As you may know, weight gain occurs when we consume more calories than we burn during daily activities, including exercise. These excess calories are then stored as fat. The tendency to carry excess body fat is particularly common among Americans, a trend that continues to expand annually.  From 1990 to 2015, the average percentage of obese adults increased from 11.1% to 29.3%. As of 2015, 37.9% of the US population was obese. In fact, as of 2015, four states now exceed obesity rates of 35%; 25 states have obesity rates at or above 30%; and all states have obesity rates over 25%.¹

Taking a closer look at why people gain weight and have trouble losing it is essential in solving this problem. While there are obviously many factors, there is one especially worth noting for those who are tired of excess pounds and yo-yo dieting: the bathroom scale. Why? Many Americans have little understanding of their true fitness—relying only on the bathroom scale to determine their body weight. Unfortunately, this tool is a highly inaccurate gauge of fitness because it fails to differentiate between fat and lean muscle. Lean muscle weighs more than fat while taking up much less space, which can make the number on the scale very deceiving.

The bathroom scale can actually lull you into a false sense of complacency. That’s because over time, even though the scale indicates your usual weight, without regular exercise, your clothing size will continue to increase. In other words, if you’re generally sedentary, the body gradually exchanges lean muscle for fat. This is compounded by the fact that by mid-life, your metabolism is likely to be far less efficient than in your 20’s, and is further slowed down by a higher ratio of fat to lean muscle, a vicious cycle many of us get caught in. And sadly, few people track this ratio, again relying mainly on the bathroom scale.

A better way to get a baseline of where you are and where you may want to go in terms of fat loss is to determine your body composition—the ratio of body fat to lean muscle—which has a direct impact on your weight, fitness, health and longevity. The best way to do so is through body fat testing, which clearly assesses your current state of fit-to-fat. The American College of Sports Medicine asserts that the healthy body fat percentage range for men between the ages of 30-39 would be between 12-21% body fat, while women in the same age range would ideally be between 17-25%.

Determining your body composition will provide you with an accurate starting place for healthy fat loss. If you have a higher than ideal percentage of body fat to lean muscle, reducing that percentage is your most effective means to reaching and maintaining a healthy weight. Monitoring your body fat ratio every few months will allow you to track your progress as you move towards a healthier, leaner and more fit bod.

If you really want positive results, you might consider at minimum swapping your scale for a tape measure. That way, even if you can’t get a body fat test, you can take measurements of your hip, thigh, waist and bust areas before embarking on diet changes. This is incredibly valuable as it allows you to track inches lost as you improve your eating patterns and incorporate regular exercise into your daily life. Inches lost are a reflection of your body losing fat and gaining lean muscle!

When you are exercising consistently,  you will start to convert fat to lean muscle, and also reduce your clothing size—regardless of the number on the scale. Recent research indicates that women between the ages of 30-50 who engaged in regular physical activity were able to maintain lower body fat levels and body mass indexes than their sedentary peers. They also showed a consistently higher metabolic rate, even at rest.2 The more lean muscle mass you have, the more efficient your metabolic function will be. How is this in your favor?

An efficient metabolism means you can consume far more calories than someone with a higher body fat percentage, and still stay sleek. All of which brings us back to the value of increasingly lean muscle as you reduce fat. To that end, you will want to aim for a minimum of 20-30 minutes of exercise, at least three times per week, ideally moving up to daily, even if that’s just a walk. An accurate picture of your starting point will set you up for the best results on your journey to reach and maintain a healthy, fit, trim body!

¹ https://obesity.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=006026

² Journal of the American Dietetic Association 2001 Oct;101(10):1181-8