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“I’ve gone down a pants size, but the scale says I’ve gained weight”: Here’s why…
Many of my clients may have been in this scenario before and have been quite puzzled. You put in all of this effort, you feel good about your progress, but the scale reflects differently!
This frustrates many people and I get asked about this all the time during weigh-ins at work.
There is a slight attachment to the thought of the scale and numbers. Numbers are great and so are scales at telling us valuable data. However, at the end of the day it is just a tool to gauge SOME progress. It isn’t the end-all-be-all of what is happening to your body. Just like some measurements within a hospital, many times a value has come up that would normally hint to a problem, but instead is due to something good happening (this is just an abstract example, but it can happen).
People want to see that weight number go down. Lighter is better, less weight means I’m getting skinnier, etc.
It may not always happen this way though. Sometimes people come in to work with me, and end up gaining a little weight. They get frustrated with me, but I talk them down and help them understand. What they failed to notice was that they can barely fit into their pants anymore, due to the fact that they are literally falling off of them! They’ve gone down a pants size or two and can wear some of their old clothes.
What is really happening, is that they are losing excess body fat. This creates a good environment for them to lose inches around their body, even though their weight may not drop. Crazy things happen when your body learns what to burn and figures out how to run a metabolism correctly! When they gain weight but lose inches, what is happening is an increase in lean muscle mass. Muscle mass weighs more than fat because it is dense. Gaining more muscle can lead to weight gain, but it is good weight gain. You also increase your ability to burn calories when you increase muscle mass, so that is a win-win in my opinion.
This is one reason I HATE Body Mass Index (BMI) measurements. This was a measurement created to assess health within individuals. It is often used within a medical setting, but it can be so inaccurate! It’s extremely outdated and uses your height and weight, regardless of…
