by
Melanie Mendelson
All Rights Reserved
Your
goal is to lose weight. Perhaps, this is a
good reason as any to obsess over the numbers
on your scale. After all, the scale measures
your body weight, and weight is something
that you want to lose, right?
Not
exactly!
What
you want to lose is FAT. Our body is mainly
comprised of water, muscle, organ tissue,
fat and bone. The scale measures the total
weight of all the elements that our body contains.
It does not give us any idea on how much of
this weight is, in fact, fat.
For
adults, the weight of the organ tissue and
bones is constant. The fluctuation of numbers
that we see on the scale reflects changes
in volume for the other three components of
our body - water, muscle and fat.
Have
you ever weighed yourself twice on the same
day and found a difference of several pounds?
Such differences, whether it is positive or
negative, should be attributed to changes
of water in your body.
You
cannot gain or lose a pound of pure fat in
just one day. It is also not possible to gain
or lose a pound of muscle overnight.
However,
it is very easy to retain or lose several
pounds of water.
Gaining
or losing water will affect the number on
the scale, but will not make you slimmer.
Eventually, your water volume will return
to the balanced amount, and the scale will
adjust accordingly.
Muscle
Weighs More Than Fat
Muscle,
another crucial component of your body, weighs
more then fat. This is the reason why ideal
weight charts and formulas do not work for
bodybuilders.
Even
when bodybuilders have very little body fat,
the amount of muscle that they have makes
their total body weight go way up. According
to the standard weight charts, most bodybuilders
would fall under the category of being "obese".
This clearly illustrates how "losing
weight" does not equal "losing fat".
Tools
to Measure Your Progress
Since
fat is the third component that influences
the number on your scale, the scale is merely
a useful tool for measuring progress on your
fat loss journey. However, the key here is
not for you to fixate on the scale, but to
use it as only one of the tools to track your
progress.
Weigh
yourself just once a month on the same day
to avoid stressing out every day over weight
"ups and downs" caused by water
fluctuation.
In
addition, you do not want to rely totally
on your scale. Instead, judge your progress
by the way your clothes fit.
Take
your tape measurements every month to see
how far you have reduced your fat factor;
because, it is inches -- not pounds, which
really matter most!
Melanie
Mendelson is one of those select few people
who succeeded in losing weight and keeping
it off. She lost 23 lbs and got down to her
ideal weight, and she reveals all her weight
loss secrets in her special guide. Visit Melanie's
site at http://www.practical-weight-loss.com
