The bathroom scale…most people try not to make eye contact as it sits in silent judgement watching us get out of the shower. It’s treated as if there is a moose ahead on a hiking trail. Be as quiet as possible and tiptoe away before it sees you and tramples you to death.
Here’s the rub, though. When it comes to fitness, health, and just looking good, the number on the scale is the least important marker to use. In fact, the bathroom scale is probably detrimental to any fitness journey you are on.
By contrast, a kitchen food scale is vital, yet seems to be absent from most kitchens. Quit weighing your body and start weighing your nuts…wait…that didn’t come out right.
Stop stepping on the bathroom scale and start weighing your almonds, pistachios, and other foods. There, that sounds better. I weigh out any nutrient dense foods to make sure I’m not overshooting calories for the day.
It’s been well established that people are terrible at estimating how much they are eating daily. If you don’t already do it, don’t change your eating habits at all. Just actually weigh out what a serving is on whatever you happen to be chowing down on, and then compare that to your normal portion.
I’ll pause here so you can finish crying when you see how little that is.
Nothing is more depressing than the first time you weigh out a scoop of ice cream, or a handful of mixed nuts. This is what I look like when I weigh out my walnuts and almonds for the day:
Here’s the deal. Not all weight loss is healthy, and not all weight loss makes you look better. Let’s be honest, most of us want to lose weight only to have a better self image, and health is secondary. It’s a vain thing, and that’s fine if that’s your motivation.
Fast weight loss through means such as pills, injections, and other “miracle” tricks may very well show up on the scale as weight loss. What it’s not telling you is that type of weight loss is most likely coming from lean body mass rather than stored fat. Not only is that not healthy, it also makes you look worse than before you started.
Instead of getting the body that you want, you might end up looking more like a popped balloon. Your strength will also be worse.
Your body is smarter than you. Fat stores are the body’s survival pack. If your body knows you aren’t using lean muscle for anything, it will take the calories it needs from lean mass before raiding the savings account of fat.
Taking those “miracle” weight loss products also are not sustainable. It’s not something that is affordable for most people long term, and who wants to have to do injections or swallow pills daily the rest of their lives? The old saying “If you are going to do something, you might as well do it right” applies here. Don’t sacrifice lean body mass for a number on the scale.
Even if you can’t see your lean muscle mass, it’s there, and it’s crucial not to reduce calories so much that your weight reduction is a result of muscle loss. There are lots of studies to back up those statements, but I have lived it as well.
My weight loss journey began during a dark phase when I was only eating half of a small protein bar a day and drinking just enough water to survive. That went on for a couple of weeks, and I for sure lost weight on the scale. The calorie intake was so severely low that my body was metabolizing muscle tissue to the point that when I emptied my bladder, it was nothing but blood, and I would almost pass out when I stood up.
Luckily, I was able to recover, started eating real foods and began daily functional fitness exercises. Diet does play a critical part in losing weight. I’ve said here before that you can’t outwork a bad diet. Technically, that isn’t true. If you live in Norway and have to cross-country ski 50 miles to work every day, you don’t have to worry about calories. Most of us only walk from the bedroom to the living room every day, however, so calories and the quality of those calories becomes much more important.
I’ve put enough recipes and nutrition facts in this series to hopefully show how choosing whole foods with minimal added ingredients is vital to maintaining a healthy weight and feeling better. It’s not enough, though. Strength training is the yin to nutrition’s yang, and the two together can work real miracles that a pill or injection can never come close to achieving for you. It’s why my “before” pictures at 42 years of age look like this:
And my “after” pics closing in on 50 years old look like this:
I could not have made those changes with diet alone. The best way to improve body composition is strength training exercises, be it body weight movements like push-ups, pull-ups, and air squats, or doing serious compound lifts like bar squats, deadlifts, and presses.
Being strong is vital, be it man or woman, young or old. Actually, it’s crucial as we age. Falls after 65 years of age are a huge death marker.
People don’t fall because of their age. They fall because they get weak. We start losing muscle mass in our 30’s, and it just gets worse with every passing year…unless you strength train. That doesn’t mean you have to start training like you are competing with Arnold for the Mr. Universe title. Start with functional fitness, just being able to lift your own body weight.
If you struggle with being able to get down to the floor and get back up again, do body movements like push ups, planks, air squats, and modify as needed. Work the negative eccentric lowering of the movement if the lifting movement is too much to start. Just start.
To any women readers out there, don’t feel like this isn’t for you. Strength training is just as important for you, if not more so. Strength training is crucial to getting the “toned” look most women mentioned as wanting to achieve. Do not worry about gaining the mythical “too much muscle”. I wish it were that easy. You would need all the illegal steroids you could find and hours long training sessions for that to happen. What you will get is improved body composition, better health, and clothes that go down sizes even if the scale weight stays the same or even goes up.
Don’t let your daily scale weight dictate how you feel about yourself or judge any progress. Let how your old clothes fit tell you instead.
Moving feels good. I’ve seen enough people that can’t move due to a catastrophic injury or a progressive neurological disease that would give anything to run up a flight of stairs or drop down and bang out a set of push ups.
Don’t take it for granted.
Being able to move is a gift, and if you don’t use it, you will definitely lose it. Keep moving, stay strong, and keep those hips unbroken, just like they want.
See the list of all the Shirtless Chef recipes at www.mysaline.com/shirtless.