Friday 14 June 2013

Finally!...


Free of all things university related (although I can't guarantee I won't be retaking in August..however I'll worry about that when I get my results!)

Thank you to all the people who have been checking out my blog, I hope you like it and please give me any topics/suggestions/questions that you'd like me to answer on here in greater detail (its really hard to answer in detail on Instagram!)

So, I am going to talk about why I don't weigh myself anymore. I admit, I definitely have been tempted but I don't give in!


I took this photo earlier to demonstrate what I mean. So many of you let the scale determine how you feel, how you look and you let it diminish your progress and even get obsessed with the number it shows! (we've all been there). Let me tell you that unless you are competing in a bikini fitness/body building competition, or are morbidly obese, the scale is not the best way to measure your progress. The amount of times you and I have felt like we were doing so well, had noticed good progress and others even commented as well which is all forgotten about once we get on the scale and see that we have only lost a pound or two. 

We've all been there, trust me! And this relates back to why I also don't count calories any more (that's another post for another day!) 

So why should you forget the scale!? Here are some of my simple reasons:
  • Muscle weighs 3x more than fat - ie. when losing "weight" healthily (through clean eating and exercise), we tend to lose fat and gain lean muscle, therefore, losing fat won't show as "good" results on the scale as losing lean muscle will (which you want to avoid at all costs) - and obviously the same goes for gaining lean muscle whilst losing fat, the scale tends to go up!
  • The scale doesn't take into account body fat percentage. Just imagine a 140-lb woman with 35% body fat and a 140-lb woman with 19% body fat. They may weigh the exact same on the scale, but their body compositions will be completely different!
  • Muscle also occupies a lot less room in the body than the equivalent weight of fat. Therefore, when you are losing fat and gaining lean muscle, you are (usually) getting tighter and losing inches from your body; which you may not be able to see on the scale at all (it may even go up), but can measure using tape measurements
Instead of using the scale, I tend to use measurements and focus on how I FEEL inside and out! And they both work, trust me

So why not put this scale to a little test? See exactly what I mean when I say don't use it to determine your success. If you don't believe me (or want to just try it out); weigh yourself tomorrow morning as soon as you get up and take mental note. Then go about your business as you usually would, maybe 5-6 nutritious meals, 3 litres of water, one workout, a shower etc. - now weigh yourself before you go to bed...chances are you're probably going to be about 2 pounds heavier than you were in the morning, if not more! And no, don't panic, it is near impossible to put on 2 pounds of anything in one day! So the answer? During the day you retain water weight, you can store up to 3-5 lbs of weight in your bowels and your clothes may even add on a few pounds!

From this I hope you all understand why I don't use the scale, and why I would never let the scale determine my progress again!

Love, Amy
X



2 comments:

  1. This is so true!! I need to remind myself of this all the time. People just get so obsessed with wanted to see the number on the scale get smaller and smaller. But thats not always the case. Thank you for this post! :)

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  2. could you post your workout plan or routine please ?:)

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