Health is not a scale weight! If you feel frustrated by the scale, remember there is a difference between losing body fat and losing scale weight.
Chances are if you have been unsuccessful losing weight for good and you are reading this, that you have the wrong understanding about the scale and how the scale should work to lose body fat.
Body composition is an important measurement of health. The scale does not measure body composition and unfortunately, body composition scales people purchase for in home are shown to be inaccurate.
DEXA scans or InBody scans are much more helpful in determining how much body fat an individual has versus muscle tissue.
If you are a woman over 35, you must understand the scale is not measuring your body fat versus your muscle mass.
You must also understand that you have lost muscle mass with aging and lost muscle mass every time you have dieted.
This makes fat loss harder, but not impossible! However, it does mean the scale will likely not work the same way it has for you in the past.
Your circumstances and starting place are different than it was previously.
You are less active than when you were younger, you have less muscle and you are likely consuming more calories in food and alcohol than you recognize.
This means the scale is unlikely to do what it did before unless you have a significant amount of body fat to lose.
Because you are at different place now than previously, you have to work differently which means less focus on the scale and more focus on body composition, reducing body fat and taking measurements to monitor progress.
The main problem I have observed working with women over 35 I have in my nutrition practice is that women emotionally overreact to the scale because they do not understand how fat loss works.
And women do not understand they are in a different starting place with their body composition than when they were younger making fat loss different.
Becoming an emotional train wreck over the scale has got to stop now if you want to be successful in your fat loss journey.
Listen to this episode for in-depth explanation of what the scale really means and what you need to do to reduce body fat!
In this Dish On Ditching Diets Podcast Episode, You Will Hear:
- Difference Between Losing Body Fat vs. Scale Weight
- Why Weight Loss Does Not Work The Same For Women Over 35 With The Scale
- Why The Scale Does Not Measure Body Fat
- Important Metrics Of Health
- Importance Of Measuring Body Fat & Taking Measurements
- Emotionally Reacting Less To The Scale
- Client Examples
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Related Dish On Ditching Diets Podcast Episodes
- Is The Scale Sabotaging You
- Why The Scale Goes Up When You Eat Carbs
- I Can't Lose Weight No Matter What I Do
Health Is Not A Scale Weight Podcast Episode Transcript
Hello friends! Today we’re talking about that stinky scale.
I spoke about why the scale sabotages women awhile back in episode 78, but I think we need to talk about it more because I see a lot of you sabotaging yourself over the scale number. I also see clients doing this.
Majority of women who are trying to lose body fat simply do not understand there is a difference between losing body fat and losing scale weight.
Fat loss is losing body fat. When you are losing body fat, you are improving your body composition.
You are getting leaner, putting on more lean muscle tissue, looking more toned and your pants size is going down.
As a result of losing body fat, you are simultaneously improving your metabolic health. Your metabolic rate is improving because you have more lean muscle and less body fat. Your insulin sensitivity increases.
Potentially your thyroid function improves. When you have less body fat, you are at a lower risk for developing the major diseases like cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and cancer.
I think this is what all women want, right? Their pant size to go down, to get leaner, look more toned and muscular, improve their metabolic health and be healthier overall.
Here’s the thing that’s going to really blow your mind about fat loss. You can lose a substantial amount of body fat, and your scale weight can stay exactly the same.
Why? Because one pound of muscle equals one pound of fat. A pound is a pound.
Just like a pound of bricks is the same weight as a pound of cotton balls. One pound is one pound.
The difference is the composition of that pound. A pound of bricks takes up a lot more space than a pound of cotton balls, right?
A pound muscle takes up a lot less space than one pound of fat tissue.
The composition is the same so you could lose inches, and your pant size could go down, but the scale could stay exactly the same, or it could go up or it could go down.
So, if you want your pant size to go down then using the scale is a terrible measurement tool because the scale does not measure body fat percentage, and the body composition scales you buy for at home are not accurate.
The way to measure your body fat percentage is with a DEXA scan which you get a script for thorough your doctor which is not very convenient, or an InBody scan which is available at most gyms.
