By the Numbers

Scale numbers can be deceiving and frustrating.  A strange eating day the day before a weigh-in can make me feel like I'm off track.  I've read all sorts of articles and blogs about how to deal with your weight -- mostly around how to see it differently.  John constantly reminds me that if I am gaining muscle from working out, I might not lose weight, and that I need to look at more numbers than just the weight number to understand what's going on.

This is why one of my goals is about body fat percentage, rather than about weight loss.

Every Thursday is weigh-in day.  Sometimes I check my weight through the week, just to have a sense of what's going on, but I only write it down on Thursday.  And if I am somewhere that I can't weigh in on my scale at home -- at Leadership Academy, in Hawaii, at my parents' house -- then I don't weigh in and I don't worry about.

Today is Thursday, which I was approaching with a mixture of dread and excitement.  This week has been a little odd in terms of the nutrition because of two lunches out and not feeling I nailed this week right in terms of food distributions.  But, still, it's 5:50 AM and I stepped on the scale.

I gained a pound.  BUT, my body fat weight went up only by 0.1 pound.  My body fat percentage decreased by 1.1%.  My body water was up 0.1%.  Interesting.  So after another week of P90X2, I have gained some muscle (hard to tell how much really, since my body water also increased).  (We have a Weight Watchers Scale from Target that shows all these numbers -- it was one of the best investments! )

So John was right.  And besides that, I feel excellent, which is more than just a nice bonus.