Is Your Scale Lying to You?

When someone says “I want to lose weight”, they actually mean “I want to lose excess fat, while preserving or building muscle mass.” Which is basically improving the body’s composition.

So we need to get our goal right: We don’t just want to lose weight. We want to improve our body composition.

The problem with the regular old scale, is that it only measures our total weight - but it doesn’t tell us what of that is fat or lean tissue, or where we are storing our fat.

Muscle weighs more than fat, so anyone that has ever started a weight lifting program knows that they might gain weight, but drop a pant size. That is one way that a regular scale can lie to us - it does not take into consideration how much is adipose tissue, how much is lean tissue.  A regular scale is not going to be able to determine if we are carrying more weight in our visceral area.  Even people who are a “normal weight” can be carrying excess visceral fat. One very surprising study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that normal weight people who carried excess midsection weight had the highest risk of dying early, even more so than obese individuals.

So how can we assess our body composition?

1. A DEXA scan: Your doctor might order you a DEXA scan to determine your bone density. But it also will tell you body fat (percentage and distribution), and muscle mass, talk to your doctor about scheduling a DEXA scan.

2. A Body Composition Scale goes beyond your weight to also measure your BMI, body fat percentage, muscle mass, bone mass, water weight, and your visceral fat. I use the ArboLeaf scale, and it’s really cool.  You just download a free app onto your phone, and voila. They also keep track of your previous numbers, so you can see your progress.  These devices used to be very expensive, but they are surprisingly affordable now.

3. Waist to Hip Ratio: the simplest & least expensive way to assess body composition is with a $3 tape measure - just measure your waist and hip circumference, and simply divide your waist number by your hip number.  A ratio of .85 or higher for women and .9 or higher for men is considered high risk for metabolic diseases like heart disease and diabetes. The reason this ratio is important is because where we carry our weight matters - midsection weight is associated with higher disease risk, than weight in the butt and legs. It’s sometimes referred to as Apple body type vs. pear body type. 

4. Online BMI calculator: You can put your weight and measurements into the BMI calculator to get your Body Mass Index (BMI).

You might be thinking…but Sara, I’m not sure I want to know this stuff. What if I’m in the obese category, or I’m carrying the bad kind/visceral fat? I’d rather not know.

I always say - awareness is the first step to all change. We can’t change if we don’t know what needs to change. If you do get numbers that are higher than you want to see, use it to light a fire within you to make those changes. It’s hard to stick to change if we don’t have strong motivation, so use this to motivate yourself.

When I was the Nutritionist for The Golden Door spa, I had a client tell me that she was in the Obese category for BMI, which scared her. But it also motivated her to make changes. Because she knew that she needed to.

Having this data will also help you to better assess your progress. Again, if you start a weight training program, the number on the scale might go up, but your visceral fat will likely go down. You will want to know that!

If you are looking for information about how you can improve your body composition, read my book The Perfect Metabolism Plan, follow me on Instagram, or reach out to me if you need 1:1 support.