Here's an article I received in my email from sparkpeople and wanted to share -
The Number on the Scale Body composition. We hear a lot about it... but what exactly is it? Well, to be considered "fit," you have to meet minimum standards in 5 different areas, known as the Components of Fitness. Body Composition is one of them (in addition to flexibility, muscular strength, muscular endurance, and aerobic fitness). Body composition itself deals with four areas: weight, fat mass, lean mass, and fat distribution.
Weight measures total body mass. We're all too familiar with this one, in most cases. But weight alone doesn't tell you the whole truth about your progress or fitness level. For example, it doesn't tell you how much fat you carry. People want to lose "weight." You could start lifting weights and actually gain weight...but that doesn't necessarily mean you are tipping the scales towards obesity.
How to use it: Forget your preconceptions about the number on the scale. Knowing your weight is good, but not crucial--you want to lose fat, not necessarily weight. If you must weigh yourself, don't make it a daily habit. Weight tends to fluctuate throughout the day, and from day-to-day, by as much as 5 pounds or so. Most of these regular changes are due to food and water. If weight is an important record to you, then do it under the same circumstances (no clothes or shoes, first thing in the morning before eating, etc) and no more than every 1-2 weeks.
I'm one of those people that need to weigh daily. Even when the number fluctuates in the wrong direction or stays the same instead of going down, weighing first thing in the morning is motivational to me. And when I avoid the scale for a week, one week becomes two weeks, which becomes a month, then a year, then OMG lookie how HIGH that number got!
I've seen some newer model scales that give fairly detailed body composition information, I think the best one I saw ran around $70. I have no idea how accurate they are but I love seeing the numbers change and I'm thinking of getting one. =)
Oh and speaking of numbers, Chic, you're doing soooo great with your weight loss and I LOVE your current photo!
Thanks for posting this. I'm also taking a break from the scale for while and reading this article reaffirms that it may have been a wise decision. Maybe I'll weigh daily again in a couple of months if/when my confidence gets stronger. Until then, it will be twice a month for me.
I weigh myself everyday..Dont get me wrong I know its a bad habit but I can be quite compulsive at times...I have been 146 for over 2 months now...Plateau? Yea okay...I dont think it is..I am doing the P90X and you can SEE a HUGE Difference...My abs are very nice and even my husbands sister said I have a "nice shape"...She always made me feel fat and ugly....Funny...shes MUCH bigger than me...
The Dreaded Scale
