Inches Lost Are More Important Than What The Scale Says

While studies published in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings reveal that less than 3% of all Americans lead a healthy lifestyle, it is not necessarily through lack of want or trying. Many individuals simply do not have the know-how when it comes to health related matters such as diet and fitness. The internet is inundated with contradicting information that often leaves an individual with even the best intentions feeling overwhelmed and disinterested.

Maintaining a healthy weight is about a lot more than just the numbers you see on a scale, It also includes achieving a suitable body composition. While weight loss and inches lost often go hand in hand it is possible to lose many inched without seeing the scale budge at all.  When embarking on a weight-loss or body transformation journey it is important to take both measurements into consideration when measuring your weight and fitness achievements and gauging the success of your workout plan.

The problem of measuring weight loss alone

Witnessing changes in body weight does offer a certain amount of insight into your health. If you are morbidly obese, losing as little as 5% of your starting weight can offer substantial health rewards. Where paying attention to the scale alone becomes a problem is when you are already within a relatively healthy weight range with a BMI of between 18.5 and 24.9. If your weight loss goals revolve completely around pounds lost and seeing an ideal number on the scale you are ignoring other factors that are affecting your health. You might end up reaching your goal weight while still carrying too

much body fat and continue facing an increased risk of health complications.  Paying only attention to what the scale reads is just one of many common weight loss mistakes made by individuals eager to change their lifestyle.

Why lost inches matter more

Muscle weighs more than fat and that alone is enough reason to stop solely focusing on what the scale says right away.  Measuring inches lost shows the visible effects of weight loss like how well your clothes fit much better than a scale does. A pound of muscle takes up less space than a pound of fat, purely because it is much denser.  It is due to this that you may lose inches as you drop fat and gain muscle without the scale indicating any weight loss. You may even find yourself weighing more as this happens – something which can be very harrowing, but a change that needs to be understood and embraced.

Good goals to aim for

Take a combined approach to weight loss and fitness that takes into account both scale readings as well as inches lost.  If you are terrible overweight shift your focus on modifying your diet and exercise routine to help you lose weight swiftly until you are in a healthy BMI range.  As you get closer to your goal weight shift your focus to measuring inches lost which will allow you to assess improvements in your body’s composition as well as a reduction in your body fat%.

Focusing on the scale alone may encourage you to opt for rapid weight loss through extreme methods that may be dangerous to your health.  Losing weight slower and transforming your body at a more leisurely pace is known to have a longer lifespan than quick-fix diets which often see an individual picking up all the weight loss, and even more, after a period of time.