How Do I Calculate Exactly How Much Muscle I've Gained?

You cannot calculate your muscle gain, short of having a biopsy. You can calculate your lean mass gain. Many people confuse this with muscle, which it is not - it is a combination of anything that is not fat. That means the contents of food in your gut, the water that your muscles may draw in, water you may be retaining in various parts of your body, and muscle. This is why I tell people not to get too caught in the numbers, because you can easily lose/gain 5 pounds of lean mass from food/water alone. It's best to focus on consistent, long term gains and use reliable markers such as the ratio of your biceps circumference to your abs (both flexed).

For example, let's say you started with 16" biceps and a 34" waist, and ended up with 16" biceps and a 32" waist. Here is the ratio:

16:34 = 0.47

16:32 = 0.5

When that ratio goes up, it is a good thing.

On the other hand, if you started with 16" biceps and a 34" waist, and ended up with 15" biceps and a 34" waist, the second ratio would be 0.44 -going down, indicating muscle loss.

You always want this ratio to maintain or go up. That is a positive indicator.

As for computing lean mass, it's like this:

200 pounds @ 10% body fat = 200 x 0.1 = 20 pounds of fat

The rest is lean, so 200 - 20 = 180 pounds lean

Now, let's say we ended up at 205 pounds and 12% body fat.

210 pounds @ 12% body fat = 210 x 0.12 = 25 pounds of fat

The rest is lean, so 210 - 25 = 185 pounds of lean

In this case, you could comfortably say you were gaining lean mass. Whether that was water weight or quality muscle would not be known, but generally this would be a positive movement because you are not gaining more fat than muscle.

How Can I Get Rid Of My Stretch Marks?

Stretch marks are thin, stretched skin tissue. They typically appear when you lose weight or put on weight rapidly. Stretch marks contain a normal, upper layer of skin but the lower layers that contain collagen and elastin have become damaged.

There is no specific cure for stretch marks. However, there are many measures you can take to minimize their impact and prevent acquiring new ones.

The first step is not to gain or lose weight too quickly. Usually stretch marks are caused by rapidly gaining weight. When losing weight, it is important to lose weight slowly. When you lose weight too quickly, you risk having an issue with looser, damaged skin. By losing weight at a steady pace, you allow the skin to replenish itself and use its natural elasticity to shrink with your body.

What is a steady pace? Most women can safely lose 0.5% - 1.0% of their body weight each week. Men can lose a little more quickly, from 0.5% - 1.5%.

Losing faster than this can prevent the skin from adapting to the changes in body weight.

You must also nourish the skin from the inside and the outside. Inside, taking a quality multivitamin TOP FORM BASICS is important to supply the body with the materials it needs to repair damaged tissue. Because fats are used to repair cell membranes, especially in the skin, taking the right type of healthy fats TOP FORM BASICS (such as fish oil and flaxseed oil) is also important.

On the outside, quality skin care is important. In addition to regular regimens of the right soaps, shampoos, and lotions, many people report great success with applying cocoa butter on a regular basis.

THF Spring Time Promotion

Fat Loss vs Weight Loss Seminar Part 5 of 5

Sheri's Success Story

I started the program 3 weeks ago and i think i have had amazing results. I have tried all sorts of diets and nothing quite so personalised and effective. I am a very active person and love the gym but after being diagnosed with a medical problem 10 years ago the medication hormone that i was put on for treatment made me gain
unbelievable weight quickly and i have had trouble fighting it off since. It seems to always be a struggle. A girlfriend of mine put me on to this program as she did this a few years back with Mike Butler and had amazing results. Both of my sister in laws have also done this with amazing results, and my mother in law starts with Mike next week, she's 60 and is really excited to get fit!!! So me and 3 friends all started with Mike the same time and are running a healthy little competition. Who ever loses the most body fat every month gets taken out for their free meal by the other 3. Needless to say i am currently in the lead!!! But much to my dedication and hard work and proper coaching from Mike. I have stuck to his plan to a T.

