What Chuck Does

Breaking Into the 11’s

I thought I’d share my excitement about breaking into the 11-12% fat range. For the longest time (before I started trying to get a six-pack), I was in the 14-17% fat range. I was not “fat” but in retrospect, I wasn’t that “thin” either. At the time I did not think I was carrying around that much extra weight, but I never made an effort to shed fat while preserving muscle.

In hindsight, I now realize I was so wrong about so many things. For years I figured the scale was wrong because I couldn’t have that much body fat. Furthermore I “heard” the scale was skewed against athletes and since I considered myself an athlete, it registered a higher fat percentage. Thirdly, I doubted the scale’s internal algorithms and figured that one would have to lose a lot of weight to register a single percent drop in fat.

Wrong, wrong and wrong.

Numbers don’t lie. Metrics are how we’re all judged. Just because you don’t believe it, doesn’t mean it’s not true. Over the past week and a half, I’ve seen a true reduction in body fat. I’ve seen the scale reflect this change in my body and I realize I was wrong on so many levels. The biggest realization was how I could be in so much denial about what was possible. I was even wrong about the hydration level staying constant as one sheds fat. It’s not possible to retain the same hydration percentage over time because muscles tissue hold more water than fat tissue. Therefore as one drops fat, the hydration % will naturally increase as muscle makes up more of ones body - Source

I’m not saying that I was wrong about all things scale-related. The FAQ I’ve written still holds true. The mental barriers for what I thought was possible, were what was wrong.

If you’re wondering why I posted a picture of a Corvette Z06, it’s because the Z06 can run 11’s in the 1/4 mile all day (and break 10’s on a good day!).