Tools for Tracking More than Just Weight

If you are doing resistance training exercises you may be losing excess fat tissue while gaining muscle tissue. While you are getting healthier, it can be frustrating because you can’t see these changes in the mirror. In fact, if you are gaining lean muscle tissue, the scale may tell you that you have actually gained weight because pound for pound, muscle weights more than fat. This can be extremely disheartening after all of the effort you have invested! Don’t be discouraged you are actually building lean muscle tissue—a heavier, yes, but more metabolically active tissue that accelerates fat loss.

So in order to stay motivated while tracking your progress, it is important to have a scale that accurately reflects not only your body weight, but more importantly, what percentage of that weight is lean muscle mass versus fat. The Tanita BC533 Scale is an excellent and reasonably priced model. You start by entering statistics which will be stored in the scale’s memory:age, height, activity level, etc. When you step on the scale you will be told your:

• Weight
• Body Fat Percentage
• Body Water Percentage
• Muscle Mass in Pounds
• Bone Mass
• Metabolic Age
• How many calories you need to eat to maintain your current weight

All of this information is so critical to maximizing your workouts and your meal plan! For example, if your muscle mass decreases, you know that in your weight loss journey, you are losing more muscle mass than fat mass. This is clearly not the objective, so you will know that you should perhaps increase the amount of strength training and decrease the amount of cardiovascular activity that you are doing to boost growth of lean muscle mass. Alternatively, if the scale indicates that you have gained a few pounds you should be sure to check your body water percentage before you freak out. It is very easy to put on a few pounds of water weight throughout the day, but a regular scale will not tell you this. This is a great tool to monitor your progress with your weight loss, muscle building, or general fitness goals.

Note: Most brands and models are relatively equal. The important thing is to track your progress using the same scale every time so you can accurately track change over time.