The true way of doing it is with a BOD pod, but it’s not convenient or practical for individuals to get to one of those so DEXA or InBody are the two things that are most important.
If neither of those things are things you have available to you, then you can take monthly measurements. Your measurements will tell you if you’re losing body fat.
Now losing scale weight is just seeing the number on the scale go down.
If you are losing scale weight and your only focus is on the scale number, chances are you are losing a high percentage of muscle mass as you are losing scale weight.
People who lose weight quickly and drop calories too drastically are at a high risk for this especially if they are not consuming adequate protein and strength training.
We know from studies that approximately 40-50% of what an individual loses when they lose scale weight is muscle. So that means if you lost 20 pounds on some diet.
Eight to ten pounds of that 20-pound loss was muscle. Now let’s say you gain those 20 pounds back; you don’t gain 8 to 10 pounds back of muscle.
You gain all 20 pounds back in fat, generally speaking.
That means you have a slower metabolic rate, and you are unhealthier metabolically speaking than you were before losing 20 pounds because your body fat percentage is now higher.
I had a client who did Optavia and she was recently telling me how when she lost weight quickly with Optavia, but she still looked flabby and fat and she always felt confused by that. Right.
We call this skinny fat. She lost scale weight, but she still had a high percentage of body fat. That is skinny fat.
I see a lot of women whose body compositions are skinny fat. They are slender-ish, but they still look flabby.
Fat loss and scale weight loss are two different things. If you are a female and your body fat percentage is above 30%, you need to work on reducing that below 30%. Ideally, under 25% for females.
Body fat percentage is a marker of health. Just being skinny or a smaller number on the scale is not a marker of health.
Scale weight is not a measurement of health. Health is measured by your body fat percentage, your cardiovascular endurance, your strength, are your labs where they need to be, are your fueling your body well and hitting your nutritional needs, are you comfortable in your skin, are you mentally comfortable with who you are and your self-worth and it’s not tied to a number on the scale, do you have a healthy relationship with food - you don’t eat something less nutritious and go to screw-it-ville.
These are important markers of health, not just your scale weight.
So, when you go the doctor and they put you on the scale, understand they are not measuring your body fat percentage and BMI is not an accurate measurement of body fat either.
BMI is known to be not very accurate, but it is the only measurement tool doctors have. I wish doctors would measure body fat percentage because this information would much more helpful to individuals.
Majority of women are chasing scale numbers. Constantly chasing numbers on the scale. Constantly dieting. Constantly trying to manipulate the scale number to go down.
Because they see it as a measurement of health and their self-worth.
But a lot of women don’t understand that they need to be focused on losing body fat and don’t realize they’ve tied their confidence and self-worth to a number on the scale because diet culture has instilled this in them so deeply.
Scale numbers are not a measurement of health. It can be a measurement of you having disordered eating patterns, disordered thinking about food and disordered thinking about your body and I do believe many women fall into this category.
Diets like Optavia, WW, Isagenix, Beach Body, Keto, Atkins, Nutrisystem, Jenny Craig perpetuate this disordered thinking about food, and they create poor relationships with food for some women because they’re not focusing on a healthy, balanced relationship with food, losing body fat and retaining muscle.
The emphasis is too much on the scale and whether the scale is going down. The scale is the only thing used as a marker of success.
Now I know what you’re thinking… but Megan I hear what you’re saying but I still want the scale to go down. Here’s my question for you. What does this number on the scale represent to you?
How will your life be different if you see that number on the scale? Is your life going to be different? Or is how you will feel about yourself be different? Maybe we need to work on why you don’t feel good about yourself unless you change the number on the scale.
Most likely this number means something to you. In your mind, you have a vision of what your body should look like at that number.
What body composition do you have in mind? If that vision you have for yourself is toned and fit, then the scale number is probably going to be much higher than you expect with that type of body composition.
Remember, a pound is a pound.
So, a couple client examples. I had a client who just began a calorie deficit phase. We are planning 12 weeks for her. She had an inBody scan done and she lost 2 pounds of body fat and she gained 2 pounds of muscle.
