You may have noticed that your clothes feel a little tight, you seem to have no energy, and you are self-conscious of your body. You hop on the scale for confirmation of how you feel and you immediately deflate. You think back to a time when you felt good about yourself, and you want to get back there. 

So you begin working with a nutrition coach and personal trainer to reach that new goal. After a couple of weeks, you are eating better, feeling like you have more energy, and your workouts feel great! You hop back on that scale to quantify your progress and once again- you feel defeated. How can it be possible that you haven’t lost a single pound (or possibly even gained a little)?

The bright side is that the number on the scale gave you the motivation to start working towards a healthier lifestyle. However, there are a few negative side effects of using the scale:

1. Weight doesn’t tell the whole story.

2. Most people don’t have a clue about what weight they really should be.

3. Losing weight does NOT mean you are losing fat.

4. Muscle gain can disguise progress, which will lead to frustration and possibly giving up.

5. You have NO CONTROL over what the scale will read!

At fitness Cape Coral Nutrition, we want to help you to focus on the things you CAN control. You can’t magically wave a wand and lose 5lbs of fat, but you can control how many days a week you work out. 

You can also control things like the amount of water you are consuming, how hard you are working out,  the quality of foods you are putting in your body, and so much more!

Wondering how to gauge the progress you have made without a basic scale? There are a few ways to accomplish this like asking yourself how you feel, how much energy you have, how your workouts are progressing, how your clothes are fitting, and what awesome habits you have formed. 

As far as biometrics are concerned, the inconsistencies on the scale are also a reason why we decided to have a more accurate method of seeing what you are really made of. We love being able to show you that there is more to it than just a simple number on a scale. Seeing the amount of fat gained or lost, as well as closely monitoring your muscle mass, will provide a ton of insight into what is actually happening as a result of your hard work. 

Having a more in-depth tracking method, such as a body fat measure and tape measurements, allows you to reflect on your actions and whether or not they have fostered the kind of progress you are looking to attain. You can actually feel a sense of pride for gaining (2 lbs of muscle) weight instead of beating yourself up because the scale went up instead of down.

The scale doesn’t tell the whole story, but with a nutrition coach helping you, you can get the full picture.

Come in, chat with us, and let’s figure this out together. Click here for a free No Snack Intro.

Katie Onufer CF-L1, is a certified Precision Nutrition Coach and CFCC Nutrition’s Head Coach.