Let’s be honest here, the scale is a solid piece of equipment for those who have a decent amount of weight to lose. But placing too much emphasis on your weight and not your body composition is not the right way to go.
There are 3 different body types we humans have: Endomorphs, Ectomorhps, and Mesomorhps. If all of these body types weighed the same, they would look totally different, and you wouldn’t be able guess they all weighed the same. My point? It’s more important to pay closer attention to body composition than what the scale says.
1st and foremost, muscle DOES NOT weigh more than fat. A pound is a pound. Muscle however, is more dense than fat. Take your hand and place it into a fist, this is a pound of muscle. Now, clinch both your hands into fists and put them together, this is a pound of fat. My point? The scale doesn’t know the difference between what muscle is and what is fat; after all, a pound is a pound.
The scale doesn’t tell you how much fat you have on your body. The scale tells you exactly what it is supposed to, how much you weigh. In additional to this, the scale weighs bone, water, muscle, organs, and undigested food. When the number fluctuates, it is because of stored glycogen and water.
The scale cannot tell you if you have gained muscle. When you build muscle and lose fat, your body gets smaller and tighter. Building muscle causes your body to drop clothing sizes without a big change in weight. So for instance, let’s say you lost 6 pounds. Now, that may not sound like a lot, but what if I told you actually lost 11 pounds of fat and gained 5 pounds of muscle? This would be a great change in body composition, however you wouldn’t know it if you were only using your scale to track your progress.
You do realize the types of food you eat play a large role in what the scale says, right? For instance, have you ever woken up in the morning only to see the scale reading 4-5 pounds heavier than the day before? You clearly didn’t eat upwards of 17,500 calories the day before, so that leaves the types of food you ate. The scale is registering stored carbohydrates, food, and water.
Your water levels in your body are constantly changing as well, this causes the scale to constantly move up and down. This mainly deals with how much salt you consume, how many carbohydrates you consume, and how much you sweat. On average, an individual can see fluctuation of about 2 pounds with no change to their diet or exercise program.
TD
