I want to explain the important steps in losing weight and the correct procedure to follow. Here's a scenario that I used for one of my clients, we'll call him Bill. He's been a client of mine for over a year now and he has seen moderate results since starting with me. Currently he wants to shape up for the summer so he would like to lose about 5 to 10 lbs of fat within the next 3 months. This makes it much easier to maintain his muscle mass, while losing body fat. First I had him log his calorie intake for the next 5 days, and then took the average of those 5 days. His average daily calorie intake was about 1900 calories. I then made a few adjustments to his workouts adding a few more core strength exercises (See "Bucking the Trend" below as a sample). I also adjusted his calorie intake by adding 200 calories more per day.

Bill's results since his adjustments two weeks ago: he has lost 5 lbs of body fat and increased his muscle mass by 4 lbs - resulting in the loss of 1 lb bodyweight. You may be asking what the point of this article is, well here's my point. If you want to lose weight, focus on losing fat not necessarily bodyweight. If you’re unsure about how to proceed, hire a qualified personal trainer to help you. With so many fad diet programs out there, I want to educate you on the correct and healthier ways of reaching and maintaining your new goal weight. - DMx