If you’re somewhere between the age of 5 and 95 chances are you grew up with a bathroom scale. Your great grandparents probably stepped on one every morning before work . Our parents had at least a one-to-one ratio of scales to bathrooms in our homes. Walk into any Publix Grocery store and you’ll see a giant scale next to the checkout lines.
Fitness culture has changed and adapted over the last 100 years in 100 different ways. But why has that one thing always remained the same!?
A slim piece of metal still has the ability to ruin your entire day.
The moment you step onto a scale you’re making a number of subconscious decisions about yourself. Whether you are skinny or fat. Whether you have succeeded or failed. Maybe even whether you are a good or a bad person. Sound familiar? You’re not alone.
With the New Year and resolutions to eat healthier and lose that extra ten pounds are made (and broken), Studio Physique challenges you to add “Ditch the Scale” to your resolutions list. Here’s our top five reasons to breakup with your scale.
We’ve all heard the saying “muscle weighs more than fat” and this is not entirely true. One pound of muscle weighs the same as one pound of fat, because it weighs… you guessed it: ONE POUND. However it is one hundred percent true that muscle is more dense than fat. This is why even though you may technically be “gaining pounds” you are losing inches. Ditch the scale because if you’re working out consistently it’s very possible you might be gaining muscle weight. Focus on how you feel, how your clothes fit and how your body is getting stronger. Remember: muscle burns calories throughout your day even when you aren’t working out which can add to fat loss.
Check out a couple relevant Instagram posts:
View this post on InstagramA post shared by KELSEY WELLS (@kelseywells) on
View this post on InstagramA post shared by ADRIENNE🧡 (@mama.bear.fit5) on
We’ve all done this: worked out like crazy for a week and lost five pounds. “YES! I feel great!” Only to have our motivation crash the next week because we gained it all back and then some. The only thing we can be sure of when it comes to our body is that it is changing CONSTANTLY. The amount of water we drink, the salt we eat, our hormones, our stress levels, if we worked out, tore our muscles, for women our menstrual cycles… our systems are in constant flux. All of these factors play a role in the number on the scale. The bottom line is, the number of pounds we weigh is not a reliable source of information when it comes to determining our health and fitness level.
Take a look at the image above. What was your first, visceral reaction to the photo? If you felt a tightening, or a negative feeling deep on your gut then it may be time to reevaluate your relationship to your scale.
If you step on the scale feeling worse than you did before then it may be time to throw your scale away. When it comes to a healthy lifestyle, motivation is the NUMBER ONE factor that will determine if you reach your goals. Health coaches say that intrinsic motivation, AKA motivation that comes from within yourself, is the key to getting fit. The number on your scale is an extrinsic motivational factor and can lead to depression, anxiety and can easily sabotage your health efforts.
In reality, “weighing less” means nothing to your health. Body composition, muscle to fat ratio, strength, endurance, resting heart rate, and mood are just some of the ways in which you should be measuring your health. Your body is your only forever partner in life. It is with you everyday and it relies on you to take care of it. Nourish your body with foods that help protect it and make it feel good and in turn, it will get to the weight that is best for you.
Your body and mind are connected in more ways than one. Poor mental health can lead to chronic disease and bad choices when it comes to our health. Marsha Hudnall, a registered dietitian and founder of Green Mountain at Fox Run, a women’s retreat was interviewed at health.us.news.com and describes this relationship beautifully.
“Every week, we see women who have spent and still spend a large portion of their lives focused on how much they weigh. If they don’t weigh what they want – and they rarely do – their days are spent feeling bad about themselves to varying degrees. Then, they either spend their time trying to put in place behaviors that they think will help them achieve that weight (behaviors which, by the way, often aren’t healthy and usually send them in the opposite direction), or feeling defeated and depressed about their ability to do “what’s needed” to lose weight. So, from both a physical and mental health standpoint, the focus on the number on the scale can significantly interfere.”
Bottom line, throw away your scale! If parting causes you more stress, limit your weigh ins. Realize before stepping on, that the number on the read out tells a teeny tiny fraction of your body’s story and it might just be lying.
Alex is a Studio Physique trainer, nurse, nutrition expert & scale naysayer.