A few weeks ago, as summer was drawing to a close, I started on a new nutrition and training programme. The objective was to blast my fat.

I find myself in an odd position. My BMI is 24.8 so in the healthy zone and my waist/hip ratio is .78. Again comfortably within the desired range. But my body fat percentage was over 38%. For a woman my age the upper limit is 32%. 38% makes me obese.

So should I be worried. In the great scheme does it matter. I am fitter than most women of my age and I look good in size 12, slightly forgiving, clothes. So what if I look a bit lumpy in a bodycon dress. And who is going to look at me in a bikini. Well it does matter. I want to look good in that dress but more importantly having such a high body fat percentage is unhealthy.
Excess fat doesn’t just look unsightly. It is now known to be a highly active endocrine organ that pumps out hormones that upset the metabolism and chemicals called adipokines that cause inflammation. As someone who suffers from painful arthritis that possibly was responsible for my heart condition inflammation is something that I don’t want too much of.

Weight loss and fat loss are not identical concepts. Weight loss is easy. Well the theory is. The practise is more challenging. All you have to do is use more energy (calories) than you consume. If you persevere with this the weight will fall off. It doesn’t matter whether the food you eat is of poor quality or healthy it is the number of calories that you consume. But, it won’t just be fat that you lose. You will also lose muscle.

Most popular weight loss programmes only rely on the scales to measure success. Many women who achieve their weight loss goal will then express a need to ‘tone up’. But what does that mean. Believe me I am very toned. It is my fat that is covering the evidence.

If the target is fat loss then a bit more planning is required as it is not just energy in/energy out. If you want to protect your lean body mass then more attention needs to be given to the food you eat and the exercise you do. There is a huge body of opinion on this subject. Some of it conflicting. But the evidence concludes that a diet high in protein and a training plan that focuses on strength training and high impact cardio (HITT)is the most effective way to protect and grow (tone) your muscles whilst at the same time blasting that fat.

So where am I in my conquest to reduce my body fat? What changes have I made? It is not as if I have only focused on the scales during the last 4 years and, apart from the last few months when I have concentrated on endurance training, I am not unfamiliar with weight training and HITT.

Being fortunate in having a brilliant Personal Trainer she devised me a whole new programme. I am now following a high protein, high fat, low carb diet and a training programme of weight training, HITT and low impact steady state (LISS) in a 3:2:1 ratio.

But it hasn’t been easy. Over 4 weeks I have only lost 1.25% fat. Life just gets in the way. Being away with work and a fairly busy social life makes following the plan challenging. But I am not going to give up. Progress may be slow but my fat will be history.