Scale weight stayed exactly the same. Why? Because she lost 2 pounds of body fat and gained 2 pounds of muscle. Negative two plus two equals 0 scale loss.
This is why some of you are completely screwing yourself over in your journey. Because you only look at the scale. Fat loss could be happening, but you’re measuring everything all wrong.
Another client of mine has completed transformed her body this past year. Lost 3 pant sizes. Went from a size 20 down to a size 14.
Everyone keeps asking her how much weight she’s lost. You know how much scale weight she’s lost? ZERO. NADA.
Her scale weight when we started was 236 pounds. She is still at 236 pounds. How did you drop 3 pant sizes and stay at 236? She lost body fat and gained muscle. I should also mention she’s very tall and very active.
Interesting thing is during her first fat loss phase I did not allow her to use the scale because I knew it would sabotage her. We introduced the scale during maintenance, and she had a mental breakdown when she began using the scale.
She completely erased all her progress mentally and the fact that she lost 3 pant sizes because of the stupid scale.
We had to do a lot of coaching around the scale to get her to a healthier place over this number and understanding it is not a measurement of success.
It is not a measurement of losing body fat. She is now able to get on it without any issue and she kind of chuckles at it now.
Another client just like her was very similar. She was in menopause and started in the 230’s and began eating enough protein and strength training.
Lost a bunch of inches, was getting leaner and stronger, her cholesterol came down, she reversed her prediabetes. Guess what the scale did? Nothing.
For almost 18 months the scale stayed the same. Then it finally dropped to 215 when she did her second fat loss phase and a year later it dropped to 190 in a third fat loss phase.
Ladies… the scale just lags sometimes. It is very normal for it to lag a year or 18 months for certain individuals especially those who are lacking muscle mass.
I know from doing this so many times with clients that eventually the scale weight will catch up with what we’re doing.
Sometimes for certain individuals they are lacking so much muscle mass that they build muscle while losing fat which keeps the scale the same, but then later on they lose more fat and retain muscle, and the scale starts going down.
The scale often lags with progress ladies which is another reason why it’s a terrible way to measure success because now you’re inconsistent, now you’re questioning if it’s even working. Take measurements, monthly measurements.
So many of you whom I speak to on social media when you tell me you haven’t been able to lose any weight, I ask if you’ve been taking monthly measurements. I either get the response of no or not regularly.
You are not measuring data properly if you are not taking measurements. You cannot say you are not losing body fat if you’re not doing this one very simple thing of taking monthly measurements because you are not measuring whether or not you are losing body fat.
Now if you don’t want to lose body fat and you just want to lose scale weight. You don’t care about metabolic health, muscle, being strong, have a strong cardiovascular system, having a healthy relationship with food, good energy and age well (which I don’t recommend) then do not listen to anything I say and never take measurements.
Using the scale all by itself is a terrible way to go about this. The scale is not a measurement of body fat percentage, and the scale is not a measurement of health.
Too many of you are way too emotionally invested in what the scale number says or doesn’t say.
The only way you are going to succeed at this journey is by emotionally disconnecting yourself from this number. It is just data. Story time…
I had a client. She is such a lovely, sweet lady and she came to our coaching call so very upset recently. She had gone to her doctor and the nurse forced her to get onto the scale.
My client told the nurse she didn’t want to get on the scale and that her nutritionist and her therapist advised against it, but the nurse still forced to her to do it.
Now, my client is in no way morbidly obese, her scale weight is at 215 and she is not on medications that require her being weighed.
Both her therapist and I advised against the scale for mental health reasons and it’s just so unfortunate that some medical professionals don’t understand how detrimental this can be to an individual.
Anyway… this client mentally spiraled for a week because of the scale.
She was extremely emotional, crying and just unmotivated to exercise, move her body, she stopped tracking her food. All because of the scale.
When she came to the call, I said to her did the nurse measure your body fat percentage? How do you know you didn’t lose body fat and gained muscle?
