Don’t Trust the Scales… They’ll Lie

In this Video...
Coach Sheree explains why the scales don’t reflect true strength transformation. Learn how to track fat loss, not just weight, and why your clothes and tape measure tell a better story than the number on the scale.

Mindset | Non-Scale Wins | 2-Minutes

Why Do You Weigh Yourself?

Hi there, I want to talk on scales today. Are you somebody that weighs yourself every day or maybe every week? And why do you weigh yourself? Is it to see if you're losing weight? So what does weight consist of? Well, weight consists of a few different things. It consists of your fat percentage.

It consists of your muscle mass. It consists of the fluid that you're carrying. You may have heart failure and be carrying extra fluids.

So it really doesn't tell you much. So if you're relying on the scales to tell you whether you're losing fat, which is probably what most people get themselves on the scales for, then they aren't going to tell you. They are not going to demonstrate whether you've lost fat percentage or you've lost your muscle mass.

Why "Weight Loss" Doesn't Mean What You Think

Now, it's a concern to me when people just say, I've lost weight. Well, what does that actually mean? Working on a cardio thoracic ward as I do, as a registered nurse, we have people on fluid tablets. They might have heart failure, whatever it may be, but we want to dry them out so they can breathe a bit better.

And yeah, they're going to be a whole lot better because their heart's not pumping properly. So we have them on fluid tablets or maybe after a big operation as well. And we'll weigh them.

So every day we'll weigh them. And they can lose, if they're on fluid tablets, now I know this is not going to be the same as at home, but if you're on fluid tablets, you can lose like three to four kilos, sometimes three and a half to four kilos in one night, in one 24 hour period. And that is because we're taking off the fluid.

Now they haven't lost any fat percentage. They haven't lost their muscle, but they have lost fluid.

A Better Approach: Use Your Clothes

So on the other hand, I think many people look to the scales to tell them if they're losing fat percentage, but a far better way would be to take that favorite pair of jeans or that favorite dress or pair of pants you haven't really been able to quite get into for a while or do up the zip on, have those hanging out, have them on a hanger and maybe once a month go and try those on.

And I guarantee you'll know if you're losing fat percentage because you'll be able to fit into them a whole lot better.

The Importance of Preserving Muscle

One thing I would warn against if people are losing weight, particularly those who have started on things like a Zempik is that you do not want to lose your muscle mass. So if you're on a dietary thing or you're losing weight, you're losing weight or losing fat percentage, maintain your muscle in at all costs because your muscle is going to be there to help burn off whatever you eat.

You do not want to lose your muscle. It's too hard to earn, too hard to gain. You want to maintain that into older age because that's going to help to get you around, going to help your body to stay strong and do what you want it to do and still to achieve dreams in older age.

So we don't want to lose that muscle. So whatever you do, if you're doing a weight loss program of some kind, fine to lose fat percentage, that is perfectly fine. But you may find that the scales have not changed.

They are still exactly the same, but you've lost a whole lot of your fat percentage. And now you can fit into those clothes a lot better, but the scales are exactly the same. They read the same because we know that muscle mass is more dense than fat.

So you could still weigh the same, but you've lost hordes of centimeters or inches around your waist or abdomen. And yet you weigh the same on the scale.

What to Measure Instead

So all I'm saying to you today, the takeaway from today is don't rely on the number and the scales because they're not going to tell you how much fat percent you've lost.

Better to get a tape measure, measure yourself probably around through the actual belly button. So you've got a starting point. You may even mark around the back part of your bum.

So the biggest part of your bum come around there as well. If you wanted to around the chest so you can get the back fat as well. They come right around your nipple line.

You can also do one around the arm and one around the thigh as well, but always measuring in the same spot. And your tape measure or your clothes will tell you a whole lot more than what those scales will.