<p class="p1" style="text-align: justify;">So many people want to lose weight but it is not so often that I hear people wanting to lose fat. When I was young I did lots of cardio in the hope of being skinny That was a long time ago and now I know better!</p>
<p class="p1" style="text-align: justify;">Now I mainly do weight bearing exercises to be strong and remain injury free. I often ask people what their goals are and I am in shock each time I hear someone say that they want to be skinny. I believe strong is the new skinny and there are so many advantages to being strong and healthy. First, let's clarify the difference between muscle fat.</p>
<p class="p2" style="text-align: center;"><b>Myth: Muscle weighs more than fat</b></p>
<p class="p1" style="text-align: justify;">S<a href="http://www.choose2be.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Muscle-versus-fat.jpg"><img class="alignright wp-image-912 size-medium" src="http://www.choose2be.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Muscle-versus-fat-300x231.jpg" alt="Muscle versus fat - Nanaimo Personal Training - 8 week online program - strong - weight lost - weight training" width="300" height="231" /></a>o many people say muscle weighs more than fat. Actually that is not true. 1 pound of muscle and 1 pound of fat weigh the same. The trick is, they do not the same density. Look at the picture and see how much more space fat takes compared to muscle. That is why you should not worry about the scale when you start working out but see results by how your clothes suit you. So the goal is to change your body composition by having more muscle and less fat.</p>
<p class="p2" style="text-align: center;"><b>Body composition, not weight, affects the way you look</b></p>
<p class="p1" style="text-align: justify;">This picture show a men and wo<a href="http://www.choose2be.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Body-composition.jpg"><img class="alignright wp-image-910 size-full" src="http://www.choose2be.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Body-composition.jpg" alt="Muscle versus fat - Nanaimo Personal Training - 8 week online program - strong - weight lost - weight training" width="225" height="225" /></a>men on 2 different rows having the same weight but with different body composition. The % written above them is their fat percentage. So as you can see, because an image is worth a thousand words, having more muscle versus fat can affect your body image a lot. Some of you might already be wondering "How do I know how much body fat my body carries?" There are a few different ways to find out.</p>
<p class="p2" style="text-align: center;"><b>How do you measure body fat?</b></p>
<p class="p5" style="text-align: justify;">The most accurate way is body submersion (also call hydrostatic weighing) which takes place under water. This is highly accurate, but expensive  and not too practical for most people. There are many other ways of finding out your fat percentage, to varying levels of accuracy. For example, most personal trainer use a fat calliper tool (which pinches the fat at various locations around the body) to help theirs clients determine fat percentage. Another way is by using a biometrical impedance scale, if you want to know more about it, check this <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioelectrical_impedance_analysis"><span class="s1">wikipedia link</span></a>. I have used a fews different varieties of these scale and I am not convinced how accurate they are, because so many things can interfere in the reading. When I did my body fitness competition I was so surprised that my weight on scale didn't change. I might had lost 1-2 pounds, but my body composition was changing. I didn't use any fancy tool to mesure my fat percentage. I actually only use my eyes and the eyes of my trainer at the time, Isabelle Vincent.</p>
<p class="p1">The main thing to remember is that whatever method you use to track progress (measurements, photos, fitness test, etc.) to use the same method the next time so you are comparing apples to apples. And don't get discouraged if you don't see results right away: Fitness is a lifestyle and a journey.</p>
<p class="p1">This is part of the <a href="http://www.choose2be.ca/product/8-week-online-register/"><span class="s1">8 week online program</span></a>.</p>