A Note About That Number on the Scale

I have had a request to address weight...ya know....that pesky number on the bathroom scale if you are one of those people that checks. I stopped regularly measuring my weight a long time ago. It gets checked a few times a year at the doctor's office. I stopped for several reasons. First of all, I decided that I don't really care what I weigh if my size 2 jeans still fit. Second, I have done enough research to understand that body composition is a much better indicator of health than weight. Again, I don't need a formal measurement of body composition because I know that if I can see my muscles in the mirror that my bodyfat percentage is fairly low.
If you consume more calories than you expend you will gain weight and if you expend more calories than you consume you will lose weight. If you lose weight without eating the right foods and strength training you can actually lose enough muscle that your % of bodyfat goes up even if the number on the scale goes down. For example.....as a person who has struggled my whole life with weight I have gone on diets that have gotten me down to my current weight (125) in the past and I wore a size 8. I currently wear a size 2 or 4 at the same weight. The difference? Body composition. Fat takes up a whole lot more space per pound than muscle.
I prefer my athletes focus on performance and not the scale in the bathroom. If your jeans are starting to get tight, you need to do more "fork drops" and "table get-ups" (1 set of each - 3X/day)! Or you need to look at what you are eating and make some better choices. You might also want to consider training a little harder.

Enough of my words. I have included 4 links to articles written by Krista Scott-Dixon that are a Bodyfat 101 course.

http://www.stumptuous.com/cms/displayarticle.php?aid=11
http://www.stumptuous.com/cms/displayarticle.php?aid=12
http://www.stumptuous.com/cms/displayarticle.php?aid=13
http://www.stumptuous.com/cms/displayarticle.php?aid=14