why do you ask?"

I stepped closer to her, looked into her eyes and said, "You're a beautiful, happily married woman with healthy and happy kids. The rest is just bass fishing."

Now she looked really confused, shook her head and replied, "What on earth are you talking about?"

I told her a story I had heard about several years ago.

It was a news story about a professional angler who had appeared on TV regularly and won a lot of big time tournaments. He had apparently been enjoying a large degree of success when something happened that changed, and more specifically, ruined his life.

It appeared that right before one of the major tournaments he was accused of using illegal bait. I never found out whether or not this guy was guilty or innocent, and it doesn't really matter as that is an ancillary portion of the story.

What I do know is that the guy became so intoxicated with worry, anger and stress about the accusation that he ended up becoming depressed, taking medication, splitting from his wife and even losing his home.

I remember reading this story and thinking, "Dude, it's just bass fishing. It ain't cancer, it's not the war in Iraq or starving children in Darfur... it's just bass fishing.'

This guy had become so enamored with his sport that, what probably begun as a fun and relaxing hobby, had in turn become his entire universe; it had consumed him and become everything. It was more important to him than his wife, his family and his home. It was also apparently more important that his health and his sanity.

What I really wanted this young lady to recognize was that her energy wasted by focusing on this "number" was nothing more than bad information or opinions of others akin to bass fishing.

It was an opinion. And in my own opinion, it was a very bad one at that.

Here's the way I see it: the scale has a purpose - it's to measure meat and produce. That's it.

If you're really concerned whether or not your fat loss efforts are taking shape, do these 4 things:

1. Grab a tape measure. Measure your arms at the biceps, your waist around your belly button, your hips around your butt and your thighs, about three inches above the kneecap. Check each of those locations once weekly and keep track of them for 30 days. See what happens.
2. How do you look in the mirror naked? That's where you will see subtle changes in your physique. Bumps going away and new lumps of muscle appearing.
3. How do your clothes fit? When they start getting baggy, celebrate. If they're not, tighten your diet and increase your training intensity.
4. How do you feel overall? How is your eye color, the look of your skin, your hair. These things are indicators of overall health and if you're going to look good you might as well be lean AND healthy.

I once had a good friend who's uncle was a Battan Death March survivor. He told his Uncle about a "problem" he was having, to which his Uncle replied, "Is someone going to kill you?"

My friend said, "No."

"Then you don't really have a problem," was all his Uncle said.

Sometimes it's just bass fishing.

Steve
Your Prograde Professional

Resistance exercise reverses aging in human skeletal muscle.

Human aging is associated with muscle decrease and a decrease in daily function, also known as sarcopenia.

Recent research shows that this can be reversed in as little as six months!

Yes...6 months!

Multiple lines of research suggest that mitochondrial dysfunction (one of the little, yet REALLY important parts of every cell in your body) is a major contributor to sarcopenia, which is to say a loss of function.

However, following exercise training the cellular signature of aging was markedly reversed back to that of younger levels for most genes that were affected by both age and exercise.

Read that again: Reversed, not just stopped or even slowed.

Reversed!

A brand new study of more than 150,000 women has rocked the medical community!

Recent research shows that women who gain as little as seven pounds in between pregnancies increase their risk of serious complications in their second pregnancy...

• diabetes
• high blood pressure
• toxemia
• caesarean birth
• stillbirth

What's even more surprising is that this increased risk applies to women who are not necessarily overweight. It applies to all women who gain an additional seven pounds (or more) between the time they got pregnant the first time to the time they get pregnant again.

This new study says a woman's risk of getting diabetes or high blood pressure during her second pregnancy increases by about 30%.

Double the weight gain and the risk of getting diabetes or high blood pressure may increase by 100%

Doctors are calling the finding from this study "staggering" and "thought-provoking."

It's in the best interest of your child for you to take care of your own health. That way, you'll have the positive energy you need to take care of them as well. And if you decide to have another child, it's extremely important.

"What do they want us to be--anorexic?"

And the answer to that is a great big NO!

As a matter of fact, this study did not entail examining whether or not the woman's beginning weight was ideal. It was only examining the effect of weight gain between pregnancies. The conclusion was that you should not gain weight in between pregnancies. The conclusion had nothing to do with being dangerously thin!

Two take home points before you worry too much:

• Large, longitudinal studies such as this one do not take SO many other factors into context. They drew a conclusion from one correlation. Other negative factors could be involved as well, rather than just weight.
• If you gain 7+ pounds that certainly doesn't mean that something negative WILL happen, it just increases the risk, that is all. It is just like driving fast in your car, you might be alright, but you increase the risk.

Just understand that it is always healthier to be in good shape. Just like it's safer to drive more slowly in your car.

Now you think about that...

Steve
Your Prograde Professional

What are you missing?

In the winter of his ninth year, Frank Lloyd Wright was walking across a snow covered field with his reserved, no-nonsense uncle. As they reached the far end of the field, his uncle stopped him. He pointed to his own tracks in the snow, straight and true as an arrow, and then to young Frank's own tracks, which crisscrossed and meandered all over the field.

"Notice how your tracks wander aimlessly from the cattle to the woods and back again," his uncle stated with a scowl. "And see how my own tracks aim directly to my goal. There is an important lesson in that."

Years later, the famous architect relayed how that single experience had so affected his outlook on life. "I determined right then," he said, "not to miss most things in life...as my uncle had."

Where is your focus?

What are you missing out on?

Is your narrow vision of life keeping you from experiencing the world around you?

"The great thing in this world is not so much where we are, but in what direction we are moving." - Oliver Wendell Holmes

Now you think about that...

Steve
Your Prograde Professional