When it comes to life, in work and school lunch rooms, possibly one of the most popular conversations held among girls/women revolve around weight. Weight loss, weight gain, goals of how many pounds they want to weigh, or to lose etc. Why is it popular? Because they hardly ever achieve their goal. And they hardly ever maintain their goal.
Today I have three simple reasons why its not about the pounds. It is all about the inches.
1) Muscle weighs more than fat
You’ve heard it all before. Muscle weighs more than fat. So as you work hard to lose that fat, you’re also building muscle whether you intend to or not. Just walking builds muscle somewhat. So while you are getting rid of fat, you’re building heavier muscle. And your efforts will seem hampered by the fact that you aren’t really losing any weight – you’re gaining it!
2) Its easier to correctly calculate
Inches are easy to measure. A tape measure doesn’t fail. It doesn’t stretch because it is designed not to. If you use the same tape to measure something, the results will be the same. They will be accurate. Scales on the other hand can be temperamental. (Said with caution..!) Scales are never 100% accurate. They need to be adjusted all the time and tested for accuracy and chances are, your home scales aren’t privy to that kind of attention. Also, weighing yourself is a risky business. Either you have to wear exactly the same thing every time, or wear nothing. And you have to weigh yourself at exactly the same time – eg. a Saturday morning after visiting the bathroom and before breakfast. This sort of constant is very difficult to maintain. And it also depends on what you eat the night before. Some Fridays it may be impossible to avoid heavy food. Other Fridays you might be too busy to eat anything other than a soup. So it is largely dependant on so many factors. So I feel justified in saying that it is easier to calculate accurately when using inches not pounds.
3) You don’t set yourself up for failure
Lastly, when measuring in inches, you set yourself up for less failure. As I mentioned above, weighing yourself on home scales are largely dependant on time of day, amount of food consumed the day before, etc. It is also dependant on how much you sleep. Imagine getting on the scales your first Saturday and weighing in at say 145 pounds. The following week you go for 2 mile walks every day and even get in a bit of jogging. You eat a little less but still feel really really hungry because of all the exercise you’ve been doing. Friday comes around and its happy hour so you have a drink or three. Then you hit the town with your friends and come home at 3am. Your alarm wakes you at 7 because you’ve decided 7.30 to be your weigh in time. Shocked, you look at the reading – 144. One pound lost in a week. Doomed. Failed. A wreck. So you go to the cupboard and eat a whole packet of Oreos. Then you get started on those leftover donuts and slosh it down with a Dr. Pepper. Back comes that pound.
It is a vicious cycle. The scales don’t lie, but they do mislead. You actually had made a lot of progress that week. It takes a lot of willpower to begin walking every day. You were already a step ahead mentally. But then it was blown by that horrible scale reading.
This is why I recommend you taking measurements. Measure anything and everything. Thighs, hips, butt, calves, arms, waist, chest, whatever is most important to you. The first week you probably won’t see too much change, but over time, the changes will be most significant. Resist the urge to step on the scales for at least a month. Set your goals in terms of inches not pounds. This is another step on the road to sustainable fitness!
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