What the scale REALLY tells us

Mindset

Jan 17

Size Matters

Size matters…more than a number on the scale.

Hey, dirty bird, get your mind out of the gutter…I'm talking about the scale! How much you weigh is important, but not as important as we give it credit. I would argue that sometimes seeing the scale go down is actually a BAD thing. Yes, even if the goal is weight loss.

Wait…what? Yep. It's true.

In this post, I'm going to tell ya what the scale is actually measuring, the pros and cons of using it to measure your progress, how to use it the right way, and what other things you can do to track your progress. Here we go…

What It Measures

The scale is not just a measurement of how much fat you have on your body. In fact, it tells you nearly nothing about body composition. Your weight is comprised of 4 things: fat, muscle, bone, and hydration. Losing water weight is not helpful (unless you're really bloated and retaining a bunch of water). Losing muscle is terrible and starts to happen to us all after the age of 30 if we don't guard against it. Losing bone is also terrible and we should guard against it with our life. But the fat...that's the stuff we're really after!

But how do we know what we're losing is fat when we hop on the scale? The short answer is that we don't. If you have a ton of fat to lose, it's a little more effective than for someone who is trying to get lean. But even then, you do not know based on the number going down, that you're losing fat as opposed to the other 3 possibilities.

Let me demonstrate how it may actually be a BAD thing to see the scale go down.

How It Can Slow Down Our Progress

Let me paint a picture for ya….

You've been dieting for 2 weeks, and things seem to be going well. You've lost 5 pounds already! But what does that 5-pound loss tell us? Is it all fat? Or what is really coming off your body?

Now, you may be thinking "I don't give a crap what it was, I'm just happy it's gone." But, if you want to keep the weight off long term, it absolutely matters what it was. Some of that is bound to be water. OK, no big deal. But what if the rest was a tiny bit of fat and some muscle? Some muscle will be lost when we lose massive amounts of weight, but to what degree you lose muscle vs fat will largely determine how effectively you keep that weight off.

Muscle burns more calories at rest than fat does, so you want to keep that muscle. How much muscle and fat we have on our body can even affect our hormones. Muscle needs to be guarded, or even built, while fat needs to be lost. Ok, so what happens if we lose mostly muscle? When we have less muscle, we burn less energy throughout the day. Inevitably, we gain back fat.

This is how the scale can be very misleading. It may make us think that some extreme ways to lose weight are effective. Most people can't stick to a diet longer than 2 – 4 weeks anyway. So, if in the beginning, we all start by losing some water weight and then we do something that sacrifices muscle mass it seems as though the diet "works". The scale goes down after all. We don't stick it out long enough to hit the wall that would inevitably follow.

We come off the diet. The scale went down, but we have less muscle which will lead to regaining more fat. Then, we diet again, and we do the same type of thing because "It works when I do it". But does it?

If your means of losing weight involves severe food restriction for extended periods of time and little to no resistance training, you're probably losing a lot more muscle than you would like for sustained weight loss.

Takeaway: The scale going down isn't always an indication that what we're doing is "working" well for us.

There are some other ways the scale gets into our headspace and slows us down as well, but we'll talk about a little later.

The Benefits

You're probably thinking that I hate the scale and I don't even use one. False – I love my scale! There are some benefits to using one if you use it properly and understand what it's telling you. Anytime you use tracking or you're measuring a piece of data for your health it's important to pause and think, "what is this data really telling me? And how is it applicable to what I'm doing?"

Some of the benefits of the scale are that it's super easy to use. Everyone knows how to stand on the scale. Nothing too complicated there. They're also super cheap and accessible. The biggest struggle in owning a scale is deciding where to put it. Because they are cheap and easy to use, you can use a scale to track trends over time pretty easily.

If your scale changes each day, ok. If it changes back and forth throughout the month, ok. This is natural and to be expected. If, however you see consistent trends going in either direction over time, it can clue you in that you're making progress, or that something is wrong.

If you're trying to lose weight, knowing what you weight from day to day isn't super helpful. But month to month, or even year to year – now that's telling you something.

Conversely, some people have a hard time keeping weight on and can notice if they are dropping weight each month.

Takeaway: The scale can be useful if we understand what it's telling us and its limitations.

How to Effectively Use the Scale

There are some basic guidelines everyone should follow when using the scale, and some that depend on the person and the goals.

