MuscleReview, Author at Lose Fat Gain Muscle

The Pants Don’t Lie

July and August were great months for me, but not as far as diet and exercise go.

My wife and I moved from Asia to the USA and immediately did some traveling after arriving here. We went about a month with no training and my diet was hit or miss (mostly miss).

The wake-up call to get my diet back in order came when I tried on an old pair of slacks. They were tight in the waist. I couldn’t wear them for fear of reenacting this Subway commercial:

These before-mentioned pants were probably a bit snug on previous (leaner) versions of me. Regardless, I couldn’t ignore the obvious: weeks of no exercise and bad eating has taken it’s toll. I’m not obsessed with wearing those slacks again, but I definitely need to drop a few pounds of fat.

There’s a point to my story: it’s helpful to have objective ways to measure your progress. Stepping on the scale is the most common way, but probably not the best–it doesn’t give you much useful information on change in body composition.

Brad Pilon recommends having a DEXA/DXA scan or Bod Pod measurement done once a year to measure body fat–this is probably the best way for those who want precise feedback. You can get a general idea of how things are going just by measuring your waist every once in a while. Another option is to take pictures of yourself for comparison (not really objective, but you can usually see improvements and/or needed improvements by comparing photos of yourself).

Don’t forget to include some form of measurements in your fitness journey. This will help you celebrate your accomplishments and warn you when you are moving in the wrong direction.

Examine.com’s Supplement-Goals Reference Review

A few weeks ago I was given the opportunity to look over Examine.com’s Supplement-Goals Reference Guide. I’m familiar with some of the contributors to this website, so I had a feeling it would be worth my time. It definitely was–here’s my review:

I really like the way this reference is laid out. You can look up any supplement and find out the possible benefits of taking it (hormonal, performance, etc.). You can also look up a particular desired effect and see how the evidence is “graded” (A-D) based on the number of studies (grade A would be very strong evidence; grade D would be very weak/limited evidence). I’ll show you a couple of screen shots. Here’s part of what you would get if you looked up maca (supplement search):

This is only part of the result–if you have the reference you’ll see a grade for virtually every possible effect (libido, depression, etc),

Here’s part what you would get if you looked up an effect, like increasing testosterone:

Keep in mind this is not something you would want to sit down and try read all the way through–it’s just too massive for that. As the name implies, it is a reference–something to be used when you want specific information.

I’d recommend the Examine.com Supplement-Goals Reference Review without hesitation. It only costs $40 for lifetime access–I’d say it is worth it for the amount of money and time you could save. Just click here if you want to check it out.