Home
>
Weight Loss
>
Throw Out the Scale

Throw Out the Scale

Do you know someone that is obsessed with the scale? Someone who hops on the scale morning, noon and night? And stepping off each time with feelings of frustration or disappointment? With obesity on the rise and weight loss a common household topic, its easy to become obsessed with weight, diets and the scale. This multi-billion dollar industry brings about constant marketing and advertisement on the next solution or quick fix that hits sixty five percent of American's weight issues. The question is, what are the facts about losing weight that marketers are not saying?

Is it that we have unrealistic goals?

"How fast can I lose weight?" This is the first question most people ask before starting a diet or weight loss program. If you have this line of thinking when you start, you are just setting yourself up for failure. Sure, there are many diets out there that guarantee the loss of ten pounds over the weekend or fifty pounds in a month. The truth is, this is not realistic and for most people struggling with their weight, unobtainable. Its time to lose the quick fix mentality and realize how long change really takes. Calculate how long it took for you to get where you are today. Remember that time and know that it is going to take even longer to undo.

How much can you actually lose?

Losing one to two pounds per week is realistic. This will shock most people, especially if they feel they need to drop thirty pounds and in a limited time. Think about it. One pound of fat is 3500 calories. If you were to lose two pounds a week, or 7000 calories, that would be equivalent to three sticks of butter. That's a lot of calories (and hard work) to shed two pounds. Would it be realistic to think that you could shed 35,000 calories (10 pounds) over a weekend?

From an exercise perspective: The average person walking on a treadmill for an hour will burn 400 calories. The average person on an elliptical for an hour will burn 600 calories. (These are just averages since fitness level plays a role in caloric expenditure). Without taking anything else into consideration that translates in 11.5 hours on the elliptical and 17.5 on the treadmill! This is excessive, unrealistic and unsafe.

From a diet perspective: even if you didn't eat all weekend, this caloric amount could not be lost. The truth is that your body needs a certain amount of calories a day to function properly (basal metabolic rate). If you go below that calorie intake, your body will protect itself by metabolically slowing down and storing more calories as fat. This minimum daily food consumption makes large amounts of weight loss impossible in such a short period of time.

Do you see how hard it is to lose weight? There is no overnight process or quick fix that will make it go any faster. A combination of decreased calories and exercise over time will shed the pounds.

We all know someone that has gone on a diet and lost a tremendous amount of weight on the scale. If what was just said is true then how did they do that?

The problem with the scale is that it measures weight, without consideration of fat and lean tissue weight. This fat and lean tissue composition is going to make the difference not the weight on the scale. Muscle is more dense than fat. You can build muscle, lose fat, and become healthier overall and still appear to have gained weight on the scale. At the same time you are "firmer" and wearing two pants sizes smaller. This number on the scale can cause frustration and disappointment in someone's attempt to lose weight.

When someone first goes on a diet, which is basically a low calorie diet, they will start to drop weight (we drop weight when calories burned are more than calories taken in). A common factor of diets along with less calories consumed, is the restriction or limit in carbohydrate consumption. Glucose or carbohydrate is the fuel that feeds our brain along with our nervous and immune system. When we restrict them, our body starts to break down our storage form (glycogen) for use. Since carbohydrates are seventy five percent water this will result in the release of water from the body. A gallon of water weighs 8.5 pounds. So you can see how this could give the illusion of a victory on the scale. But remember this is just water weight, not fat weight. As soon as you return back to consuming carbohydrates (which will happen, remember glucose is the only fuel that feeds your brain, nervous system and immune system) the weight on the scale will be back. There went victory. Here's something else that is happening. When you run out of stored carbohydrates your body will start to break down muscle to feed the brain and necessary systems. This results in additional weight loss from lean tissue and the water needed to remove the wastes of protein breakdown. If lean tissue is not available, fat will be partially broken down for fuel (cannot be completely broken down unless you have glucose in your system) and additional water will be released to remove byproducts of this process. So again when you step on the scale, you will see a change in "weight", but remember it is water and your muscle that you lost, not fat.

The problem with this victory is that you may have lost weight on the scale but you have also altered your body composition and not in a healthy way. Even thought the scale says you weigh less, you have lost muscle mass and now have a higher percentage of fat! Along with this change comes a sluggish metabolism and altered hormones that control your metabolic rate and appetite. Since this is a temporary fix, soon you will be back to your old ways. Chances are you will gain the weight you lost and then some.

