Healthy Weight Gain: higher numbers and smaller sizes

If you're working towards a goal of losing a given amount of weight, you might have picked up on the habit of stepping on the scale each day to track your progress. With healthy eating and regular exercise, you may notice a steady drop in number, but there could come a point when that number refuses to budge or even starts to move back up. All the while, you look noticeably slimmer and more defined, so why doesn't the scale seem to agree?

You might wonder if this is due to you falling back on diet and/or exercise, only to conclude that if anything, both of these have been improving. If this is the case, then weight gain (or lack of weight loss) is most likely due to an increase in muscle mass.

A common misconception is that a pound of muscle weighs more than a pound of fat. One pound cannot weigh more than another pound; what it comes down to is volume.

Muscle is more dense than fat, and therefore weighs more in terms of volume. Think of it like this: five pounds of muscle will take up less space in your body than five pounds of fat. That being said, if there are two people of the same height and weight, it's possible that one could wear a larger pant size than the other. This would be because one of the two carries more fat while the other carries more muscle. So, if you lose three pounds of fat but then gain five pounds of muscle, the scale will read that you're two pounds heavier, but your body may look leaner.

The take-home message here is that as long as you're eating a nutritious and balanced diet and keeping up with your workout regimen, don't be startled by a plateau or rising numbers. If you're healthy and feel great, does the scale really matter anyway? That hunk of metal doesn't have eyes and isn't telling you where the weight placed atop of its cold, flat surface is derived from. Let your signs of progress be based on increased endurance at the gym or a look in the mirror, not on a number.