Goal

The first thing we’ll take care of is setting a goal! Don’t skip this chapter under any circumstances, because without reading it, moving forward will be difficult if not impossible. What could be easier than setting a goal? Yet, for some reason, most people can’t set themselves a goal during their whole lifetime! I would even go as far as say that this is the only reason why people can’t have a happy and successful life. Lots of people don’t even know how much they weigh at the same time that they’re trying to lose weight (funny, isn’t it?). They think that as soon as they begin to lose weight, everyone will notice. They’ll be quite content with a compliment from a friend about their «new» weight, despite the fact that they started their diet yesterday – just before midnight.

The first thing you need to do is to set the «departure point» and the «point of arrival». 

To start, measure your weight. If you don’t have scales at home, buy them. This is mandatory, since you should weigh yourself only on one and the same scales (different scales might differ in their accuracy by 1-2 kilos, sometimes even more). Otherwise, you might see that – according to the scales at your friend’s house – you measure 70 kilos, and after a week – when you’ve purchased your own scales – you weigh 70 kilos again. In that case you might feel discouraged and give up before you start, while the error was really due to those very 2 kilos, which you actually dropped – a super result you wouldn’t even know of. So record your results! The first thing we do is purchasing scales. But don’t jump on them. You have to remember that scales are not a toy that can be used at any time. Sure, it’s great fun when the house is full of guests, and everybody wants to know everyone’s weight. On announcing the results, some people might have to endure quite unpleasant remarks from insensitive friends. Remember that scales are your personal body weight-measuring machine. Checking weight requires accuracy. You should therefore weigh yourself once within a certain period of time. We’ll do it once a week. Once you’ve bought the scales, there’s no need to wait until Monday or the 1st of next month. Keep in mind that the day after you buy the scales, you should start losing weight – it’s the rule you have to follow! If you don’t start acting within 72 hours, you’ll never start! By the way, I started writing the book you’re holding in your hands the day after I’d decided to write it, and the result is tangible. If I hadn’t kept to the rule, you wouldn’t have this indispensable guide. So let’s review this point again: you have to weigh yourself at the same time every 7 days. This should be in the morning, just after you get up. Stand on the scales, either naked or in just your underwear. Don’t mix this up! Immediately after you wake up you should go to the scales. Remember: scales must always stand in the same spot, because the unevenness of the floor can cause inaccuracy, and we regard every 100 grams as important for our records. By the way, inside this book there’s a Burn That Diary for recording all your data, including your weight. 

Okay. So you’ve gotten up early, you’ve had nothing to eat or drink yet, and you haven’t even gone to the toilet because you immediately went to stand on the scales and record your weight in the Burn That Diary. Next to your initial weight there is another column under the headline «target»: here you have to put down your goal weight, i.e., the weight you want to have. 

Now, let’s sort out the issue of «real vs. unreal goals.» For example, for a girl whose height is 160 cm and who leads a sedentary lifestyle, the ideal weight will be 50 kg. But no less! If the same woman is engaged in active sports, it means that the percentage of muscle mass is above average, so her ideal weight would be 55 kg. You can see certain patterns here: if the girl’s height is 150 cm, her ideal weight is 40-45 kg. If the girl is 170 cm, her weight should be no less than 60 kg (otherwise, she will look anorexic). For men, the proportion is a little bit different: if the man is 160 cm, then his normal weight ranges from 60 to 65 kg. For the man whose height is 170 cm, the normal weight is 70-75 kg, and the man who is 180 cm tall would look great if he weighed 80-85 kg. Guys who are 190 cm and above should weigh 90-95 kg. Yes, just like that! Now you know what your goal is! If you are a girl whose height is 165 cm and whose weight is 70 kg today, your goal is 52.5 kg if you lead a sedentary lifestyle, whereas the athlete can set a goal of 57.5 kg. And this goal must be written down in the column «target.» 

So, I hope you’re not heading to the kitchen yet because we’ve got a lot of work to do! There are many empty entries in your Burn That Diary to be filled. Next, we have the following to discuss: neck measurement. It’s difficult to recommend something specific here. Well, I guess you have to «switch on» your imagination and visualize it. If your neck is now 35 cm, what would you look like if its circumference were 30 cm? If you want to lose 5 kg weight, it’s silly to hope you will be able to reduce the size of your neck by 5 cm, so the objective will be losing 2 cm. But if your goal is to shed 20-30 kg, then you can expect to lose 7-8 cm in neck circumference. Record your current neck size. It’s time to move on. 

Next, measure the circumference of your shoulder girdle. At first you may find it inconvenient to measure yourself, but I think success depends on your ability to focus on losing weight. I believe in you, and I believe that you will be able to overcome any difficulty, because it’s just silly and unacceptable to justify the rejection of the idea of weight loss by an inability to adjust to measuring yourself. Of course, men take pride in the size of their shoulder girdle and, naturally, they will expect minimal losses in this muscles group, while ladies will be striving for maximum decrease in this area. So, just to give you a guide, at every 5-7 kg of weight loss there will be decrease of 1-2 cm in the shoulder girdle. Record the current size of the shoulder girdle, then set yourself a goal! Go ahead. 

Next, you need to measure your chest circumference. Girls are naturally greater experts than guys when it comes to measuring chest size, but in general, there’s nothing to be confused about. The excess fat can be visible at the back, under the arms and on the chest. Of course, the volumes aren’t comparable with the excess waist fat, but still you might expect to lose a little more than half of what you eventually lose in the waist (and the waistline and midriff area will be discussed below). It means that if you intended to reduce your waist by 10 cm, your chest circumference would decrease by 5-6 cm. Record the current size in the Burn That Diary, and set your target size next to the entry! Go ahead.

Next, measure the circumference of your arms at the biceps and triceps at the moment of maximum muscle tension. This is important because – when you lose the excess fat – it will be replaced with muscle, so the tension plays a significant part. The circumference of your arms will differ greatly from person to person, so evaluate the expected loss approximately. Again, remember that you define your goals, and there’s nothing wrong with you if the actual results turn out a little different. But the goal absolutely has to be set because you have to attain the weight you planned for, and you have to have the waist you wanted too. Everything else should only be regarded as a guideline. Ultimately, I recommend that since today you start to record your measurements every 7 days. Give serious consideration to this, because it’s not uncommon for our acquaintances to flatter us when telling us we look great. It’s important to understand that the people around us are like our mirrors. So if you change, the reflection will change too. You will turn into a different person, and most likely you will have new friends, as the old ones won’t match the «new you.» I will talk in detail about this later, so stay tuned. After measuring your arm circumference, set a goal! Move ahead!