Do you weigh yourself constantly?
Is it frustrating?
Does it feel like you never make any progress?
Maybe it’s time for a new progress measure
Your body is comprised of three main components:
- Fat
- Lean body mass (muscle, bone, and organs)
- Water
So let’s talk about why your weight isn’t always a great measure of progress.
#1 – Water levels fluctuate
If you’re noticing your weight constantly changing day to day and at different times of day, this is totally normal. It’s because your water weight is changing.
This is also why diet shakes can seem to have incredible results. Some of them are diuretics. (They cause you to 💩 a lot). So of course you lose a bunch of water weight. Then you wonder why you gained it all back. It’s because it wasn’t fat loss – it was temporary water losee.
#2 – Muscle weighs more than fat
This is a big one!
Check out these two pictures of me. I am the exact same weight. So I made zero progress, right? It doesn’t look like it to me!
So what are the differences? Less fat on the right, and more muscle on the right.
Muscle weighs more than fat! So it will always be difficult to trust the regular scale.
So what the heck should you do?
Find a better measurement!
Find something that will tell a better story about the progress you’ve made. Here are a few suggestions:
- Use a more comprehensive scale (like our Inbody Machine) – this type of scale can give you more information about how your fat, lean body mass, and water levels are changing
- Watch how your clothes fit – if your jeans fit a little looser or you need to buy a new size of clothes, then you can tell you’re making progress! This is also different for everyone – some of us might want the butt to fit a little tighter, and others are excited when it fits looser – focus on your own goals!
- Look for progress in movement! – does it feel better to walk up a flight of stairs? Can you run farther without stopping? Can you do a push-up? Or a pull-up?
Don’t be defined by the number on a scale.
Do you feel better? Can you physically do more? Are you eating nutritious foods? Are you happier?
That’s what matters!
Written by Phoebe Balentyne