It's not uncommon for most of us to use a scale to measure our progress when we embark on a weight loss mission, but what does the common scale really tell us? After all, a scale can't tell the difference between a pound of muscle and a pound of fat.
Recently the utility of measuring only body weight has come under well-deserved scrutiny in the scientific and medical communities. The use of comparing weight to height squared (BMI) can be misleading when it is used to predict obesity-related conditions or measure progress during a weight management program because it does not distinguish excess fat from lean tissue. The best example is an individual who develops lean muscle mass while losing body fat but has a higher-than-normal BMI.
Want to know where to get the "Practical Gold Standard" body composition assessment?
Thinner does not mean less body fat.
Scale weight alone does not predict your health risk. Evidence shows that 50% of "normal weight" individuals with higher body fat percentages have the same cardiovascular risk as their "overweight" peers. Mayo Clinic Women's Health Source. Normal Weight Obesity: A Real Health Rick. Tuesday, September 2, 2008
How do you measure up?