Throw Your Bathroom Scale Away! Why it May Be Your Worst Enemy
The scale can be our best friend and our worst enemy. You step on the scale each morning, look down at that digital readout, and pray that it shows the number you want.
But on most mornings there's a good chance it's not going to show that desired number. The scale may show you a number that is a couple pounds heavier than your "goal" weight. You get discouraged and start questioning yourself.
Am I eating right?
Is my nutrition plan working?
Am I doing enough cardio?
Did that fun-size candy bar I had after lunch cause me to gain 4 pounds?
Getting obsessed with that number on the scale can cause you to lose focus on the other things that you have actually been improving. You're getting stronger in the gym. You have more energy throughout your day than you've ever had before. You look in the mirror and you're happy with the person you see staring back at you.
This is why it's time to throw your scale away.
We forget about how much better we feel every day physically and mentally. We forget about how we use our workouts as a tool for battling stress.
We forget about how we can now walk up the stairs at work without feeling out of breath. We forget about how we now make healthy, conscious choices regarding the food we put into our body.
Unless you are cutting or gaining weight to reach a specific weight for a contest or competition you need to stop weighing yourself every day and allowing yourself to become stressed or upset because of that number on the scale.
Using this formula, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) classifies you into categories of being underweight, ideal, overweight, and obese.
To give you an example, let's take a male who is 6'1 in height and weighs 200 pounds. Using the calculation above, this man's BMI equals 26.38. Without bringing any other factors into the situation such as how active this individual may be, what their body fat percentage is, or what they eat on a daily basis, the BMI scale is classifying this individual as overweight. So, with this scale we are lead to believe that every high school athlete, college athlete, or professional athlete who is 6'1, 200 pounds is unhealthy because the BMI scale deems them overweight.
By relying on your weight, and it's correlation to your height, you're not taking into account a variety of different factors that are used to determine whether an individual is healthy or not.
If your new diet and exercise plan is giving you more energy, making you more mobile, and making you feel better overall in all aspects of your life then focus on that. Focus on how your fitness regimen is having a positive impact on your life rather than the number on the scale. Your health and how you feel each day is just as important.
The scale is only one of the many tools in your fitness tool shed you can use to sculpt yourself into the person you want to be physically and mentally. Realizing the scale isn't everything is important and is only going to lead you to becoming an even better version of yourself.
For more motivation and fitness tips follow the Tiger Fitness Squad on Youtube and on Instagram @thebrentness and @ryanrodal. Throw your scale away for a moment, focus on how you feel, and become satisfied with the person you see in the mirror each morning.
But on most mornings there's a good chance it's not going to show that desired number. The scale may show you a number that is a couple pounds heavier than your "goal" weight. You get discouraged and start questioning yourself.
Am I eating right?
Is my nutrition plan working?
Am I doing enough cardio?
Did that fun-size candy bar I had after lunch cause me to gain 4 pounds?
Getting obsessed with that number on the scale can cause you to lose focus on the other things that you have actually been improving. You're getting stronger in the gym. You have more energy throughout your day than you've ever had before. You look in the mirror and you're happy with the person you see staring back at you.
This is why it's time to throw your scale away.
Brently Rousset tells you why it's time to throw your scale away.We become obsessed with using our weight as the defining factor to determine whether we are healthy or in shape. We tend to forget about the other reasons behind why we changed our eating habits or started working out.
We forget about how much better we feel every day physically and mentally. We forget about how we use our workouts as a tool for battling stress.
We forget about how we can now walk up the stairs at work without feeling out of breath. We forget about how we now make healthy, conscious choices regarding the food we put into our body.
Unless you are cutting or gaining weight to reach a specific weight for a contest or competition you need to stop weighing yourself every day and allowing yourself to become stressed or upset because of that number on the scale.
BMI - Are You Obese?
One of the main reasons we've become so obsessed with our weight determining our concept of healthy is due to the mainstream use of the BMI scale. The Body Mass Index (BMI) scale was introduced in the early 19th century by a Belgian mathematician as an easy calculation tool to measure the obesity of the general population. [1] The BMI calculation uses only a person's height and weight to determine if they are underweight, ideal weight, overweight, or obese.BMI = (weight in pounds X 703)/(height in inches)2
Using this formula, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) classifies you into categories of being underweight, ideal, overweight, and obese.- Below 18.5 = Underweight
- 18.4-24.9 = Ideal
- 25-29.9 = Overweight
- 30 and above = Obese
To give you an example, let's take a male who is 6'1 in height and weighs 200 pounds. Using the calculation above, this man's BMI equals 26.38. Without bringing any other factors into the situation such as how active this individual may be, what their body fat percentage is, or what they eat on a daily basis, the BMI scale is classifying this individual as overweight. So, with this scale we are lead to believe that every high school athlete, college athlete, or professional athlete who is 6'1, 200 pounds is unhealthy because the BMI scale deems them overweight.
By relying on your weight, and it's correlation to your height, you're not taking into account a variety of different factors that are used to determine whether an individual is healthy or not.
How Do You Feel?
A number on a scale can't tell you how you feel mentally or physically. If you have changed your diet and started exercising regularly in the hopes of losing weight that's great, but don't let that weight number control you.If your new diet and exercise plan is giving you more energy, making you more mobile, and making you feel better overall in all aspects of your life then focus on that. Focus on how your fitness regimen is having a positive impact on your life rather than the number on the scale. Your health and how you feel each day is just as important.
The Bathroom Scale isn't Everything
Now, some of you may hold the scale in high regard. Weighing yourself each morning is what you do and the only way you think you're making progress is if you see that number going up or down depending on your goals. But, I want you to realize your health and how you feel physically and mentally go beyond the number you see on the scale each morning.The scale is only one of the many tools in your fitness tool shed you can use to sculpt yourself into the person you want to be physically and mentally. Realizing the scale isn't everything is important and is only going to lead you to becoming an even better version of yourself.
For more motivation and fitness tips follow the Tiger Fitness Squad on Youtube and on Instagram @thebrentness and @ryanrodal. Throw your scale away for a moment, focus on how you feel, and become satisfied with the person you see in the mirror each morning.
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