DON'T LET THE SCALE MAKE YOU FEEL BAD !

JCES10
JCES10 Posts: 37 Member
edited January 12 in Introduce Yourself
THIS TOPIC WAS COPIED FROM A WEBSITE AND I LIKE TO SHARE IT WITH YOU.

How do you measure your weightloss successes and failures for that matter?
Do you let scales and measurements depict your mood? Do you wake each day and jump on the scales to see if you’re skinny? How do you feel if you haven’t lost anything? Does it set your mood for the day?

It’s always interesting to see how different people measure and compare themselves. In a society where we are pressured to look a certain way, be a certain size it can get so confusing as to who you should believe. So which measurement should you use to determine if you want to ‘fit’ societies mould?

Everyone is obsessed with scales, me included. My obsession with scales and weight began YOUNG, about 10 years old. I blame it on my swimming coach who wouldn’t let me into the senior training sessions unless I weighed a specific number. The truth is, the number on a set of scales, is just that, a number. It doesn’t show the amount of lean muscle in your body or your body fat percentage. The old line, ‘muscle weighs more than fat’ is also incorrect. A kilo of muscle weighs exactly the same as a kilo of muscle, it is just DENSER. And because it is denser you can fit MORE lean muscle onto your frame, therefore making you heavier.Muscle vs Fat

So really the only thing we should use scales for is to make sure our baggage is the correct weight to avoid excess baggage charges when we fly.

How accurate is BMI then? BMI is only useful guide for people who don’t exercise. Once you start building any form of lean muscle mass, BMI is completely useless. A bodybuilder and an obese person may weigh the same and have the same BMI but have completely DIFFERENT body compositions. In fact, my BMI says I am ALWAYS overweight and in order to be in the ‘healthy’ weight range, I need to lose over 10kg (nearly 20llb). And if you know me personally you know how ridiculous I would look at this weight.

So what are we supposed to do and use in order to measure our fat and weight loss if everything we’ve been told to use is highly inaccurate?

I got back into some serious training at the start of the month and I took measurements, progress photos and weighed myself to track my progress. I don’t ALWAYS weigh myself, but I am at the moment (weekly) as I have some fat to shift. Last week I didn’t lose ANY weight. I’ve increased ALL of my weights and have become fitter but I didn’t stress about the lack of weight loss. I still lost about 10cm from my measurements and clothes that were snug a couple of weeks ago are already fitting better. I’m trying to move away from the scales and focus more on HOW I’m feeling. In all honesty I feel pretty good. I’m sleeping better, I no longer need naps during the day, my hair in in better condition… There’s more to weight and fat loss than just some numbers on scales or a tape measure.

Be honest with yourself. Everyone knows if they’re carrying some extra weight or need to lean out certain areas of the body. The difference is the people who are willing to do something about it.

Before you can even begin to measure, you need to work out where you want to be, what is it going to take to make you happy within yourself? Look at using a certain clothes size as a target, rather than a specific weight then find out what the ‘measurements’ are for that size, measure yourself and workout what how many cms or inches you need to lost to get there.

The next step is to take some progress photos, weekly or fortnightly. They are a great reminder of how far you have come, especially when you get frustrated with the journey. Then go about getting there! Change your nutrition, up your training, seek help.

Once you’re there, set your safety zone, a range where you can remain comfortable and when you reach it you know you need to re-assess your training and nutrition again. It could be a particular pair of jeans – once they start getting a bit snug, you need to start taking action again. Use this is a guide rather than remaining between numbers on the scales.

stop1Stop comparing yourself to others. I know how hard this is as we have always been told to look and act to fit in, but if you want to be happy with in yourself, it’s a must. You need to accept yourself for you you are, before you can begin the journey to becoming the greatest and grandest version of you. Stop trying to fit societies mould, but rather YOUR mould. What will it take to make YOU happy?

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