Throw away your scale.

[Boomer182]

I was told this today, and I feel like it makes since, in the fact that we all step on the scale, and especially us older folks, it can make you feel disappointed, especially me, as I have always been weight conscious. Doing this is like ending a relationship with a girl or boy, sometimes you can be friends, but most of the time you can't. When you are working out don't worry about the what the scale says, worry about what you see in the mirror. That is where the results are.

 

[gearin up]

when training for size your best friends are the calipers if you cant get an ultra sound done. What most of us are really looking for is fat content. The scale measures all your weight fat, water, bones, organs, and lean mass so after that its a crap shoot of guessing. We really want to know is our fat and lean mass and whats losing or gaining. to optimize our training and diet and calipers are far more accurate of an indicator. hope this helped.

 

[sassy69]

when training for size your best friends are the calipers if you cant get an ultra sound done. What most of us are really looking for is fat content. The scale measures all your weight fat, water, bones, organs, and lean mass so after that its a crap shoot of guessing. We really want to know is our fat and lean mass and whats losing or gaining. to optimize our training and diet and calipers are far more accurate of an indicator. hope this helped.

Many people judge "progress" explicitly and only by the scale. Obviously the scale tells you mostly nothing about body composition, so no point getting overly excited or making a personal judgement about yourself based on the scale. But sadly, for many people, it can be the source of a lifelong mindfuck. If you can deal w/ taking the scale measure as one data point towards your desire to measure "progress", then go for it, but otherwise you're better off tossing the scale and going by how your clothes fit & the mirror.

The other scale-based mindfuck is if you use the scale as your exclusive measure of day to day changes, noting that, especially women, can experience 5-8 lb weight swings based on changes in water content alone. No point getting all worked up over that.

 

[PushAndPull]

Completely agree with what Sassy said.
Personally, I use the scale, waist size, and type of diet i'm on to determine how my progress is going.

 

[Miss Springsteen]

Great reply sassy! Agree with you completely

 

[SloppyJ]

The scale has mind fucked me many-a time. But I still like to know what I'm at.