Have you observed weight loss scale is not moving? Has this happened to you?
Inch loss VS Weight loss
A healthy weight loss plan includes both diet and exercise. Exercising regularly helps you burn calories, and gain muscle mass. However, there are times when you might feel like you have dropped a dress size, but still, the weighing scale shows the same number. This does not mean you are doing something wrong or have not lost weight. You have lost your inches and are on your way towards achieving your weight loss goal.
Inch loss means losing inches from around typical areas of fat storage like waist, hips and thighs. When you lose fat, you will first notice changes in these specific body parts. Losing inches from your midsection is especially challenging if you have a bulging belly. High waist circumference is due to excess fat accumulation, which can affect your heart and other organs, increasing the risk of heart attack and type 2 diabetes. When you are performing strength training exercises, you not only lose fat but start gaining muscle mass. Muscles are compact and firm, but fat is not. This is the reason why you might have lost inches from your midsection, but the changes are not visible on the scale.
This does not mean your weight loss program has failed. In fact, inch loss is considered as a healthier way of losing weight. If you only want to lose weight, rather than building muscles then focus on cardiovascular exercise instead of strength training.
If you aim to get healthy and fit, then don't depend on your weighing scale. It is not the absolute way to determine the ideal weight as per your height and age. Measuring the Body Mass Index (BMI), waist-to-height ratio, body fat percentage and waist-to-hip ratio are your focus should be on attaining a healthy weight and not just losing weight. Loss of inch is a sign that your exercise and diet plan is working perfectly appropriate ways to know your healthy weight. The importance of exercising when trying to lose weight cannot be denied. Diet and exercise both are an essential part of a weight-loss routine.
Weight Loss
Body weight is sum total of the weight of the muscles, water, fat, bone tissue, internal organs, and water. When we see weight loss on the scale, it would be the loss of fat, muscle and water.
Weight loss = Fat loss + Muscle loss + Water loss
The amount of water retained in the body fluctuates based on many factors like muscle and fat percentage, dietary habits, type and amount of exercise, total fluid intake, menstrual phase, hormonal disturbances etc.
High salt foods can trigger our cells to absorb water like a sponge. A high carb meal can trigger a higher than normal levels of insulin in your blood, which can make the body, retain sodium that makes the cells absorb more water. The extra carbs from the meal will be typically stored as energy for future use by the body. Each gram of extra carb stored as glycogen will retain 3 gms of water. This is why we feel bloated and heavy after a Carb-rich meal.
Fat Loss
Fat is stored in the body in special cells- adipocytes, present beneath the skin, around visceral organs, muscles and breast tissues. The presence of fat is important to an extent as it helps in maintaining body temperature, protecting vital organs and biosynthesis of hormones. Losing fat from typical areas of your body such as waist, hips and thigh.
Fat Loss = Loss of stored fat from the body
More muscle mass helps in burning extra fat and therefore, helps in attaining the fitter version of you.
There could be many other factors, which could impact weight loss, but the message here is losing fat might not reflect on the scale.
Fat loss can be assessed more by the fit of your clothes, inches lost, how healthy you feel, and your energy levels. The scale will reflect this over a long period of time.
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