Have you ever tried to lose weight with dieting or exercise, only to step on the scale and find that you haven’t lost any weight…you’ve actually gained a few? This is a common occurrence for both women and men and it leaves most disheartened. The phrase “losing weight” is thrown around quite frequently nowadays when referring to living a healthier lifestyle, but weight loss shouldn’t be the main goal. The main goal should be getting back into shape, losing fat and living a healthy, happy life. Losing weight and losing fat are two different things and if you’ve ever experienced the disappointing situation described above, don’t be alarmed. You might actually be losing a lot of fat and you’re making a huge impact, even if your scale tells your different.

When you work out, you naturally build muscle and lose fat. Muscles weight more than fat so even if you’re working hard and sweating profusely, your bathroom scale will tell you that you’ve actually gained a few pounds. That’s because the weight of the fat that you’ve burned off is offset by the muscles you’re gaining. This is especially common with people in their 40s and up. The best way of gauging whether or not you’re actually making a difference is looking at your overall shape. Do your muscles feel tighter? Is your shape changing? And most importantly, do you feel better? Exercising stimulates endorphins that improve your overall mood and tends to give you more energy throughout the day.

Still, having a bathroom scale in your home is helpful. Having a quality bathroom scale is important as you should always know how much you weigh. Your overall weight is an important indicator of your overall health (taking your height into consideration, of course). Make sure you have an accurate scale as well. I personally have a Homedics Bathroom Scale and it’s worked fine for me. It’s fine to make weight loss a goal. Just know that you shouldn’t be alarmed or disheartened if you step on the scale after a good week of working out and you don’t see the numbers you expect. It’s all about losing fat, and as long as you’re getting back into shape and feeling healthy, you’re doing yourself a world of good.

Did you know?

Exercising stimulates endorphins that improve your overall mood and tends to give you more energy throughout the day.

-Miljean

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