Enhance Magazine | Page 8

did you know by Katie Cardner Reasons Why the Number on the Scale Doesn’t Matter There’s no denying that America is the most overweight country in the world. A killer combination of an abundance of fast food and the lack of adequate exercise across the nation has earned us the top spot as the world’s largest country, so to speak. With all of this focus on an obese and overweight population, we have become obsessed with that little – or large – number on the scale. I don’t know about you, but I have been instructed to step on a scale every time I visit the doctor’s office. Since I was a little kid, I assumed that the scale was the best way to measure how “healthy” I am. During a time when I was trying to lose weight, I found myself getting so frustrated anytime I stepped on the scale. How could I weigh this much!? I have been eating healthy and exercising regularly. Shouldn’t this number be decreasing? Countless of people seem to be asking themselves these same questions. Perhaps the issue here isn’t us – perhaps the issue is our form of measurement. Research is showing that the scale isn’t the best way to measure one’s health – it actually may be the worst. There are a few reasons why measuring your weight on a scale is a complete waste of your time. First of all, the only thing a scale can measure is your relationship with gravity. The scale measures one thing and one thing only: your weight. One person may weigh 150 lbs and look like a sack of potatoes, while another person may weigh 150 lbs and be a competitive bodybuilder. A scale just tells you how much you weigh; it doesn’t take into consideration how much of that weight is muscle versus fat. People who are trying to lose weight will start their journey by seeing numbers drop lower and lower on the scale. As they get a few weeks into their journey, they feel like they aren’t making any progress. The number on the scale is barely going down, but I am 8 working out even more than before. I can feel myself getting faster and stronger, so why isn’t this number changing? This usually happens because though you may be losing fat, you may also be gaining muscle. A pound of fat looks very different than a pound of muscle. This is because muscle is more dense than fat. A pound of fat takes up more space than a pound of muscle. So although you are shrinking in size, your weight may stay around the same amount. Granted, for those who have a significant amount of body fat to lose, you will eventually see the number on the scale go down, since you can only gain so much muscle in a period of time. However, the most important indicator of health is what makes up your body composition (muscle versus fat). Muscle is also more metabolically active than fat, meaning that simply having muscle in your body keeps your metabolism elevated. The more muscle mass you have, the more calories you burn at rest. Our weight can fluctuate anywhere from 5-10 pounds throughout the day. Our bodies are amazing mechanisms. There are so many changes they go through in just 24 hours. Our weight can change throughout the day based on wha Ёݔ