Learning healthy eating habits along with a proper exercise regimen is the key to success. Losing the weight is only the first step. Keeping it off is something that will continually have to be addressed. It should be about losing weight for a lifetime not an occasion. Working hard for three months to go back to past behaviors will be a setup for failure. Health is a never-ending process. Its time to lose the quick fix mentality, take the first step towards a new you and throw out the scale.

References:

Katch F.I., V. L Katch, W. McCardle. Exercise Physiology: Energy, Nutrition and Human Performance. Lippincott , Williams and Wilkins. Fourth edition, 1993.

ACSM's Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription. Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins. Sixth Edition, 137-164, 2000.

Teri Mosey is an Exercise Physiologist and Instructor for Health & Fitness Certifications.

Peak Performance Fitness; http://www.peakptfit.com

reliable home cleaners Highland Park ...

In The News:

Ahold Delhaize's cybersecurity incident knocked online ordering and digital coupons offline at Stop & Shop, Food Lion, Hannaford and Giant Food stores.

The Fox News AI Newsletter covers the latest artificial intelligence technology advancements, including the challenges and opportunities AI presents now and for the future.

Amazon's About You feature includes personality details from your shopping history, and some shoppers are finding hilariously awkward results.

Identity theft recovery starts with securing bank accounts, freezing credit and enabling two-factor authentication within the first 24 hours.

Apple's $299 HomeView smart display uses facial recognition to personalize screens for up to six household members and show live security camera feeds.

Domonique DuBose spotted red flags when a man on Hinge with 85,000 followers and a blue checkmark claimed to be a San Francisco 49ers player.

Your phone's location data can expose visits to doctors, pharmacies and places of worship. The FTC took action against data brokers selling this data.

Hackers targeted Danfoss refrigerator controls across French supermarkets, forcing chains like Carrefour and Monoprix to discard massive food stocks.

iOS 27 finally lets iPhone Shared Albums store photos and videos at full resolution in iCloud, but new items count toward the owner's storage.

A fake Facebook Marketplace text scam uses your real name as the seller to trick you into replying, and Malwarebytes warns even one response helps.

The Pentagon data breach exposed 2.76 million Social Security numbers and military records, raising long-term identity theft concerns for veterans.

Kodiak AI plans to haul IKEA freight on Texas highways with no one in the cab, raising urgent cybersecurity and safety questions for drivers.

Apple Intelligence in iOS 27 adds Extend and Reframe tools to Photos, letting iPhones generate new background areas beyond your original borders.

Microsoft's X account was hijacked to promote a crypto pump-and-dump scheme, exposing its more than 13 million followers to a scam campaign.

Scammers can combine your name, phone number and address with data breach details to attempt SIM swaps, phishing and even identity theft schemes.

ChatGPT Work, Meta Muse and Gemini Spark can monitor flight prices, sort your email inbox and track important deadlines, but savvy users start small.

iPhone, Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel each hide a built-in tool that turns a video frame into a separate photo without any screenshot needed.

Operation KillSwitch dismantled KillSec's ransomware infrastructure, but investigators say a 16-year-old allegedly ran the entire cybercrime operation.

The Fox News Artificial Intelligence newsletter covers where voters will decide on AI data center ballot measures and Jeff Bezos' tech vision.

Apple's Impersonation Risk Detection in iOS 27 can flag suspicious activity inside apps, but the setting is off by default and must be enabled.

Federal Election Commission records can expose your name, address, employer and donation history once contributions exceed the $200 threshold.

Cybersecurity expert Morgan Wright says human skepticism remains the strongest defense against AI-driven phishing scams and voice cloning fraud schemes.

iPhone, Google Pixel and Samsung Galaxy each handle security updates differently, and one screen saying "up to date" may not tell the whole story.

Deborah Del Mastro heard what sounded like her daughter's terrified voice on the phone, launching a five-hour virtual kidnapping scam ordeal.

Hotel TV privacy risks go beyond forgotten passwords when you sign into Netflix or other streaming apps on shared devices you don't control.

Throw Out the Scale

Weight Loss