Answers To Your Questions About My Fitness Trainer
Here are the top ten most frequently asked questions about the MyFitnessTrainer.com program:
1. Why won't the program track my carbs? (or fat, or calories burned through exercise, etc...)
History tells us that the simpler the fat loss program, the better the chances that you'll stick with it. In the beginning of a fat loss program, it may be fun to track everything under the sun, but eventually you'll run out of time and energy.
MyFitnessTrainer.com tracks only the necessary information to assure great results. We've found that tracking your calories and fiber intake are sufficient. This is because your fiber intake goal helps you to choose healthier foods automatically, and the calorie goal helps you to burn more than you take in.
Your calorie goal is compared to your fat and muscle losses/gains for the week. The math is automatically done to give you a new weekly calorie goal to match your changing metabolism. This allows you to avoid plateaus and assure consistent fat loss.
2. Why aren't I able to list extra exercise I've done beyond the goal each day?
It's definitely fun to get credit for your efforts, so I understand why you might wish for an "extra credit" exercise box. You definitely deserve congratulations for doing more than what was required on the program on any given day. You can record extra exercise in your online journal (found under Misc. in the Member Menu).
The workout requirements for the MyFitnessTrainer.com program are very simple and take very little time. This is designed to be achievable. You should be able to follow the program for the rest of your life with little time investment. Consistency is much more important than intensity when it comes to lifelong weight loss and maintenance. In other words, the tortoise beats the hare. So, go ahead and do that "extra credit" when you're able. But never miss your basic workout and be sure to check those three boxes every day.
3. How does the program know how many calories I'm burning when it doesn't let me track all of my exercise?
This is a great question, and one of my favorite to answer. MyFitnessTrainer.com was cleverly designed to track your calories burned in a much simpler, yet much more accurate way than the competition. Here's how:
Your body is a journal. It tracks everything you do by storing and/or burning fat, while building and/or losing muscle. Each pound of fat represents about 3,500 calories, and each pound of muscle about 600. So, through your weekly measurements, we can see how many calories your body burned that week. We compare the calories in (your food journal,) and calories out (as revealed by your measurements,) and we adjust for fat loss.
This method is much more accurate than trying to guess calories burned according to activity. This is because it's impossible to track all of your activity each day, and even more impossible to calculate exactly how many calories you're burning doing each activity. (Activity calorie expenditure charts are just estimations and the values vary wildly from person to person.)
4. How does MyFitnessTrainer.com know how many calories to recommend to me each week?
See answer #3 for the long story. Basically, it calculates your calories in during the past week, your calories out, and your metabolic rate for the past week. Assuming that last week was a decent predictor of your metabolic rate this week, it recommends a calorie goal.
5. I feel hungry at my calorie goal. How can I get more calories?
First, make sure to eat high-quality, high-fiber foods. They are more filling, so you will feel less hungry on the same number of calories.
If that doesn't work and you're still hungry, you may need to up your calorie goal. You can do this by exercising more and eating more. For example, you can do an extra 30 minutes of cardio each day and up your calorie intake by 200 per day. The program will tell you that you're going over your goal, but just ignore that for a week. Next week, if the increased cardio helped up your metabolism, your calorie goal will be higher.
Anytime you eat more than your goal, be sure to enter the accurate daily calories in your Daily Foods page. This will give your program the accurate information it needs to adjust your calorie goal for the next week (including raising it!)
It's important to raise your calorie goal in this manner whenever you feel under fed. This will allow your metabolism to grow and grow. For an example, check out Nicci's before and after picture. She followed the MyFitnessTrainer.com program and built up her metabolism to the point where she was still losing weight while eating 1,000 more calories than before!
6. I only lost one pound this week, but my program upped my calorie goal anyway. What gives?
Remember that your fitness program tracks your fat loss/gain and muscle loss/gain, not just your total weight. It is possible that while you only lost 1 total pound, you really lost 2 pounds of fat and gained a pound of muscle. This is even better than losing two pounds of fat without a muscle gain. Remember, muscle burns calories, so the more muscle the better.
Your MyFitnessTrainer.com calorie goal is designed to continue to encourage fat loss and muscle gain. This is all part of the long-term perspective: you want to lose fat while revving up your metabolism to keep the fat off.
7. I noticed that the program gives me one day off per week. How can I change the day?
You may want your day off on Sundays, but your program gives you Wednesdays off. If this is really important to you, it's fine to work around it. Just do a cardio and strength training workout on your day off, and check the boxes. Then, on Sunday (or your preferred day of rest,) check the boxes for the workouts, but take the day off. To get the workout for your Wednesday workout, just choose any two exercises from the Exercise Library. Don't worry about which muscle group to work- just work whichever part of your body doesn't currently feel sore.
8. Where can I find a list of foods to eat/avoid on this diet?
This is not a diet. You don't have to eat or avoid any certain foods. In fact, I highly recommend that you continue to eat (healthier versions of) your favorite foods while following the MyFitnessTrainer.com program. This is because the program is designed to keep you slim for life, and diets don't do that. The idea is to enjoy the foods you eat and the new lifestyle you are living- that way you'll never need to be "done" with a "diet." For those of you who really want a food list, here is a list of some healthy food ideas. Believe me, it's nowhere near to all-inclusive. Be creative, and enjoy your meals.
9. How can I make food journaling easier?
Your Daily Foods page allows you to save food information after you enter it once. This is very helpful, as most people eat the same foods often. Once you've entered the information once, you can always pull it out of your "favorite foods" drop-down list, and the site will automatically enter the calorie and fiber info for you. Just change the amount eaten as necessary, and the site will adjust the calories.
If you're not at a computer during the day, another option is to carry a notebook with you and just keep a running total of calories and fiber. Then you can enter this information without all of the food details. Just be sure to check the little box at the bottom of the food journal section that says "check this box to enter the totals only." Then hit submit after you enter your totals.
Always remember to hit "submit" after entering foods or totals. Nothing will be saved unless you hit the submit button.
10. My calorie goal suddenly dropped dramatically for no obvious reason. What happened?
Chances are that you made an error in recording your Daily Foods page. If you forgot to enter your foods one day or forgot to hit "submit," it will mess up your calorie goal. If you think this has happened, check the box on the Daily Foods page that says "click here if you think your calorie logs for the past week have been inaccurate." This will reset the calorie goal back to normal and allow you to continue your program. Just be very careful to accurately enter your calories this week, and the new calorie goal next week will be accurate again.
*Warning: This program is not provided by a doctor. Use common sense when following this program, and be sure to get your doctor's opinion if you are worried about anything you are doing on the program.
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