I spoke to her about the difference between losing body fat and losing scale weight and shared some of these other client stories with her that I just told you about and she immediately felt better.
She said Megan you always make me feel so much better. I didn’t know this. I was looking at this all wrong.
As I was coaching her through this, I was asking her a lot of questions. Turns out she was making all kinds of progress in her journey. She said she’s been noticing she’s fueling her body better.
She came home and made a sandwich with protein before going to an appointment where she said in the past she would have just skipped a meal.
She’s focusing on getting enough protein and fiber and getting her steps. As we were chatting, I asked her if she was seeing these successes before?
She said no because I was feeling so bad about the scale. I pointed out to her that she could no longer use the scale as her only measurement of success in this journey.
This is a lesson for all of you listening today. The scale can no longer be the only thing you use to measure whether or not you are succeeding in this journey.
Imagine if you measured your success as a parent only based on whether or not your child became a lawyer. I am only a successful parent if my child becomes a lawyer. I mean what will you do when your child doesn’t become a lawyer?
Ladies… it’s no different with the scale. Success and growth and change is likely happening all around you, and you are cancelling it out with the scale.
A scale number that you don’t even understand. A scale number that doesn’t measure health and doesn’t measure body fat percentage.
You are making yourself an emotional wreck over the scale and for no logical reason.
I’ve seen so many clients throughout the years who are emotional train wrecks because of the scale. Being an emotional train wreck will only lead you to sabotage land and eventually, giving up.
Remember the client I spoke about in the last podcast episode I can't lose weight no matter what whose doctor shamed her over her scale weight after she made so much progress? It happens and it is so unfortunate.
Being obsessed with a scale number is not healthy. Emotionally reacting to a scale number is not healthy. You are not healthy if you fear the number on the scale.
Your thinking is not healthy if the number on the scale is your only measurement of success.
I even see clients often scared of going into maintenance coming out of their deficit because of the scale. Is the scale going to go up? I don’t want the scale to go up? How do I make sure the scale stays down in maintenance? That’s what they ask me!
I have to work a lot with these clients on their thinking around the scale.
You will never maintain your lowest scale number coming out of a deficit. It’s just not how fat loss works.
A little rebound on the scale is normal for most individuals, but your inches aka your measurements should stay the same.
Ahh yes… measurements. Most of you aren’t taking them and that is a problem.
So, if measurements stay the same and clothes are fitting the same who cares if the scale goes up in maintenance?
This goes back to the question I asked earlier. What does this number on the scale represent for you?
Once you can answer THAT question, then you will find what’s at the root of that and what really needs to be worked on.
But tying all your success to a number on the scale and only focusing on losing scale weight is a sure way to give up and fail in this journey.
Part of this journey is learning to see and appreciate where progress is happening outside the scale.
I see that as part of my job as a nutritionist to teach people on how to see things differently. How to look for where success is happening.
Because if success is happening, you’re on the road and you just need to keep going. If you stay on the road the best you can eventually you will get to your destination. Problem is a lot of people get off the road.
They freak out over the scale and get off the road.
Imagine driving your car somewhere and you’re on the interstate. Every 10 miles you pull over for 2 days and get mad that you’re not at your destination yet.
So, you spend two days sulking on the side of the road. I’m not there yet. I’m never going to get there. Every 10 miles you do this. It would take you forever to get to your destination. It’s no different with losing body fat.
If you keep pulling over, it’s going to take forever. But if you keep going, you are guaranteed to get there.
So… now you know the difference between losing body fat and losing scale weight and now you know health is not a scale weight or BMI number.
Question for you is what’s your goal? To lose body fat or lose scale weight and be skinny fat? Hmm…
Hope this episode was helpful to you ladies. I’ll chat with you soon!
Thank you Megan! This episode is perfect timing for me in my journey. It makes so much sense to focus on inches instead of the scale for lasting weight loss. Working with you has been the absolute best decision I could have made for my health and well being!
I'm so glad Lanita! You took radical ownership and did the work. Keep being the hero of your journey!