Numbers

You know that hottie's number you got on Saturday night? Yeah, that's an example of a good number.


Waiting those 3 days to get in touch with him/her? First off that whole 3-day rule is bullshit, and also an example of a bad number.


As an engineer, my world revolves around numbers. The good, the bad, the real, the imaginary - yes, liberal arts majors, there are such things as imaginary numbers - √(-1). As with the rest of my world, body transformation and physical training is number-centric. There are good numbers to keep track of and bad numbers. From what I've noticed, most people get wrapped up in the bad ones because they are the most basic ones to follow.


Weight:

Bad number –

Scale weight. I’ll admit, when I first started, I was completely wrapped up with the weight on the scale. The more I learned, the less I tracked it. The only real time I do is during my annual bulk cycle. As I approach my goal for the summer, I check it less and less. Wait, what? Yup. Scale weight isn’t what you should be following, there are way too many factors to bring into the equation in order to get a consistant reading: what you had to eat before, how much water you’ve had prior, hell – even if you’ve gone to the bathroom right before stepping on there. It’s too reliant on too many variables.

Good numbers  -

Body Fat % - When it comes to weight, this is what most people should be tracking. “Oh, I just want to lose 5lbs.” If that 5lbs is muscle, then you actually end up with a higher body fat % than when you started. Now, not all of us have access to a Hydrodensitometry Weighing tank (uses water displacement) – which is one of the most accurate methods. For us normal people, Calipers work well as long as you have someone who has been trained to use them. Now, I don’t have my own personal trainer to take these measurements for me (I’m a cheap bastard), so I primarily use a body measurement tape (or tailor’s cloth tape) and take readings from different parts and then plug them into the body fat calculator at http://www.fittogether.net. This, obviously, is prone to some error because you might not get the exact same place every time, but it’s still good just for general tracking.

Calories:

Bad number –

Lump sum for the day. As I discussed in The Basics, your body needs a certain amount of calories per day to not kick into starvation mode (which is NOT a good thing – the first thing your body will do is break down muscle for energy, not fat). For me to cut up for summer, I need to eat between 2,000-2,500 calories a day – which after my 3,500-4,000/day I needed after my bulk cycle, is kinda hard. Now your normal large thin crust pizza has about 2,000 calories in it. Can I just eat one of those a day and still cut fat? Hell no. Plus, I’d break out from all the grease. Not sexy. The quality of the calories matters too. “Clean” foods – baked chicken and fish, steamed veggies, fresh fruits (only right before and after lifting)…these are the sources that you should be relying on.  It really all comes down to…

Good number –

Macronutrients. This is the percent breakdown of protein, carbs, and (healthy) fats that your calories come from. The general rule of thumbs for each are:

Protein: 1 to 1.5 times your body weight in grams (1.5-2x if you’re bulking). I’m 185, I should get between 185-280g/day.
Protein is 4 cals/g, so I should be getting 740-1120 cals/day from protein.

Fats: 0.5 time your body weight in grams. I should be getting ~90-100g a day.
Fats are 10 cals/g, so 900-1000 cals/day from them.

Those two, you do not touch during a cut phase. If you’re cutting, you adjust the carbs – but do NOT cut them out completely. Your body needs them for basic brain and physiological functions.

Carbs: So since I need 2000-2500 (for this exercise, we’re going to go with 2500) cals a day to cut fat healthily, and, on average, 930 cals from protein and 950 from fats, that leaves 620 cals for carbs which, at 4 cals/g, works out to ~155g of carbs, less if I go for the 2000cals/day.

So instead of being wrapped up in the “OMG! I can’t believe I weighed 182 today, I was 178 yesterday!” mentality and then eat nothing but celery for a day to get back to 178, take a step back, breathe, and do the math…

and make sure to hit the head before you do actually weigh yourself.