You’re really proud of yourself; you’ve been eating healthy and working hard in the gym all week. Naturally, you expect to see results, so you hop on the scale. Rather than feeling a rush of excitement because your weight has gone down, you’re crushed to see that it actually stayed the same, or even increased. While it might be easy to feel discouraged and like you want to give up, you shouldn’t. Your scale should not dictate your life, and here’s why.
1. Muscle is more dense than fat
It’s a common misconception that muscle weighs more than fat. A pound of muscle weighs the same as a pound of fat. Muscle just takes up less space because it’s denser. According to Matt Paley, co-founder and CEO of Share It Fitness, a person with higher ratio of muscle to fat is going to appear heavier than expected. “To really drive [this] point home, compare a 140-pound body with 10 percent body fat versus a 150 pound body with 30 percent body fat,” he says. “The difference is night and day.” Basically, your body weight derived from muscle isn’t the issue – the body weight that's derived from fat is what should be avoided.
Kelsea, a sophomore at Indiana University, learned about this difference throughout her weight-loss journey. Once she started eating clean and exercising regularly, she naturally began to lose weight. “I got to the point where I was happy with the pounds I had lost, but I wanted to become more toned so I started lifting,” she says. “I eventually ended up gaining ten pounds, but my arms had definition and abs were starting to form.” Despite Kelsea’s gain, she had lowered her body fat percentage and developed the muscle she wanted, proving that the scale is irrelevant.
2. Weight fluctuates a lot
Pinpointing your actual weight can be especially difficult due to natural fluctuations. “In the case where an individual loses 10+ pounds a week, a large proportion of this is likely water weight,” Paley says. “[It] can easily be put back on.” Otherwise, Paley says that a normal daily weight fluctuation is one to three pounds.
If you find your weight going back and forth, Paley suggests switching to a more steady approach. For example, try to aim for losing a pound or two per week. To do so, you’ll want to burn 3,500 calories (the amount in one pound of body fat) more than you take in each week. This can be done in a variety of ways, but your best bet is to eat clean (more fruits and vegetables, less processed and sugary foods) and try to exercise at least five or six times throughout the week. If you’re looking to gain muscle, Paley says that taking on two to four pounds a month is a pretty good progress to aim for. Any progress is good, though!
3. Chasing a certain weight can be unhealthy
As long you’re only focused on a smaller number, you’re never going to be satisfied. Eating healthy and exercising is great; however, when it turns into an unhealthy obsession, you’re only going to end up doing more harm then good. Amy*, a junior at the University of Central Florida, dealt with this type of obsession. “I started watching what I was eating and working out every other day when I was 16,” Amy says. “I absolutely loved seeing my weight go down every time I stepped on the scale, so I started working even harder. At one point, I was working out twice a day, every day, and eating an extremely small amount of calories. It took me a while to realize that I was running a race I’d never win.” Not only did she go back to a healthy lifestyle, but she also stopped weighing herself entirely and focused more on how she felt.
With plenty of us going through exactly what Amy described, it’s important to remember that we need to take care of our bodies. Brooke Schantz, Registered Dietitian Nutritionist and CEO and Founder of Bitchin’ Nutrition says it best: “Your body is the only thing you have in your possession for your whole life, so nourish it first and foremost with foods that help to protect it. In turn, your body will get to the weight that is best for you.”
4. Just because you weigh less, doesn’t mean you’re healthy
Measuring your health solely by your weight is not the best thing to do. "Weighing less" in reality, means nothing – better determinants of your health include body composition and muscle-to-fat ratio. If you are hesitant to give up your scale, Paley recommends measuring your waist, resting heart rate, cardiovascular endurance or blood pressure instead to get a better idea of where your body is at. “The scale weight is absolutely meaningless when comparing two individuals,” he says.
Ali, a junior at Montana State University, learned this after comparing her body to her friends’ for years. “I’ve always been more muscular than my friends, and I hated it for the longest time, especially because I couldn’t share clothes with them,” she says. “It wasn’t until I got into powerlifting that I realized I liked my muscles. They definitely weren’t anything to be ashamed of because I worked hard to earn them.” We’re all built differently, and it’s about time we start accepting that!
5. It’s more important how you feel
If all stepping on the scale does is make you feel bad about yourself, there’s absolutely no reason to keep it around! Not only are there other methods to determine your health, but how you feel should take priority over a number. It's all about being confident about your body and feeling healthy, not what the scale says.
At this point, you should be marching to your bathroom, picking up that scale and throwing it OUT! It’s useless for a variety of reasons, but mostly because it only ends up ruining your progress when you feel discouraged after working hard. It’s important to remember that your body is going through changes, and the scale doesn’t accurately show them. Throw it out, burn it, run over it – whatever. Just get rid of it!
*Names have been changed.
