I came to a harsh and startling realization the other day:  my pants have been lying to me.  I know it’s hard to believe, but pants are liars. Big fat liars. I suspect dresses are liars too, but I have no first hand experience with dresses (why? what did you hear?)

No long ago when I started my 4 Minute Fat Loss program, I asked all of the participants to take measurements.  For they guys, it was the waist I was interested in, for the women it was waist and hips.  So after one guy didn’t email me with his measurements I asked him during the session.

"So what is your current waist measurement"  I asked as I set up the workout.

"36" he replied quickly. The answer didn’t seem right.  I have been at this game a while, so I know when certain numbers sound fishy.

"You used a measuring tape?" I asked.

"No, but my pants are a 36."

There it was, so I told him "Go home and use a measuring tape"

I got an email later that evening that he actually measured and his waist was in fact 42 inches.

I’m sure he thought what I thought: How can that be?  The pants said 36! That’s when it really hit me: Pants are liars.  I asked my other 4 minute Fat Loss guys what size pants they usually wore, and they all answered 36.  But each of them had actual waist measurements of 40-42 inches.

So I decided to do a little experiment.  I will say that I do not wear long pants all that often.  You see I have big legs, and have always had big legs so it is hard to find pants that fit right.  But it’s usually pretty warm here, and even when it isn’t I can get away with shorts 90% of the time.

it just so happens that I wear a size 36 pants, so I took my 36 inch jeans (the finest jeans Old Navy has to offer) out of my closet and measured them. Here is the actual tag.

These jeans are freshly washed, and not stretched from wearing.  I put the tape measure up to them and this is what I got:

I know that is a little hard to see so let me zoom it in for you.

Now I think I was being generous as I did not full stretch them out as if one was to wear them, and even then it measured at 19 inches. Now do a little math and multiply that by two and you have the circumference.  The result is 38 inches. I think I could have probably squeezed out another inch or two if I was to yank on them a bit.  The only good news for me is that these pants are loose on me, so that is something.

So what does this mean? It means clothing manufacturers are trying to make us feel better by giving us smaller numbers on our clothes. 

I expect politicians to lie to me, but not my attire. Pants lie. Dresses lie. Tape measures do not.

The Bottom Line: Do not believe everything you wear.

Joshua Carter
http://carterfitness.com

PS: If you want to make your real numbers smaller, shoot me an email.

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I had to stop by my West Hills facility the other day to pick up some of the new shirts that had just come in. I had my youngest boy Nate (not yet 2) in tow. It was something like 2pm, so no one was training and the gym was deserted. Nate had been there many times so I let him loose with the physio balls- no problem right?

As I am unpacking the shirts I hear "Up high Daddy, up high."

"Yeah, ok Nate." then I turned around. YIKES!

Like any father I had a sudden influx of fear and pride. Fear of what his mother would say when she inevitably finds out, and of course pride - not even 2 years old and he climbed a stack of barbells!  Camera always ready I snapped the shot and lowered him to (relative) safety.

For the record that is his "I know I’m doing something wrong but I am doing it anyway" smile.

Damn kids.

Joshua Carter

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Aside from the uncontrollable shaking, violent vomiting and minor blood loss, I had a great time.

-Joshua Carter
FSB 2008 Presenter

This is just a quick note to all who were in attendance that it was a privilege and an honor to have been a presenter at the Fitness Business Summit 2008.  The wealth oh knowledge shared by the presenters was absolutely staggering, and I humbly hope that I add to that in some small way.

For those of you who do not know what the FBS08 is, it is a summit for fitness professionals designed to to further the business of fitness and health.  Basically some top fitness professionals give advice on how to (over)deliver what our clients want and need.  It was truly amazing.

And to Bedros, the man who had the overwhelming task of putting the summit together as well as  being my friend and mentor, a personal thanks. Without you I would be a trainer at Bally’s.

See you all next year,

Joshua Carter The Body Transformation Expert Carter Fitness http://carterfitness.com 818-337-6175

PS: As for the opening quote, Saturday night I got smacked with some sort if food poisoning or something really nasty.  I had a high fever that caused uncontrollable shaking.  I ended up vomiting so hard that it made my nose bleed. It took a few days to pass completely, but I lived through it. It made an already memorable weekend even more memorable.

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Kids.  Sometime they are a giant pain in the ass it’s true.  Then there are there other times…

I just found out my eldest son Gabe wants to have a hyphenate career when he grows up. You know, like "actor-singer" or "politician-liar". I couldn’t be happier.

You see last week Gabe was the "Star of the Week" at his kindergarten class.  The kids all take turns being the star, and they get to bring in a big poster board with pictures of the various stages of their life. They get to be line leader and various other fun 5 year old things.

One of the things they do is fill out a form that has a bunch of questions like who is their best friend, what is the favorite food etc. (Brandon and chicken dippers if you must know.)

Then there was the question about what Gabe wanted to do when he grew up. His response: Work at Daddy’s gym and be Superman. I honestly had a tear well up when I saw that.

I guess if he has to spilt his duties at the gym it is really ok since he will be saving the world from eminent doom. He will be the best Superman ever (that is the prejudice part). I ask you; how could I be more proud?

Joshua Carter The Body Transformation Expert Carter Fitness http://carterfitness.com 818-337-6175

PS: This week he wrote his last name for the first time. He sounded it out all by himself.  He misspelled it, but I still do that sometimes.

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For those of you just tuning in, this is the continuing saga of the V-Diet.  You can read first entry here.

This will just server to really wrap things up for the first 28 days, and give you an idea of how the 2 others working with me directly did on the diet. 

Ken, as predicted did very well up into the last week. This was due to no fault of his own. Like a trooper he stayed on course, didn’t miss a meal or a workout.

His V-Diet experience was cut short by some a-hole that cut him off while he was riding his bike.  His injuries were pretty bad but he is alive (and soon to be kicking) and convalescing at home.  FYI- he is currently taking applications for skin donors.

As of Monday of week 4, he had lost 13 pounds and more than 2 inches from his waist.  Ken said that the fear of the diet was far worse than the actual application. Get well soon Ken, we miss you.

Norm would eat sand if it was part of a fitness program.  Whenever he commits, he commits 100%.  So it was no surprise to see do so well on this program.  The details are far too boring to go into, but suffice it to say he did everything perfectly. At the end of week for he was down over 15 pounds.  Unfortunately he did not take and  waist measurements but his pants are all much looser.  Here is the real kicker- how many 61 year olds do you know who can see their abs?  I only know one.

Then there is me. Let me say this- there is no way in hell I was going to let any of my clients do better than me.  That’s just how I roll.

The first week was the toughest, I was constantly hungry. Weeks 2-4 my hunger was crushed.  I kept forgetting to eat and that has never happened. Even watching my family eat was no big deal. There was only one minor bump that came on day 28.  Read the Fitness Business Summit post to find out what happened.

The only real negative is the blow to the ego from the strength loss.  But let’s get real - no one will know how much my bench went down, but they will see the difference in my shape.  I’m still strong, just less strong than I was.  I will seek therapy and somehow make it through.

We are all doing the transition phase now, which is basically just adding one healthy solid meal per day every 3 or 4 days. This should last two weeks or so.

I highly recommend this diet, but it is not for the faint of heart.  It is a drastic reshaping of dietary habits but all for the better. I can’t wait for the full V-Diet book.

And my numbers- 22lbs and 3" off my waist.

Joshua Carter The Body Transformation Expert Carter Fitness http://carterfitness.com 818-337-6175

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