The scale is a liar. I weighed in last week. The scale said I lost .5 pounds. The full In Body Scan scale results said that I lost 3 pounds of body fat, and gained 2 pounds of muscle, plus lost 2 points of visceral fat. (Visceral fat is the scary fat around your midsection. It surrounds your organs and is the reason people get so ill from being overweight)
Let me say this loud so everyone in the back can hear:
THE. SCALE. DOES. NOT. MATER.
Truly. Seriously. Step AWAY. Throw it out. Get rid of your scale.
After you’ve smashed your scale to smithereens, go ahead and pick up a tape measure. Measure your thighs, your waist, your hips, your bust, and your arms. Write those measurements down, eat well and in balanced moderation, work out, and measure every 4-6 weeks. As you gain muscle (which is heavier than fat) and lose fat, the scale may not change, but oh my goodness, your measurements do. Also, take pictures!!! A front view, a side view, and a back view.
When I first started, I was taking weekly pictures even though I thought almost nothing was changing. Then I compared my week 5 to my week 1 picture and was so blown away. I even sent it to my entire family, even though I am so bummed out by my starting picture. It was SUCH a difference, and I couldn’t see it happening live!
Do you want to know WHY the scale might not change??
Its because you are trading weight for weight. Especially if you are working out while you are changing your eating habits, you will be simultaneously losing fat while gaining muscle. So your scale may only move .5 pounds, but what your scale is NOT telling you is that you lost 2 pounds of fat and gained 1.5 pounds of muscle. That will change your inches considerably and change how your clothes fit and your body looks. And those pictures and measurements will keep you motivated to keep going to reach your goals.
A huge part of staying motivated with weight loss is seeing progress.
I cant tell you how many times I started a new workout program or diet, didn’t see any progress within a few weeks, and gave up. A lot of this had to do with the fact that I was only weighing myself! Had I been measuring myself, I might have seen change fairly quickly, particularly around my waist. And I am so glad that I took pictures! The difference is WILD! I found a picture in my Timehop (what a fun and sometimes humiliating app!) of a year ago, starting a “new program and diet” which I think lasted about 10 days. Flash forward, I found the outfit that I was wearing that day, and took the same pictures. They are INSANELY different, and show a whole new Sam!
Yes, in this instance, the scale reads vastly different, because the starting picture and the ending picture are A YEAR apart. While I now see a major difference because its been a year and almost 50 pounds between the two photos, I never would have continued had I not seen myself losing inches every 5 weeks. If I had not been measuring my inches and taking pictures, I wouldn’t have noticed, and maybe not kept it up.
Don’t believe me?
- Starting weeks 0-5: 11 inches total lost
- Week 5-10: 23 inches total lost
- Week 10-15: 30 inches total lost
Quite honestly, I hold the inches lost as more of a win than weight loss, because I can see from my breakdown where the actual weight and inches went! I love seeing that the areas of my body that I don’t love did change in inches, even if I can’t see it week to week in the mirror. My clothes got loose, I had to buy new jeans! I see a different face in the mirror – literally, I see definition of my face!
Just trust me! Try it! Ditch the scale and grab your nearest measuring tape and take some pictures!
In fact, I am SO confident that this is the way to go, I’ve created a simple measurement tracker just to prove it to you! Track yourself as you lost all the inches, EVEN if the scale hardly moves!