I had a my first baby 6 months ago and full term was extremely heavy, so after i recovered from a C-Section and was up and walking properly(around 2 weeks) i hit the gym light and watched my calories and at 6 weeks i hit it hard. I was working out 6 days a week, lifting and cardio. I managed to shake 35 pounds on my own in 5 months, 6 weeks before i started with Mike i did Weight Watchers for the first time. It was horrible!!! I only went down 5 pounds cause all they do is weigh you, and if you lose anything they instantly think you have been cheating. So after only 3 weeks with Mike i am happy to say that i'm working out half as often and half as hard, i love working out, i actually look froward to it, and my stats are...

scale - 9.2 pounds
% BF - 3.8%
Fat Mass - 12.81
Lean Body Mass + 3.61

The best thing about this program is that they coach you and empower you to make your own choices and with their help guide you into a healthy lifestyle change. I also love that i meet every week which helps my strive for perfection and stay on track and not only scale weight but fat pinching which then tells you your body fat % and lean
body mass % which is much better then looking at the dreaded scale. When i started 3 weeks ago i was almost 40% body Fat and now i am only just above 35% which means i only have 15% to go which also means i have lost almost a 1/4 of my goal already and i'm stoked. I have never been so excited to get my fat pinched every week, next week we will also do 1 month photos and i cant wait to see the change, i have already dropped a whole dress size!!! Mike gave me a program of 25 weeks but i am way ahead of track so anythings possible. Anyway, thats it for me, i will update in a couple of weeks to let you all know how i am doing.

"Sheri Taylor"

Travis Bradford THF Sucsess Story

Here are my before and after photos and also a photo of myself two years after my THF program. The program gave me the ability to keep the weight off.

I had tried a couple of different diets in the past and they didn’t work, so I went to a weight loss vs. fat loss seminar at Total Health & Fitness to find out what I was doing wrong. I found out that my current diet and exercise routine was ineffective. Then I met with Total Health & Fitness and we discussed and developed a fitness and diet program for me. Early on in the program I found that the food combinations and supplements were very important in developing my success. I also liked how the program taught me how I could add variety to my diet and exercise routine. I didn’t feel like I was eating the same old foods and I wasn’t bored during my workouts. As I started to see results, I became more motivated to push myself just a little more each day. Although the program was not always easy, I learned successful strategies to maintain a healthy weight.

"Travis Bradford"

No Medication Necessary

Just a quick testimonial about a client of the Brickyard THF office.

Linda A. was instructed by her doctor to start taking medication. Linda was convinced that she did not need the medication and searched to find something else. Linda has been on a THF program for a little over 3 months now and has seen great results. She recently went in for a check up and her doctor had discovered that she had seen great results without medication.

Here are her Cholesterol numbers:

Overall Cholesterol down from 317 in January to 247
LDL - down from 237 to 178
HDL - down from 52 to 50
Triglycerides down from 142 to 97

Total drop of 70 points.

Ratio change from 6.1 to 4.94.

The doctor also said that is significant, the ratio between the good to the overall cholesterol number.

Bloggers Welcome

We would like to get your thoughts and comments about THF. Just send any comments to info@thfonline.com and we will post them. We know there are a lot of people that would like to share their THF results with others and here is your opportunity. Plus, we love to hear from you anyway.

Our clients and friends have been key to our success, we would love to hear from all of you. Thank you to everyone!

Part 4 Fat Loss vs Weight Seminar

Local Blogger Taking the THF Challenge

A local blogger from Your Heart Out has been asked to take the Total Health & Fitness Challenge and post her progress each week on her blog. You can track her weekly results via here.

About Your Heart Out blog

Your Heart Out is a blog dedicated to shopping, dining, decorating, entertaining and traveling—generally living your heart out in Salt Lake City. Graphic designer/advertising director Maeve Knickerbocker and fashion/home-design writer Ali Anderson Smith bring you the latest and greatest from the local market with shopping tips, product reviews, store tours and whatever we find that’s just too good to keep to ourselves.

