GET OFF THAT SCALE!

Sunday, July 12, 2009

For some people, the weight scale is their worst enemy. I've had clients who literally weigh themselves three times a day, feeling deflated when they don't see changes within the same day. Come on now...First of all, you have to be realistic; you will not see healthy weight changes from day to day. Secondly, you are sabotaging yourselves with your obsession with the scale! My advice? Throw the damn thing in the back of the garbage man's truck on the next trash day.

Let me start by saying the most important measure of your progress is how you feel in your clothes and when you look in the mirror. Aside from that, pictures, monthly body fat tests to measure your body fat %, and tape measures are the best combination to help you see the changes in the condition of your body. The weight scale lies!!! Weight can change day to day, based on the weight of your daily food and liquid intake, the last time you went to the bathroom, bloating, etc. With these daily variances, it's hard to stay motivated and easy to get disappointed when you are basing your results off of weight alone.

Something to also keep in mind is that not all weight loss is good. Imagine your body in layers: you have skin on top, fat in the middle, then muscle on the bottom. The goal is to remove the middle layer.....the FAT. When you do this, the skin will lay closer to the muscle, allowing you to see more of the actual shape of your body. The body will very easily give up muscle mass before it gives up fat mass. A person might continue to on a plan that is causing them to lose muscle mass if they continue to see the scale dropping, in some cases slowing their metabolism and causing them to lose their toned shape (decreasing the bottom layer--the muscle--left with fat and skin--not sexy). Weight gain can actually be a sign that you are building muscle, increasing your metabolism, and reshaping your body. Muscle weighs a lot more than fat, so you just might be progressing with a slight increase in weight. This brings me right back to the better tools of calculating your progress--your clothes, the mirror, pictures, body fat tests and tape measures. This goes for men and women alike.

Besides, getting rid of that scale, so you can finally focus on your program (instead of your weight) could prove to be a great stress reliever. ;-)