Don’t Track Weight: Track Body Composition Instead
Find out what you’re really made of.
Happy New Year!
January 1st heralds a fresh start and a new year full of possibilities - including the fun of setting some health and fitness goals for the year ahead.
The most common goal that people have is they want to lose weight: after a December of eating out, drinking, partying and maybe not getting enough sleep (New Years Eve anyone?), it’s natural to want to reset a little and kickstart some healthier habits - not to mention your social feeds will likely be flooded with ads for gym membership offers, fitness subscriptions and exercise equipment.
While losing weight is a commendable fitness goal - and definitely might be a crucial factor for your overall health - relying on this metric alone can often be misrepresentative of your fitness progress, or even downright detrimental.
Why Shouldn’t I Track My Weight?
First of all, there’s nothing wrong with tracking your weight. The issue is that people have only had this metric to rely on for a long time and derive their self worth from it - but it doesn’t tell the whole story.
Most people are familiar with the term “muscle weighs more than fat”, and it’s a piece of information that more people are learning each year. Obviously a kilogram of muscle is going to weigh the same as a kilogram of fat, however muscle fibres have a higher density than fat does. Imagine comparing a kilogram of marshmallows to a kilogram of steel - the amount of steel is visually much smaller than the amount of marshmallows needed to weigh a total of one kilogram. The same can be said of muscle and fat - if you gain 10 kgs of fat it’s easy to imagine that you’ll look different than if you gained 10 kgs of muscle.
So why is this important?
Let’s say your goal is to lose weight, so your plan is to lift weights at the gym. Each week you weigh yourself on your bathroom scales, and despite having stuck to your new 3-day routine (and cleaned up your diet), you notice your weight hasn’t changed or that you’ve gained a couple kgs. In this scenario, remembering that muscle weighs more than fat, as you slowly lose fat and gain muscle, your overall weight can stay the same or increase depending on how you progress.
As soon as people see their metrics going in the “wrong” direction after only just recently starting a new routine, some are likely to quit before they’ve even began to see the results from their hard work or before they’ve formed a habit - even if they actually feel physically better! It can be detrimental to your mindset and self esteem, and can discourage you from continuing in the future.
Then How Should I Track My Fitness Levels?
So now you’re wondering “great, but how the heck do I track my progress if I can’t use my bathroom scales?”
Glad you asked.
Tracking total body composition is fast becoming the most popular - and accurate - way to track your overall fitness. Rather than just focusing on overall weight, your total body composition is comprised of several different metrics, including:
- Muscle mass
- Body fat percentage and body mass
- Visceral fat levels
- Total body water
- Bone mass
These are just a few of the key metrics which will affect your overall body health, and being able to track changes in these individually over time will provide you with much more accurate information on what you need to focus more on: whether that’s changing your exercise, tweaking your diet, drinking more water, or maybe even sticking to what you know is working!
What’s A Body Composition Monitor?
“Cool, so how do I actually measure my body composition then?”
Great question! Just like you have a set of bathroom scales to measure your weight, a body composition monitor gives you all the information you need to track your total body composition.
Our range of Tanita Body Composition Monitors are designed to accurately track all of your key body metrics, and are just as easy to use as a standard set of bathroom scales. In fact, some models are even compatible with the My Tanita app, allowing you to easily track and refer to your fitness data from your pocket - and it even syncs with the Apple Health app if that’s the app you like to house your sleep tracking and activity data too. Nifty!
As well as body composition monitors, you can check out the full range of our fitness products and accessories here.
Conclusion
If you’re ready to kick start your fitness this year, make sure you’ve got the tools you need to ensure you’re tracking your progress properly, and not getting disappointed with seemingly “bad” results.
Make this year the year you achieve your fitness goals with Tanita.