Losing Weight Isn't Your Goal.

Preachination!

Weight Loss, Shmate Loss

I know, I know... bear with me here.

There's a general way of thinking in need of a revolutionary shift and/or a straight kick in the pants when it comes to tracking nutrition and/or getting fit-- the fitness measuring equivalent of fool's gold. So here it is: you're not trying to lose "weight"; You're trying to lose FAT.

Duh. Kinda. Right?

I know there's a fine line there (fat weighs something, after all) but once you wrap your mind around the fact weight isn't always fat, you'll understand why weight is a nebulous "thing" that can help but mostly hinder...and why I think constantly checking the scale for progress is counterproductive and unnecessarily frustrating. I won't deny tracking your weight has its place (baseline, starting points, monthly check-ins and all that) but when anyone invests so much hope, happiness and measured success in the readout on a scale---or pumps their fist at losing weight for the sake of losing weight-- a simple increase in the numbers on the scale will always become a "failure"... and that just shouldn't EVER be the case.

Weight Is A Number, Not Progress

Weight, by definition, is simply a measurement of gravity and little else without some additional and sometimes complicated maths. As far as a scale is concerned... eat dinner, gain weight. Go to the bathroom, lose weight. Put shoes on, gain weight. Take your clothes off, lose weight. See where I'm going with this? Any one of a thousand changes you can do to your body will tip the scale up or down but at the end of the day are your pants tight? Is your "little pooch" still pooching its way around your waist? Do your arms still look like a fresh-squeezed line of toothpaste?

Point is-- looking to "weight" as a sole source of progress is crash course in frustration. Sure it's an indicator but you can fast for a day and lose "weight" while not being any thinner than the next time you take a drink or eat a meal. Losing FAT will always makes you look thinner (aka- leaner), and in need of a new wardrobe-- and its these visual measuring sticks most folks in the process of "losing weight" want in the first place.

And really, isn't that what it boils down to: visual results representing better health over a superficial pat on the back from a machine that's got no concept of who you are, how much farther you ran or how much better your pants fit?

Personally, I say YAAAASSSS.

And Thus, 3 Reasons Why Your Scale Can Be a Big Fat Jerk

1) Your weight's going to fluctuate by pounds. I could get on the scale first thing in the morning and weigh myself two hours later only to find a two pound gain. I didn't just get fatter and neither did you. Weight fluctuates throughout the day-- what you just ate, what you're wearing, how much water you're retaining, what's in your bladder--the list goes on and on-- and none of these factors are truly reflective of where you're actually at in body fat, fitness level or transformation.

2) The scale is a mental bully. Insanely, if your expectations don't line up with what the scale reads, all of a sudden YOU'RE the failure. Never mind Junior may have been using the scale as a trampoline throughout the week or you happen to be retaining a little water. The scale reads what it reads and we tend to magically believe that's become the definition of our success or failure. We quickly forget we upped our endurance this week, pulled out a couple more push ups or cinched up an extra belt notch when we put our pants on. Why? Most folks expect the numbers on the scale to go down and when they don't, people think something in their diet or workout regimen is haywire. It's not. The scale is just using its simple measurement of time and place to be a jerk.

3) Scales are big fat liars when it comes to gauging overall success in your transformation. Fact is, your transformation is in the mirror, the clothes you fit into and the way you feel-- not in numbers on a scale. Yes, scales are 90-ish percent truthful in their measurement of WEIGHT, but you're not out to lose WEIGHT. You're out to lose FAT and get fit-- and weight can be an ineffective measurement of your fat-burning success if you're measuring up every day or even every week.

To keep from bonking into the wall of frustration, use these simple "success metric"/"sanity check" alternatives instead:

Good: Clothes. Say wha? Yeah, this is the poor man's scale. How are your pants feeling? Are clothes more loose? Need a belt? These are all signs you're losing fat and trimming up.

Gooder: Measuring tape. Measure out your waist size, thighs, arms-- even millimeters are an indicator of slow and steady success.

Goodest: Fat calipers-- a personal favorite. They're a bit trickier, but if a scale is the weight loss bully, fat calipers are the weight loss body-guard of tough love that use skin folds to measure what you're trying to lose: subcutaneous fat. Like that chump the scale, calipers can be used every week or two to monitor fat torching progress. Some body areas may be slower to respond than others, but adding all your skin fold measurements can often yield surprising drops every week.

So maybe I'm a little tough on scales-- but that's only because I've seen them frustrate far too many people. Stick with your MFP protocols, eat smartly, work out if that's part of it all... and your guaranteed results will be in your "before" and "after" pictures, not in the digital readout.