Weight ain’t nothin’ but a number: 4 reasons to distrust the scale
October 25, 2016 Ashley 0 Comments
With the onslaught of all awesome things Autumn, also come the calories.
Sure, you’ve tried to be good. But, admittedly, you’ve been snacking hither and thither. And now you’re wondering if all those miscellaneous bites of breaded pumpkin bliss or inimical cinnamon snack foods are finally finding your waistline. Is your favorite sweater suddenly snugger? Are these skinny jeans going to split if you sit? Or is it all in your head (which somehow looks fatter to you, too)? And thus has begun the long fall daily haul of your bum to the bathroom scale obsessively to see if you still weigh a low enough number to be lovable. And (gasp) as you mount that awful pound detector this morning, you learn that, sure enough – you’re five pounds in excess of “acceptable”.
Now, I get it. We all do. This little ritual’s totally relatable.
But did you know there are heaps of reasons for why that scale number can fluctuate?
Ones that’ve got nada to do with fat?
Thus, I present you all with 4 reasons you might just be acting insane when it comes to the scale:
1. Water weight
You’ve probably heard this one before, but yes. Water retention is totally a thing when it comes to weight gain. What you chose from P.F. Chang’s last night might just be what’s causing you to hang onto agua in your body today. The result? A horrified morning moment when you see an extra five pounds’s been added onto your body from seemingly nowhere. And exactly what’s causing that water weight gain? Well, stuff like salt and sugar do tend to top the list. (Counterintuitively, the fix to nixing that is to drink more water, to flush it out – or hold off on the salty and sugary stuff altogether.) But, also, sometimes it’s stuff beyond your control. (See: PMS) Sometimes you just gotta ride it (and by “it”, I mean: the rouge deluge) out for a week or so. Takeaway here? Patience, hydration, and holding off on the extra salt or sugar’s one key way to curb water weight poundage.
2. Poo
Yep. Number two on this list is the number two. It’s never a good feeling to be “backed up”. But one thing you can feel good about is that – if you are – you can likely subtract a good five pounds from whatever your scale number is. Why? Because poop adds massive poundage to the scale. More important than vanity, however, is all the awful effects retaining those toxins has on your body. So, for the sake of both your scale numbers and your overall health, add a bit of fiber to your diet and mayhaps a light dose of senna infused “Smooth Move” tea. The combo should usher out that refuse that refuses to leave in no time and have you both weighing less and feeling better.
3. Your workout itself
Did you know that fluid shifts from body movin’ routine can even account for weight gain? The reason’s because the mass of each alters. According to Jeffrey A. Dolgan, a clinical exercise physiologist at Canyon Ranch in Miami Beach, Fla:
“A person’s scale mass is a combination of muscle, fat, bone, the brain and neural tract, connective tissue, blood, lymph, intestinal gas, urine, and the air that we carry in our lungs. Immediately after a workout routine, the percentage of mass in each of these categories can shift as much as 15 percent.”
So, maybe wait for weight taking ’til way after (or right before) your workout.
4. Muscle
That said, the old adage about adipose tissue weighing less than muscle does – isn’t true. (Obvious, when you think about it. A pound is a pound – regardless of whether you’re using jelly or metal to measure it out.) What is true, though, is that the volume of muscle’s denser. And that’s what makes it heavier (and your scale numbers higher). Either way, if the el-bee digits are on the rise, it could just be ’cause your thighs now comprise iron versus the thunder that they used to.
(Hold on; looking for a mindblow gif to insert.)
So, there you go, loves.
Four reasons that easily explain why your poundage might be on the rise – that have nothing to do with your blubber levels. So, unless you’ve dissing the gym (and packing in pecan pies nightly on the sly) this season, you needn’t worry any longer about making those scale numbers fall this fall.
’cause, sometimes, weight ain’t nothin’ but a number.