Last Friday, I went for my weigh-in, and instead of the scale going down, it went up. My home scale went from 317lbs the previous week to 325.6lbs last week. Eik! I was upset, until I got my other numbers at my wellness center. I found that my body fat percentage had decreased by two percent, and my muscle mass had increased by seven lbs. My visceral fat number also did not go up, but instead stayed the same.
You always hear that muscle weighs more than fat. That’s not true. A pound of fat weighs the same as a pound of muscle. But the two look different. Fat takes up more space, whereas muscle is lean less bulky. Muscle also functions to burn more fat. I think the phrase about muscle weighing more comes from that sometimes you add more muscle before losing more weight depending on your diet and activity levels.
I think it’s important to recognize that the scale will lie to you, and totally give you a false depiction of your actual results. While, yes, we want that number to go down so we can reach our goal weight and be in line with the health charts, yadda yadda yadda, we also need to pay more attention to our non-scale victories.
My scale victories to date:
- Down from 366 to 325.6lbs
- Visceral fat decreased 2 points
- Muscle increased 7lbs
- Body Fat % decreased 2%
My non-scale vicotires to date:
- I have more energy
- My chin and neck are now visibly two separate things (my chin and my neck were one)
- I am able to do higher intensity workouts- higher reps, higher weight, bumped from 3 sets to 4
- My clothes are too big; I got a few new items and am down a size in shirts and pants (from 4x/26/28 in shirts to a 3x/22/24; from 28 to a loose 26)
- I am saving money by eating out less
- I don’t have a super sweet tooth anymore
- I am no longer dependent on soda- I literally don’t even like it anymore
- My skin has cleared up because of my change in diet and increase of water intake
- I have gained more confidence in myself and my appearance
- I am overall healthier than I was a few months ago- I haven’t had severe asthma concerns, my back/shoulder/knee injuries haven’t been bothering me, I haven’t felt like I’m going to pass out from sugar levels being out of whack
- Others also notice my change in appearance and give me compliments 🙂
As you can see my NSV’s are much more than what the scale can ever give me. So yeah, I put on a few pounds, but I’m not letting that stop me or hold me back from reaching my goals. I have gained so much on this journey, I’m not going to let a mild “set back” (that’s really positive muscle) derail me.
Intention Transform 