The next time you step on the scale and you see a higher number than you like, think, "I need to lose body fat," instead of "I need to lose weight."
This is the most important thing I will ever say to you.
Your body weight is a black and white picture of the overall health of your body.
Your body composition adds the color to the black and white weight picture.
Using body composition allows you to see how much fat compared to lean body mass (blood, bones, organs and muscle tissue) you are made up of.
When you begin a training program, you may notice that your weight falls one week but increases the next. Maybe it even goes up again the next week! Even worse, what if your body weight never changes after 8 weeks?
How is that possible? You are crushing the gym, eating right and doing everything according to your program. You should be seeing a significant difference in weight, right?
You aren't seeing a dramatic drop in weight because you are getting stronger while you are losing body fat. This is also why you may see fluctuations in your weight.
Let me give you an example of this phenomenon:
Laura is a 42 year old female with a height of 5'4". Her starting weight sits at 160lbs. After four weeks on her training program, she weighs in at 158lbs. A 2lb loss in overall body weight is not that impressive over the course of four weeks. However, what most likely happened to her body composition is that she lost 8lbs in body fat and gained 4lbs of muscle mass. She's also hydrating much more than the past so she has 2lbs of additional water in the body.
A loss of 8lbs in body fat over four weeks is very impressive and will have a significant impact on the look of the body.
I understand if you aren't completely bought in yet. The fitness industry has done an amazing job of making women prioritize their weight over any other health metric.
"Eat like this to lose 10lbs in 3 days!"
"Drink this smoothie to be 5lbs lighter by Friday!"
"Try this workout to drop 20lbs before the wedding!"
All of these claims may help you drop simply water weight or muscle mass in order to get you to an "ideal" body weight. They could actually be lowering your metabolism and causing a future gain in body fat.
If you are ready to stop thinking "lose weight" and start thinking "lose body fat," then pick up a bioimpedance scale. Click on the link below to my preferred home scales. These scales allow you to see your body composition instead of only looking at your weight.
I know the process of not caring about your overall weight is a big challenge.
As a female who has constantly worried about my weight, I understand how difficult it is to let go of that number.
But when once you do remove the emotional ties to the number, you are free to start making your body look and feel better.
Thank you for reading!
YourTrainerKatie
Katie
