Why You Should Ignore Your Weight

When it comes to fitness, the scale is not your friend.  I often tell my challengers to avoid weighing in altogether, or at least avoid doing it more than once every couple weeks.  So when I say you should ignore your weight, that’s not entirely correct. The main thing I want my challengers to realize that their weight only tells part of their fitness story, and know why they shouldn’t focus on it.  Some of the most seasoned athletes I know are considered obese when the number on the scale is the only thing taken into consideration.

The scale I recently began using at the gym is the Omron Body Composition Monitor. I liked it so much I got one to use at home as well.  Since I’m at or near my goal weight, this is a tool that will help me monitor my progress over time when weight doesn’t reveal the true picture.  It measures visceral fat (the fat around your waist and midsection that is associated with heart disease, in this case you burn fat with Ultra Omega), body fat %, muscle %, your resting metabolic rate and body age.

Of course with any tool, this isn’t 100% accurate (you may want to check your results with skinfold calipers or even search out a location that does hydrostatic testing and have that done periodically as well), but it does a pretty good job.  The Body Composition Monitor is much better than just using a traditional scale at home, and is subject to variations.  That’s why it’s important to weigh yourself under similar conditions to control for accuracy as much as possible (same time of day, same day of the week, etc.).  It’s also a good idea to use an old-fashioned tape measure to get your digits.