Diaries of a Wanna-Be Fit Mom: The Scale
If you hate the scale, like I used to, please read this! You might have a change of heart by the time you reach the end. (Let me know if you do)
I always used to HATE the scale. Sorry, hate is a weak word in this case, let’s go with DESPISE or LOATH!
The scale always left me feeling beyond defeated. There’s nothing more disheartening than, after months of consistent exercise and eating clean, to step on the scale and see it has only gone down 1-2 lbs (like let’s be honest, it can change that much or more just overnight or even after a poop🙊) or maybe hasn’t even moved at all.
Because of this frustration, there was a time in my life when I decided to swear off the scale all together and just go by how I felt, how my clothes were fitting.
During that time I became a personal trainer and really started diving into the world of health and fitness, specifically building muscle mass and I won't lie, I missed the sclae. Sorry, I should say, I missed tracking my progress. I wanted to know how I was doing more than just based off of how my pants fit.
As the years went on I went back and forth between using the scale and not using the scale, eventually to learn something quite interesting. The scale, even though it can accurately measure your weight, it doesn't actually accurately measure your progress... 🤔.
Here's what I mean by this:
Muscle weighs more than fat. If measure out 1 cup of muscle and 1 cup of fat, the cup of muscle will weigh more than the cup of fat. So if you’re strength training (lifting weights and building muscle), then you’re going to not only burn fat (which will inevitably lower the number on the scale), but you will also gain muscle (which will inevitably increase the number on the scale). The loss of fat and the increase in muscle will slightly cancel each other out on the scale, leading to an inaccurate representation of your progress. ***(I’ll share a personal story about this at the end)***
The number on the scale can vary greatly depending on a number of factors including:
The time of day
How much sodium or water you have consumed
If you’re a woman, where you’re at in your cycle
What you’ve eaten
The type of scale you have! (Some can be quite inaccurate).
So how DO we track our progress?
Regardless of your health & fitness goals, the best way to track to track progress is using BOTH a scale, and body measurements.
When I started using my measurements as well as the scale, it made a WORLD of difference for me. Here’s a very recent example.
This time last year I stepped on the scale and, because I was less than 1 year postpartum, was obviously not overly happy with the number I saw. But I also took my measurements. I measured my chest, waist, directly below my belly button (my least favourite spot to measure, ESPECIALLY postpartum), my hips, butt and thighs, and, like the scale, didn’t love the numbers I saw. But I gave myself grace because I had 4 littles, one of whom was less than a year old.
Yesterday, after a year of yo-yo working out (because sleep doesn’t happen often), and eating clean whenever I could (but not as much as I wish I had), I stepped on the scale again and took my measurements… here were the results:
WEIGHT-
down 6 lbs. In ONE YEAR!!! WTF!?!? But I feel like I’ve lost so much more than just 6 lbs!!! My clothes are fitting better and I’m so much stronger!!! Stay calm Sarah, you still have measurements to do.
MEASUREMENTS-
waist: down 2 inches
below belly button: down 4 inches
butt and hips: down 2 inches EACH!
thighs: down an inch EACH!
That’s 10 INCHES lost but only 6 lbs! HOW!?!?
Because I’ve been working out. I’ve been strength training, building muscle. And so even though I’ve clearly dropped a lot of fat, I’ve also gained a lot of muscle and so the numbers cancelled each other out. The number on the scale hardly moved, but the numbers on the measuring tape made great progress!
This is proof that, although the scale can accurately record your weight, it does not accurately record your progress.
So if you’re looking to lose weight, gain muscle or both, please don’t be discouraged if you’ve used only your scale and the numbers don’t seem to represent accurately, because they won’t.
And remember, the number on the scale doesn’t have to be low to mean you’re healthy because if you’re building muscle, that number won’t be super low, and that’s a good thing!
I'm curious how you track your progress and what your relationship with the scale is? It took me years to step back on it, and I won't lie, I still have to fight a bit of anxiety prior to stepping on it and give myself a bit of a mental pep-talk in preparation of seeing the number. I remind myself that it's just a number and does not represent my body, my image or progress in a negative way, but is just an extra tool to help me track the progress i've been making.
I would love so much to hear from you. Do you have a change of heart from when you started reading? If you're willing to share, please leave a comment below, I promise to reply.
Thank you for taking time out of your life to read what I wrote.
God Bless,
Sarah ❤️🥰❤️
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