Pounds versus Bodyfat.

I've been a slave to the scale, but I'm slowly learning that I need to gauge inches loss and body fat (1) to keep me motivated and (2) to get an overall picture of my success.

Inches lost, is where it's at ☺

always inches! Scale is one tool I use, but I take inche measurements from many body areas once a month. I often lose inches, but not scale weight. Or even gain a pound or two - but become tighter and leaner. Inches matter much more.

Losing weight can make you look good dressed, but to look good undressed, you need to improve tightness, that comes from muscle improvement. Dropping bodyfat. Increasing muscle. To get rid of jiggles, and tighten, you need to also imrove your bodyfat levels.

Heres why:

She Weighs more in the after - looks tighter (she started lifting weights)



weighs same in both pics




Weighs more in after - looks better




Both are size 2 (not same girl though)




Same general weight. but I beleiev she added on a few pounds for her after



And Stacy of course:


Stacys story has other pictures, and shows the differences in her body from cardio only, to adding in lifting:

http://nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/07/21/meet-staci-your-new-powerlifting-super-hero/


These images are much like my results.

When I started to lift weights heavy with low reps. my scale weight is higher then the last time I was at this same body size. But I look tighter, leaner, firmer, and better nakkid. If I use scale only I am overweight. But I actually am not. I am right in line with correct Bodyfat, and size for my height and build, and at my goal size (last time I was here was age 25.)

Scale weight does not accurately tell you if your body composition has changed, or if you are tighter or fitter.

The scale measures 100 pounds of fat, the same as a 100 pounds of muscle. Even a special "bodyfat" scale, cannot really accurately measure/weigh your Bodyfat levels. They are really all inconsistent, and prone to many errors. ( I have one, and a handheld, neither is accurate to what my true bodyfat level looks like based on images)

The same amount of fat vs the same amount of muscle will look much different on the body. You can see from above images, and below - fat takes up more space on the body, then the same amount of muscle. So a 110 lb lady with 30 percent bodyfat looks much different from a 110 pound lady with 18% bodyfat.

tangal88, fantastic post! You pretty much summed up what I was going to say. Contrary to what millions are told via the fitness industry for the most part, weight doesn't matter, nor does it indicate the success or failure of a nutrition program.

Before someone cries fowl, let me explain the second part of my statement. Weight loss is and will never be linear. There are far to many factors that influence the process of weight loss. For the short term using the scale to track to the success of one's nutrition effort for the most part will always lead to disaster. Why? Expectations.

Sure expectations are fine but they are tied to the scale. I track progress through skin fold measurements (which can be misleading), appearance, and most importantly weight training. IMHO, weight training is number 1 indicator for progress. If you're losing strength in core lifts (bench, squat) on a week-to-week basis, you losing muscle. Which in turn means you're getting fatter. Sure, on the scale you may be dropping weight, but from a body composition you're not progress you're regressing.

Just my .2 on the matter.

Body fat first then weight!