My body fat percentage has been fluctuating for a while now. A few months ago, it was 18.6, now it's about 20. According to experts, my body fat percentage should be below 18.
The strength training is working slowly, although the results are not as fast as they were with weight loss. I still like cardio more than the weights. I now have a personal trainer to go over the basics with the strength training. Hopefully I will learn enough as I only signed up for a few sessions.
Did you ever notice with diet or health-related talk, there is often conflicting information out there. One source says don't eat red meat, another source says red meat is fine. One source will say coffee is okay, but then you hear reports that maybe it's not so good. The question of how much protein often has different answers, depending on who you ask.
Dr. Fuhrman said in his book The End of Diabetes, that Americans get too much protein in their diets. Then I read somewhere else that to increase muscle mass, I need the amount of protein in grams equal to my body weight. Another source says men should get 56 grams of protein. What am I supposed to believe?
I want to start this article by thanking Dr. Oz for mentioning quinoa on his show a few months ago. I had never heard of this grain before and learned about it's health benefits when it was featured on the Oz show. This healthy grain has been an important part of my diet ever since.
When I was working out a while back, someone was talking to me about protein. I've been doing strength training and protein is especially important for gaining muscle. He felt I was getting a low amount of protein. I am now trying to get around 120 grams of protein each day, but it's easier said than done.
A few months back, I reached my goal weight and I've been maintaining. Of course maintaining your weight is always a big concern for dieters. So many people end up gaining the weight back and then some.
Something I never thought about when losing the weight is having to deal with loose skin, particularly around the abs and inner thighs. I've gotten a lot of advice about it and strength training should be a way to lessen the amount of loose skin. The faster you go with weight loss, the more loose skin you will have. I think I lost weight slow enough as I averaged around 3 pounds per week.