Yes, stop using it! It is making you anxious because you keep looking at it and do not see your progress. To track your weight-loss progress without panicking I suggest you ditch the scale for at least a week or two.
What you need to do is to adopt and practise the proven healthy lifestyle, which includes eating well, exercising, keeping your stress levels under control and having enough rest.
Weight-loss usually takes time but when it starts happening, it is smooth as you remain consistent with the activities.
What we need to understand is that our bodies have different components that add to our weight and so instead of fussing and fretting about it, our concerns should be fixated on the components of our body.
It is important to consciously ensure that we have the needed nutrients for full body function. Everything regarding the achievement and maintenance of optimal body weight must ensure that the body is not lacking any necessity.
Note that weight gain or loss is a sign of the internal state of the body. Oh, wait! Shall we replace “weight gain” and “weight loss” with “excess fat gain” and “excess fat loss” respectively? I will explain later in the article.
Though maintaining the optimum weight is a necessity, having your total internal, mental, emotional and social health is primary.
The problem with weight-loss obsession is the tendency for people to choose to starve or take unhealthy, unorthodox and sometimes unethical measures to achieve that.
These methods usually lead to malnutrition, loss of muscle, lethargy and even depression.
I want us, in this article, to focus on the fat and protein (in the form of muscles) components of our bodies because aside from our bones and fluid, these two are the major determinants of how much we weigh and look.
The main goal to looking, feeling and actually being healthy, aside from having all the required nutrients, is to have a high body muscle to fat ratio.
To make my point clear, the picture below shows 2 kilograms each of fat and muscle: same mass, different entities.
Sometimes during a weight loss programme, one may not necessarily observe a reduction in their weight but rather in surface area. You can also observe from the picture that fat takes up more space than muscle.
It is the reason I want us to adopt the term, “Excess fat loss” instead of “weight loss” and ditch the scale from time to time.
If you will be honest with yourself and if indeed you follow your routine to the letter and you do not notice a reduction in your weight, it means you are losing fat and gaining muscle and that is a good sign.
There are, however, other means of tracking progress. You may take daily pictures of yourself as evidence of progress.
Also measuring the widths of your body parts (arms, upper and lower abdomen, hip and thighs) with a tape measure on a weekly basis helps to track the progress of your work.
I repeat, ditch the scale, trust the process and watch your body transform to its best shape ever but above all, be totally healthy!
