For so many people, the start of the new year usually means adopting new/”better”/different/”healthy” habits.

How is this being measured? For most people, it’s probably the scale. It’s often the most accessible – most people have one in their home – but other factors and methods should be considered to be used in conjunction with the scale because weight isn’t everything. A change in the scale does not mean a fat loss (or gain!) – or if there’s no change, that doesn’t mean that there wasn’t actually a change.

For instance, you may show very little, no – or increase – in the number on the scale. If that’s the case, what do your measurements say? Did they go down? Then, yeah! The reason why this might happen is because muscle is more dense (aka, takes up less space) than fat. So, 5 lbs of fat and 5 lbs of muscle, though they weigh the same, the muscle takes up less space – so your weight won’t change, but your measurements will go down.

Just remember that building muscle takes time, so if you’re measuring yourself every week, you should be aiming for slow, consistent changes.

This morning (Sunday) is my usual day for doing my measurements. We have a scale that takes biometric readings with the weight. I know that a lot of people say that these types of scales are inaccurate, but when I was looking into this one and looked into the reviews, there were a couple of people who commented that they took their readings right before a highly scientific lab test, and the scale and biometrics were shockingly accurate, so I’m fairly confident using it. Plus, what I’ve always said, is that even if it’s inaccurate, as long as the inaccuracies are consistent and moving in the correct direction of your goals, then keep it up!

So, this morning, I eagerly hopped onto the scale and was immediately disappointed in the results. Yes, it went down, but only 1 lb. I’ve been so used to seeing a drop of 3+ lbs a week – despite that not being healthy or sustainable – that 1 lb felt like a rip-off!

Yeah, I fall into this trap as well! No one is immune from this mindset 100% of the time! So, I had to remind myself of a few things from this week:

• I WFH 1 day, so no gym
• I was home 1 day with a migraine
• I went over my macros a couple of days
• Ate out (ordered in) a couple of days
• Just, generally, feeling kinda crappy!

So I really need to remind myself that life isn’t perfect, shit happens, and weeks like this will happen! So, instead of beating myself up, I took my measurements – again, they all went down, but not by much, so I had a look at my biometrics, and this is what it showed:

• Fat-free bodyweight has increased
• Subcutaneous fat has decreased
• Body water has increased
• Skeletal muscle has increased
• Muscle mass has increased
• Protein has increased
• BMR has increased

All of these things are GOOD! And I’m proud that I’m 10 weeks in and pushing myself and pushing through the hard moments.

And I can’t forget to celebrate the other wins:

• Starting to SEE positive changes in my body
• Clothes are fitting better and looser
• I’m starting to wear clothes that show off my body instead of hiding it – including shorts and a sports bra during Spin class (pic below)
• FEELING confident
• Taking better care of myself  – getting my hair done, nails, and doing my makeup somewhat regularly
• Seeing my strength increase
• My heart is getting stronger – I need to work harder to get into the higher training zones and my hr recovers faster

So, yeah. It’s cool to see the scale continue to decrease – I’d still like to lose anywhere from 25-50 lbs – but it’s important to not discount or diminish other important wins!