Don’t fret over numbers when building muscle and losing fat

It happens all to often, I’m in the gym and the first thing I see someone do before they workout is jump on a scale and start weighing themselves. It’s very common for the average American to weigh themselves once a day or even twice a day! Using scales or fat calipers is NOT a good way of measuring progress. In fact, going by numbers can actually be self sabotaging and leave you feeling discouraged and frustrated. The term “ weight loss” will NOT be used on this blog for the simple reason that weight is not an accurate way of measuring progress.

The people who use the scale to measure progress fall into two categories-

1. Those who wish to lose body fat

2. Those that wish to put on muscle

People who fit into category 1 use the scale to measure fat loss. They are so happy when they see they’ve lost weight but do they really know what they’ve lost. The same go’s for category 2, there happy that they’ve gained weight but have no idea what those numbers mean exactly. Do you really believe you can realistically gain three pounds of pure muscle in just one week, is losing five pounds in a week mean you lost five pounds of fat? A number is just a number, it is not a reliable indicator for tracking your efforts.

So if using scales and fat calipers are not accurate indicators then what is? Well, there’s one method that seems to work pretty well and it’s probably the simplest of all. I’m talking about using a mirror to measure progress. Although this method is not as exact as a number on a scale, it really gives you the true story and is much more reliable. If your honest with yourself, you can tell if your getting to fat or not losing fat quickly enough. Also, taking pictures of yourself once a week to help track your progress is another great idea and can help keep you motivated.

One thing I would recommend is that you evaluate yourself upon waking. At this time of the day you’ll have a better idea of what you really look like without worrying about bloating from food or retaining any fluid under the skin due to sodium or water intake. Pick one day of the week and try to evaluate yourself before your first meal or before taking in any water. This would also be a good time to take a picture of yourself to keep track of your progress.

This method that I just shared with you is in my opinion, much more reliable then any scale or number.Using a mirror gives you the big picture (no pun intended) and tells you the real story, A number on a scale is worthless. I urge everyone to throw away there scales, calipers, tape and just forget the whole numbers thing,It’s just not worth your time or energy.