Roughly half of Americans are trying to lose weight, as of 2018. That being said, it is statistically likely that you as well may be trying, or have recently attempted to lose a bit of weight.

The first stop many make on their weight loss journey is calorie cutting. Conventional wisdom tells us that if we consume fewer calories than we burn each day, we’ll lose weight.

But what kind of weight? In the pursuit of overall weight loss, you can lose:

• Water

• Bone Mass

• Muscle

• Body Fat

The number on the scale tells us only the amount of force your weight applies to the scale. So, why does it really matter what the scale says?

Most body goals actually center around achieving a desired “look” —a fit, able, sexy body. Who says you have to be a certain overall weight and have YOUR* ideal body?

(*Note: No two fitness goals are the same, just as no two bodies are the same. It is never necessary to emulate exactly how someone else looks, rather find your own ideal composition—whatever that may be. It is your body, and yours alone.)

It doesn’t matter what the scale says if your clothes don’t fit right and you’re not comfortable in your skin.

Today we’re going to discuss other, more effective, ways to measure progress when attempting to follow a nutrition/exercise program.

What Is Body Composition?

Body Composition is defined as “the distribution of body mass between three separate compartments: fat-free tissue or lean body mass, extracellular water, and adipose tissue.”

For the intents and purposes of health and fitness, body composition is simplified and acknowledged as the amount of fat and fat-free(muscle, bone and water) mass your body is composed of.

At The Studio, we focus on body composition, rather than overall weight, because we want more than to just make the scale drop. Our goal for you is to help you find the best, healthiest, happiest version of yourself.

That version includes increased lean muscle mass and reduced body fat. When you gain lean muscle, you:

• Increase your resting metabolism, as Lean Body Mass(LBM) requires higher energy expenditure at rest than fat mass.

• Become more resistant to disease and infection.

• Become less likely to sustain an injury from your daily life.

• Strengthen your bones, as well as reduce your likelihood of developing osteoporosis.

• Protect against(and potentially reverse) insulin resistance.

• Can increase your longevity.

Lean muscle can also help you achieve the specific “look” you want.

Despite the common saying that “muscle weighs more than fat,” technically one pound of muscle is equal to one pound of fat.

The two, however, look very different on your body. One pound of marshmallows is going to take up a good bit more space than a one pound dumbbell. This holds true for body fat and muscle as well.

One pound of muscle is a good bit harder and condensed than a pound of fat, despite the fact that they weigh the same.

All this considered there is a good and a bad way to use the scale.

The Bad Way to Use the Scale

We all have a friend that wants, desperately, to lose weight. They avoid mirrors and tight clothes; they never really feel comfortable in their skin.

The first thing this friend does is slash their calories as low as they can stand, and subsequently becomes miserable, hungry and tired all the time.

This friend is so tired, they have no energy to hit their usual workouts, and just go home to rest.

A week in, your friend steps on the scale...to find their weight UP TWO POUNDS. After all the strain and willpower from the week prior, your friend is crushed. They failed, their “diet” didn’t work. Emotionally drained, the friend then reaches for comfort food—what does is matter anyway? They blame themselves for their weight.

Can you relate to this friend? Maybe you’ve even been this friend.

At The Studio, we want to help shift your mindset to a more holistic approach to health and fitness. Your health is more than numbers on a scale, and long-term progress will take more than a week.

In reality, we can only actually lose 0.5-1% of our bodyweight per week. If you weigh 195lbs, that’s .98-1.9lbs per week. If you want to lose 20lbs, it’s going to take around two to four months.

What about the juice cleanse where I lost 10lbs in one week?

Some of that weight loss might’ve been body fat, but it is more likely that most of it was just water weight. Which came right back after resuming normal nutrition habits.

Water weight can be the most infuriating thing to scale-trackers, and makes weight-loss confusing to those looking to lose X number of pounds.

Instead of focusing strictly on weight loss, it is healthier and more effective to focus on preserving or building muscle while losing as much fat as possible. It is very likely that this will result in total weight loss, especially if you are currently resting a little on the heavier side, but it may not.

Whether you lose weight or not, your body composition will be much improved, and you’ll feel better in your skin.

A Better Way to Use the Scale

IF you’re going to use a scale, we suggest you either weigh-in daily, weekly or monthly, write down the number and move on. We aren’t looking for any single day’s weight, instead we want to track trends over time.

To create a weekly average for your weight, just keep your info in a spreadsheet, and hit the average function. Make sure you have at least three entries, taken under the same conditions (right after you wake up and go to the bathroom) in order to find an average. If you do weekly weigh-ins, you can create a monthly average.

Using averages to compare week to week or month to month eliminates normal daily fluctuations in body weight, and instead lets you see true progress.

All this being said, only participate in weigh-ins like this if the scale does not cause you stress. In many cases, weighing yourself often is more stressful than its worth, and it is not necessary to make progress and gets results.

Other Assessment Types

Below are some of the quickest, simplest ways to track your progress:

• Progress Photos

  • Taking consistent pictures of your body throughout your journey can be immensely helpful for seeing changes over time.

  • Beware: they are subjective measurements, and most of us are quite hard on ourselves, so we don’t always see the minute changes week to week. It is good to have a coach on your side to help remain a little more objective.

  • Remember, the greatest progress will be shown over time, so don’t get discouraged when you don’t see drastic differences one day to the next.

• Body Circumference Measurements

  • This is the most objective way to track change, no matter what your goal is. Whether you’re trying to gain weight, lose it, build muscle or lean out, you will be able to track effectively using measurements.

  • You can measure seven different places

    • Chest

    • Each arm

    • Waist

    • Navel

    • Two inches below your navel

    • Hips

    • Each thigh

  • Our favorite are chest, waist, and hips.

  • Reminder: keep your measurement spots as consistent as possible.

  • Don’t be discouraged if you don’t see huge differences right away, we’re looking for trends over time.

Progress Comes in a Few Different Packages

Not all progress looks the same, and in a social media-saturated culture it is easy to get discouraged when our journeys don’t mirror those we see online.

Many people post before and after pictures, without saying how long it took to get there. Some people edit their pictures to exaggerate their progress to create a bit of social buzz.

No matter what the circumstances of a posted photo are, when you go on social media you tend to only see people’s best days. People don’t post when they’re down, when they slipped off their plan or when they want to quit. They only post from on top of the world.

The biggest thing to remember, your path is yours. No two people are the same, no two people have exactly the same motivations and no two people will ever look exactly the same. While it is perfectly fine to be inspired by others, never forget to work within yourself.

Ready to lose fat but don’t know where to start?

Fill out the contact form on our page here, and book a call with a trainer to help figure out your next steps!

As always, thank you and please reach out with any questions, stories or comments!