The Scale is a LIAR!

How many years have you been letting the scale lie to you? I promise you this, if there was a person in your life that lied to you as much as the scale did...they wouldn't be in your life long. The scale lies about your worth, lies about your attractiveness, lies about your athletic ability, lies about your overall health, and actually I'm pretty sure that jerk lies about everything. I come across this scale issue a lot as a CrossFit coach and nutrition coach. It's not just women either, Men are just as obsessed with the number on the scale as women. The hardest and most important thing that I do as a coach, in my opinion, is educate people on how to change their relationship with the scale. The problem with the scale is it doesn't tell you the whole story. Let me put a quick disclaimer in here:

This is not an excuse for people that live unhealthy lifestyles to not change. You know what I'm talking about...eating crappy and not exercising. That's not what I'm writing about here. Yes the scale might have a valid point if you are 100lbs overweight. But it also applies to the "skinny" unhealthy people that will do anything to keep the scale at a certain weight. This article is for the people that made a decision to commit to a healthy lifestyle.

So back to the point...the scale only tells you a small piece of the story. Here is a huge missing piece that the scale leaves out:

Want to see that number on the scale drop really fast? Start losing muscle, (it weights a lot more than fat) don't pick up a weight ever, definitely don't eat any protein, starve yourself a little and you too could look like these hot, lightweight fashion models.

Okay you get the point. But I'm not kidding, I have this very similar conversation at least once a week with different people that have gone through my 24 Day Challenge or have been CrossFitting for a couple of months: 

Them: "I"m kind of disappointed...I only lost 5lbs"

Me:  "How do you feel?"

Them:  "Amazing! I have so much energy! I kept up with my 2year old this week and cleaned the house! But I really thought I would lose more weight.."

Me:  "How do your clothes fit?"

Them:  "I have been saving these jeans for years and I finally can wear them! I think I'm down a few sizes. But I still can't believe that I only lost 5lbs"

Me: "So what you're telling me is that you feel amazing and you lost inches off your body, but your still concerned about the number on the scale? I told you to throw that scale out the window, its a dirty liar"

Them: "hahahaha" 

It seems ridiculous because it is! I know we have been bombarded with "LOSE WEIGHT" advertising, BMI, and healthy weight charts for years but seriously, if you feel great, your body can perform well in most physical activities and you are free from preventable diseases, than I would say whatever the scale says doesn't matter. In fact you should probably throw that lying piece of crap in the garbage.