Your Heart Out snoops out hot new restaurants, where to see your new favorite band, the best place to find discount designer jeans, and sweet deals on spa treatments. But we also offer reminders of old SLC favorites like turkey club sandwiches at Emigration Market and short hikes to Lake Mary under a full moon. Look to us to find the best stuff available to big city appetites in a cool little city with a buzz of its own.

Another Great THF Testimonial

Name: Candy Olsen
City and State: Nephi, UT
Consultants Name: Daniel Olsen


My weight loss struggles have been typical, it seems, gradually worsening over the years. I gained weight with each baby (six of them) and typically took about one year to lose the weight. After my fifth, though, I was not able to lose the last ten pounds. When my youngest was about six years old (around 1988), I was about 20 pounds overweight and succeeded in losing that by participation in a local Weight Watchers group. Over the next ten years, I gradually gained weight and did not have the same success I'd previously had with Weight Watchers, probably because there was no local group available then. Finally, through some very extensive caloric restriction, tracking and both cardio and resistance workouts, I lost about 30 pounds and was at my desired weight. That, however, did not last as I gradually gained over the next ten or eleven years. I developed arthritis in my knees. My feet, which have always been problematic, became worse. I was unsuccessful at many exercise plans. I tried many tracking options, similar to what you see in Weight Watchers, but would wear down with just trying the time needed to figure it, measure and track. I would feel worse, rather than better, with most efforts. I just couldn't keep it up. I gained about 70 pounds and felt really down. I'd begun to feel that this was just part of aging process for me and that I would not feel well again.


My friend, Elizabeth, recommended this program to me. She is having great success. I couldn't resist a free consultation. Having been through a lot of discouraging disappointments with my health and my food intake, I just wasn't sure I could succeed in any program, but Daniel Olsen assured me that he could design a plan that I could follow; that he would work to help me discover a plan I could live with for life and would not have to yo-yo through weight loss and gain. He was so convincing that I really wanted to give it a try. Success is more the language I wanted to be talking. Once I saw what Daniel hoped to accomplish and how "reachable" the goal is, I was ready to go. Being able to have my consultations over the telephone is invaluable,both because I live too far away from the facility and because we are often unavailable for a set appointment time in a set place. I can adjust my schedule for the set time, but being in a set place just wouldn't work for me. Phone consultations makes it do-able!


I was unsure how I felt about the set nature of the menus, but I find that it's not difficult to vary things, even with the same basic foods. I like being a bit creative with what I have and find that having set menus really eases the shopping situation and makes planning easy. I like how easy it is to follow the cardio and resistance plans—how well they are diagramed so I can be sure I am doing them right. I like how challenging he keeps the workouts, yet how possible they are to do. I like how Daniel takes time to explain how this works, why we do it the way we do, and where we are going from here. I like being accountable, each and every week, for my behavior. It takes procrastination off the radar.


Daniel is right on time with his consultation phone calls. He's readily available, by e-mail or telephone, for assistance. He's positive and really seems to be happy with my progress. He is knowledgeable, willing to work with my crazy schedule where adjustments to food intake and exercise plans enter in, and likes the challenge of meeting my needs. This program makes me feel healthier, stronger, more in control—and it only took a couple of days for my previous cravings and less healthy feelings began to subside! I was really surprised by that! Those are invaluable elements for me. I am very satisfied with my progress so far.

I Really Need A Good Fat Burner Because I Don't Have Any Energy.

Some people want to do the bare minimum to get by and eat convenience foods rather than changing their habits to embrace healthier, less processed foods. If you take a quality multi and eat whole foods, you will gain much more energy than eating a highly processed diet and taking fat burners.

What's worse, the jitters you get from the energy tablets are negative side effects. Your adrenaline system is being stressed. Stress creates cortisol and this inhibits fat loss. So you might feel more energetic, but your body is actually in a state of stress and may not be as capable of burning fat as the marketing hype would have you believe.

Finally, your body does adapt to the energy burners. If you continue to take them, you can suffer from over training and fatigue from the over stimulation of your parasympathetic nervous system. If you cycle off of them then you simply lose the energy kick you were receiving and reintroduce the negative side effects when you cycle back on.