Why You Can’t Trust Your Bathroom Scale
Fat Versus Muscle
Let’s get this straight. When most people say ‘weight loss’, what they mean is ‘fat loss’. Only an odd-ball would want to lose lean trim muscle mass.
That’s why fat-loss, rather than weight-loss, needs to be your goal. Those who are lean and muscular will understand this.
Muscle weighs more than fat, mass for mass, and so although you might weight quite a bit you could be very lean and trim. Body builders and athletes are a great example of this.
That is why it an be tricky if the only tool you’re using to measure your progress is the bathroom scale. Scales are not necessarily a good indication of progress, although most people place a lot of weight on those numbers.
But if you’re exercising a lot and gaining muscle tone along with trying to lose the fat, you may not immediately see a drop in the numbers because you are gaining muscle weight at the same time as losing fat weight.
So since muscle weighs more than fat, it can initially be tricky to see the actual pounds come off. That’s why other methods of charting your progress, like body measurements and how your clothing fits is a much better indication of overall progress.
Still, your actual weight, over time, can be a good indication of fat loss. If you start out as flabby, unmuscular and obese at 250 lbs, and a year later you are more fit, trim and weigh 190 lbs, then you will hardly notice if you’ve gained a pound or two of muscle weight along the way.
But if you weigh yourself day-to-day or week-to-week, any muscle gain will translate into a depressing slowing down of the numbers on the scale.
But don’t despair. Gaining a few pounds of muscle while you drop fat is fabulous. You’ll look and feel ten times better than people who just ‘lose weight’, so don’t let the scale get you down.
When to Weigh In
Another reason why scales are a poor method of measurement is because they are frequently inaccurate. Your weight can change quite a bit throughout the day, just due to simple things like how much and what you’ve eaten, how much water you drink, if you’re dehydrated and are bloated, if you have your period or are constipated, how recently you’ve been to the bathroom and many other factors.
If you are going to use a scale, the best time to weigh yourself is no more than once a day at the most, and once a week is sufficient. You must weigh yourself at the same time each day to get an consistent reading, and the best time is immediately after you’ve woken up and relieved yourself, but before you’ve had anything to eat or drink.
This is particularly important if you’re taking a supplement or any kind of diet-related product. You’ll want to make sure you get consistent results so that you know if the product is working for you or not before you decide to give up on it, as was noted in our Apidexin reviews page.
Better Ways to Measure Success
The simpliest and most accurate way to measure fat-loss progress is the fit of your clothing. If you are dropping down from a 16 go a 14 to a 12, then you’re obviously doing something right!
But losing one whole dress size usually means dropping eight to ten pounds, which can take a few months. Having to wait two or three months to see a dramatic result is difficult–that’s why so many people give up early on!
Another way to measure progress is to take measurements once a week, and here you’ll see more dramatic results in a shorter period of time.
If you want to do this, take a simple flexible tape measure, and a pencil and notepad. Take your measurements at the same time everyday. A good time is after your morning bathroom trip before you eat or drink, just as with using a scale. You wouldn’t want to measure your abdomen just after a big meal!
So simply mark down the date and time of the measuring, and measure around your hips and butt, the smallest part of your waist, around each thigh, arm and calf. It’s important to measure each arm and leg separately because although it’s hard to believe, there may be a difference of an inch or so between legs or arms.