Always weigh at the same time of day – morning is best.
Always wear the same type of clothing.
Do not change your plan because of one day's weight.
Do not beat yourself up because of a daily weight fluctuation.
Customize how often you'll weigh based on your own personality and how you feel about the scale.

I want to elaborate on this last point a bit…

If you get on the scale and it moves down and you celebrate by rewarding yourself with a pizza or a beer, stay off the scale.

If you freak out when you see the scale go up one pound, which is GOING TO HAPPEN (we're looking for a trend, not to be moving in the right direction every single day) then stay off the scale.

Sometimes this freaking out not only stresses you out for no good reason, but it can also make some people so discouraged that they quit. Feeling like they're failing and it's a waste of time, they stop what they're doing, even though what they're doing is working.

If you need to stay off the scale because you sabotage yourself with it, weigh in at the beginning of your journey. Then don't get on for a month, 3 months, whatever it takes. Just move on to one of the methods of tracking in the next section.

If, however, hopping on the scale motivates you to stay on track regardless of what it says…go for it. Weigh yourself daily if you want…if it's not affecting your headspace and you're not getting all OCD about it.

When I'm working on seriously trying to change my body composition, I hop on daily. Even though I'm usually trying to lose fat and build muscle at the same time (so the scale moves minimally, if at all) even though my body is changing how I want it to. I don't know why I even get on. It's just part of my process and it doesn't mess with me.

Figure out what works for you….you do you boo!

Takeaway: For some people, the scale is motivating, for some it is devastating. Use it in a way that will benefit you, not torture you.

Alternative Ways to Track Progress

Alright, if this scale thing isn't great at telling us if we're losing fat…how do we track our progress? Which we should definitely be doing by the way. I would say we should be paying attention to our body always, even if you're not actively trying to lose weight, so issues don't sneak up on you.

The moral of this story is that size matters MORE than weight. You kind of care how much you weigh, but really you care more about what size jeans you can wear…and how you look wearing them. Am I right?

There are multiple ways to track this...

1 - Take measurements:

Get out the old measuring tape. Jot down your numbers then redo them monthly. You would be surprised how many women I've met who do some heavy lifting, go down up to 3 sizes in their clothes, and the scale doesn't budge. But who cares?! They look amazing.

How is that even possible? Muscle weighs more than fat, so you can be heavier but more compact when you shift your body composition to having more muscle than fat. Compact and tight is what looks great in your clothes. How much that compact little body weighs is a moot point.

2 - Tight pants test:

The easiest thing you can do is the tight pants test! I love this because I'm a nurse, so I live in scrubs. Do you know how much pudge you can hide in a loose pair of scrubs before you really notice?! A LOT!! And I live in sweatpants at home. Basically, I'm blaming my profession on my previous state of being a little extra thick 😉

How this works…put on a tight pair of pants each week, preferably the same ones. Nothing shows your progress better than how your jeans fit. Especially if your favorite pair is from the pre-skinny jean era. Skinny jeans usually have some stretch. But, them old bootleg low rise jeans, haha....the ones that have no give and cut right into your worst places. Why was that ever a trend?

Anywhoooo…..pop into those tight pants and let that be the judge. Got a bra that cuts into all your back and armpit fat? Pop that sucker on too. It's so fun to watch it melt away, just be patient.

3 - Take a picture:

The last trick I've got for ya is to just take a stupid picture. You don't want to. I get it. But nothing tells a story like a photo. You never have to show anyone, but you'll definitely see progress if you do this.

Bonus picture assignment: Post that bad boy up in your closet, where you'll see it every day but nobody else will. That'll keep you in line if you have the right personality for it. If it's going to crush your spirit to see it each day then don't do this!

Takeaway: Body measurements, tight-fitting clothes, and photographs are better at demonstrating fat loss than the scale.

Sum It Up

Facts:

Everything that causes weight loss isn't necessarily good for fat loss.
- Know the difference and plan your fat loss according to solid principles – not the scale.
There are better ways to track your progress than the scale.
- If you're going to weigh yourself, at least incorporate 1 other method of measuring.
The scale is a liar when it comes to body composition.
- If you are getting leaner, feel stronger, and have more energy – than what you're doing is working, regardless of the number on the scale.