by: Nathan Latvaitis
Are you ashamed of your weight? Do you have a goal weight that you want to
reach through weight loss? I’d say so, it’s been pushed into our brains many
times over and over again that weight loss is what we want to accomplish.
There are weight loss guides, weight loss supplements, and many other things
that push weight loss. Many people even set their goals to be at a certain
weight. Additionally, the medical community has developed an ideal weight
chart, which can further add to the confusion about weight loss.
Now, let me ask you a question. Is your goal really weight loss? Unless you
are trying to make a weight class for wrestling or some other sport with weight
classes, you may think that your goal is weight loss, but it really isn’t.
You are trying to lose that flubbery stuff attached to your body called FAT.
Correct?
So then, why do we measure our progress by how much we weigh? Why do we step
on the bathroom scale and hope that those numbers will be lower than before?
You see, our weight is affected by more than just how much fat is on our body.
Some other factors include water, muscle, glycogen, and obviously if we have
eaten anything earlier or used the bathroom lately.
Our water weight fluctuates constantly. For instance, when we exhale water
vapor comes out. When we sweat, we are sweating out water. There are also
many more factors that can affect the amount of water in our body. Water is
what usually causes those random gains or losses of a pound or two in weight
that can make you happy or sad. It is almost physiologically impossible to
lose a pound of fat in one day.
One reason the low-carb or no-carb (also called ketogenic) diets are so attractive
is because of the large initial loss of weight. However, this weight is not
necessarily fat. When carbohydrates are restricted the body has a backup store
of them located in the liver and muscles in the form of something called glycogen.
The human body can store approximately 400 grams of glycogen. In larger individuals
this number can increase. In addition to this, for each gram of glycogen stored
in the human body, 3 grams of water are also stored. If you figure it out,
this would equate to about 1600 grams (3.5 pounds) of glycogen and water.
When you stop or limit your consumption of carbohydrates, your body starts
using its glycogen stores. After a couple of days that 1600 grams (3.5 pounds)
of glycogen and water are gone. Also, as an adaptation to the restriction
of carbohydrates, your body produces these things called ketones. Ketones
also appear to have a diuretic effect, which would mean an even greater loss
of water.
In addition to water, if you have been working out lately to speed along your
weight loss (you mean fat loss, right?) progress you probably have gained
some muscle doing so. This gain in muscle can also affect the numbers you
see on the scale. Muscle is also more dense than fat.
You may be wondering how you are going to measure your progress now that the
scale doesn’t mean as much as it used to. Well, there are several methods
to measure your body fat percentage. None of these methods are 100% accurate,
but they will be much more useful than the use of a scale.
One of the simplest ways is to use a caliper. You can usually find these at
your local sporting goods/fitness shop. If you can’t find them locally, you
can order them off the internet. Calipers measure the thickness of a skin
fold on your triceps. Then there are directions that come with the caliper
that show you how to use the number you get to derive your body fat %.
If you don’t want to go out and buy some calipers, there is a body fat % calculator
on my website. The calculator uses the circumference of several parts of your
body and then plugs them into a formula developed by the U.S. Navy to derive
an approximation of your body fat %.
You can find this calculator here: weight-loss-resources
There are also much more accurate ways to measure your body fat % like buoyancy
testing or the use of special lasers.
If you insist on knowing your progress by weight loss and want to use a scale,
try to weigh yourself at the same time everyday. Probably the best time would
be right when you wake up in the morning and before you do anything.
So, your new goal should be to shoot for fat loss and not weight loss. Don’t
necessarily trust the scale all the time as it can be deceiving - your weight
is affected by more than just how much fat you have gained or lost. In addition,
it is almost physiologically impossible to gain or lose a pound of fat in
one day.
About The Author
Nathan Latvaitis runs a website at www.weight-loss-resources.com
where you can find even more fitness/weight loss articles, product reviews,
book reviews, calculators, a message board, and more.