Stop Paying So Much Attention to Your Scale!

You see that scale over there? Will you please stop paying so much attention to it! Every time the scale reads a higher number you get all depressed and think you're getting fatter. You think what you're doing isn't working and that you just can't lose fat. Sound familiar? Well you could be very wrong. You could just be gaining muscle and that's not a bad thing at all! A scale is only going to show you one thing: your overall body weight. That includes your fat, muscle, bones, organs, water and so on.

Muscle weighs more than fat by volume; if you took a handful of fat and a handful of muscle, the muscle would weigh a lot more because of its density. So, if you lose a decent amount of fat and gain a little muscle, you may actually end up weighing the same as when you started. You can have two people that are the same gender, age, height and weight and one will look way fatter than the other. How is that possible? Well the guy sporting the 6-pack has a lower body fat percentage and probably a lot more muscle overall on his body.

So how will you know when you're making progress? Here's the simplest way: look in your mirror! Look at yourself, do you look better? Better yet, do you feel better? Don't let the numbers your scales feeds you discourage you. A more efficient way would be to take some pictures of yourself. Take a picture of your body before you started working out and then take more pictures about every month and see how you've changed.

Since we see ourselves everyday and we're our own worst critics, pay more attention to what others say about you. You may be letting your "scale depression" take over too much and not notice or appreciate the compliments you're getting on a daily basis. It may not even come in the form of words. Maybe that girl you see at the gym all the time seems to stare at you more while smiling. Or maybe you're turning more guys' heads as you walk down the street.

If you want to know to know how much fat and muscle you have on your body as you progress then you can get that checked too. You can have someone in your gym do a skin fold test on you or you can go to your local college or doctor's office and get a body weight immersion test. Or, if I haven't scared you away from your scale too much, you can get bathroom scales that have body fat sensors on them. Knowing your body fat percentage is way more accurate at showing you your progress than your old bathroom scale.

You don't have to throw out your scale; just don't pay as much attention to it. If you hop on your scale, and it says you weigh more, make sure to walk over to your mirror after that. If you look good to yourself and others, then that's all that matters. If you can't break yourself of the habit of weighing yourself, then the best time for you to weigh yourself is first thing in the morning. Wake up, go pee and then hop on your scale, naked if you want. Then you won't be weighing food or water in your stomach or the weight of your clothes. Weighing yourself around the same time each day will help your results to be more comparable.