WEIGHT LOSS/FAT LOSS? DONT BE FOOLED BY THE BATHROOM SCALES

A query that arose during some personal training recently, and arises from time to time regarding weight loss and fat loss.

Here’s a re-post.
WEIGHT MANAGEMENT
* Weight Management. Don’t be fooled by the bathroom scales.The key to weight management is calculating your body fat percentage.
Here’s an example;
Tom or Mary starts an exercise and nutrition program. After 6 weeks of regular exercise (3 times a week that includes aerobic and resistance exercises) and an improved diet, he or she, stands on their bathroom weighing scales and notices that they have …only lost a couple of pounds, or 1 kg approx, for example!! Before the program Tom or Mary weighed 70kg and had a body fat percentage of 30% (21kg). But after 6 weeks their weight had only dropped by 1kg to 69kg, but their body fat percentage had dropped to 26% (just under 18kg).
So even though the scales shows a 1kg loss of weight, what it dosn’t show is the 3kg (or just over 6.5 pounds) of fat loss, and the 2kg of new healthy lean muscle.
The result: After 6 weeks Tom or Mary have reduced their body fat by 4%, added 2kg of healthy lean muscle, reduced their overall weight by 1kg, improved their ability to burn more calories by improving their metabolism, since muscle is metabolically more active than fat, and improving their fitness and energy levels.
Their are some machines in shops, shopping centres, that calculate body fat percentages, but I’m not sure how accurate they are. Body Mass Index (BMI) (dosen’t factor in muscle tone), Waist to Hip ratio, Skinfold Callipers, are some methods used to measure Body Composition, with the later being the most accurate of the three.