Most people gauge their fitness level by what the scale says. If the scale goes up, they skip meals, if the scale goes down, they rejoice and think they are healthy. Unfortunately, this is not a good gauge at all of health, or fitness or “fatness”. You see, unless you have one of those fancy scales like the gyms or trainers have, you only know your total body weight. What a scale does not tell you is this:
How much body fat you carry around.
How much of that fat is visceral fat (the fat surrounding your organs)
How much of your total bodyweight is muscle.
How fit you are, how strong you are, or what level of endurance you have.
Most of all, it does not tell you how you feel. Energized, tired, vital, healthy or ill.
So know that you know what a scale does not do, stay off of it!
There are much better gauges that will tell you if you are heading in the right direction.
Mirrors for one. (sorry)
How your clothes fit. (no, not your sweat pants, or scrubs)
How easily you tire, or how long you can go without getting winded.
How much you can pinch around your mid section.
How much you can lift, without injury, either repeatedly, or at one time.
How well you sleep and recover from exercise, illness or injury.
These are really the numbers that matter. Of course we have our check ups at the doctors office that I hope you are getting annually. The numbers that matter there should be cholesterol, blood pressure, vitamin D levels, CRP levels (C reactive protein), and most of all, how you generally feel. Are you getting stronger and feeling better as you age, or are you in a slow state of decline. Or even worse, are you living in denial with fat creeping up on you year after year, and feeling miserable about your body and health.
Back to the original question. Do not use a scale to determine if you are healthy or not. You spend time investing in the future, invest in your overall health. Before you know it, if you are 20, you will be 30… if you are 40, you will be celebrating 50! Look in the mirror. Look at your lifestyle. Does it make you proud of your body, your vitality and make you look forward to the future? Or, does it make you fear medical issues, make you embarrassed of your weight, and make your family wish they could help?
You only have one chance. Every day is a new day that gives you an option to be better than the day before. Get serious about your health from your strength level, to your diet, to your endurance level. Make all of these things a priority. Your body believes that they are.
Start today a plan of nutritious eating, supplements that support wellness, and strength training.
Get rid of the bathroom scale as a method of gauging if you are healthy or fit.
You know if you are. You know if you are not. Stop the behaviors now that will ruin your health, and get on board with choices that will make the future one of vitality, and wellness!
In Wellness and Strength,
Dawn
Dawn