EP 61: How to Use the Scale to Track Fat Loss Over 40

0:00Hello and welcome back to Becoming Her, Fitter, Better, and Stronger over 40. I'm your host and coach, Shauna. I'm 46, a wife, a boy mom, and a fitness and nutrition coach helping women over 40 become their best. And my cat is photobombing today's episode. Hold please. So welcome or welcome back. If it's your first time here, make sure you subscribe because I share all the tips on how to build your best body over 40. And today we are talking about the scale. I know this is one of those topics that I think a lot of us have a complicated relationship with. For some reason, the scale feels so stressful.

0:32For a lot of us, it's our ultimate source of control, and that number can completely change how we feel about progress. So today, I want to walk you through how you can use the scale, not in a way that's stressful, but actually so that you can stay informed and use it as data on your journey. Not emotional, not obsessive, but actual practical data that can help you know if you are moving in the right direction. Think of this episode like we are sitting down together talking this through so that the scale becomes something for you to understand instead of something that you fear. Now, one of the biggest mindset shifts that I want you to have is this, is that the scale is not just measuring fat loss.

1:12It's measuring your total body weight. And that number is influenced by so much more than just body fat. Your weight on any given day includes muscle, water, food that's still being digested, glycogen that's stored in your muscle, inflammation if there is any in your body, and different water fluctuations that you might be having. So when you step on a scale and you see it move up or down, especially day to day, it's rarely a direct reflection of fat loss or fat gain. Fat loss is a slow, gradual process. But scale changes can happen very quickly, and that's where confusion tends to start. So once you understand the difference, the scale stops feeling so scary and something that you can actually use with your journey.

1:55This naturally leads us to why the scale fluctuates so much, even when you're being really consistent. For women especially, we have hormones, and that plays a huge role. So depending on where you are in your cycle, your body may hold onto more water, sometimes for several days at a time. That can show up as a higher number on the scale, even when nothing else has changed with your nutrition or your training. Sleep and stress will also matter too. So poor sleep and higher stress levels can increase cortisol, which often leads to temporary water retention. Hard workouts can also cause the scale to rise because your muscles hold onto fluid as they repair and recover.

2:32I mentioned this in my story this week and mentioned that I would be talking about it on my podcast. I had a hard leg day and I mentioned in my story that I probably see the scale increase for the next couple days, which I did, which is totally normal. And now it's kind of back to where it was. Now, other things that influence the scale are things like digestion, travel, illness, sodium intake, meal timing if you ate close to bed, taking creatine as it helps to pull water into your muscle. So you're going to see a fluctuation in the scale from that. But all of these things will influence your weight, but not because you have gained fat.

3:07One of the biggest contributors to scale fluctuations and one of the most misunderstood is carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are something that a lot of us fear. and sometimes we see big changes with the scale when we either add them or take them out. And I want you to understand what that actually means so you don't fear the scale or fear carbs. So let's slow down here for a minute because understanding this will completely change how you view the scale and how you view carbohydrates. So when you eat carbohydrates, your body stores them as glycogen in your muscles and in your liver. Glycogen is your body's preferred fuel source.

3:42So we want this, especially if our goal is to grow lean muscle, which it should be over 40. This will help us with our strength training and our recovery. What most people don't realize though is that glycogen doesn't get stored on its own. So for every one gram of glycogen your body stores, it also stores about three to four grams of water along with it. So if you have a higher carb day, the scale can jump up. That increase is not fat gain, it's fuel and water. The only way you can gain fat is when you eat in a caloric surplus for an extended period of time. You cannot gain fat from carbs alone.

4:16This is also why many people see a big drop in the scale when they cut out carbs, because as glycogen is depleted, the water that's stored with it is released, and the scale goes down pretty fast. That initial drop feels very motivating. It feels like, oh my gosh, this is a secret. Cutting out carbs is how I can lose weight. But that's just water loss. It's not fat loss. When carbs are added back in, glycogen refills, water comes back, and the scale rises again. Nothing went wrong. Carbs aren't bad. Your body's just doing what it's designed to do. So once you understand this, those short-term scale changes start to make a lot more sense, and you can let go of your fear of the scale and carbohydrates.

4:55Now, another big reason a lot of us fear the scale and have a bad relationship with it is because we kind of avoid it. We'll just use it off and on. But if you step on the scale only occasionally, you're usually catching one of the fluctuations rather than actually seeing what's truly going on. One week, your weight might be higher because of hormones, and then you get discouraged. Another week, it might be down and you have that relief. But neither one is telling you the actual real story of what's happening with fat loss. It's kind of like checking your bank account at random times without knowing when bills are coming out or when deposits are going in.

5:32You'd be reacting to the balance instead of understanding the overall trends. That's why how you track is so important. This is where daily weighing paired with weekly trends can be incredibly helpful and powerful. Weighing in daily allows you to see normal fluctuations for what they are, and over time, those ups and downs start to feel less emotional because you expect them and you understand them. The weekly average and trend is what gives you clarity. It shows you whether weight is trending down, staying the same, or increasing over time. This is what I do with myself and with clients. This allows us to see normal fluctuations, but then we can also see if weight is more or less staying the same, trending up, trending down, etc.

6:12Instead of reacting to a single number, we're looking at trends. We're able to see the bigger picture and if we're truly making progress. Now speaking of progress, let's talk about what to expect when you are losing fat. Like what is realistic with your fat loss because the right expectations are really important for you to maintain consistency because when you get discouraged, you might doubt the plan, want to quit. Important to understand what a realistic idea, an expectation is for fat loss. Now, fat loss tends to occur at different rates depending on how much body fat someone has to lose. So someone with more body fat may see larger weekly changes on the scale, sometimes two pounds or more a week early on.

6:56For someone who has less fat to lose, especially for someone who's relatively lean, you know, 10 or less pounds to lose, fat loss usually happens slowly. So in those cases, seeing around half a pound to a pound a week is pretty typical and normal. That doesn't mean progress is worse or slower. It just reflects how the body responds at different stages. As fat levels get lower, changes tend to be more gradual, and that's completely expected. This is another reason why zooming out and looking at trends instead of day-to-day changes is so important. This is also where body composition comes into the conversation because if you're strength training, eating enough protein, and fueling your body well, you might be losing fat and gaining muscle at the same time.

7:43So when that happens, the scale might not move very much even though your body is changing. And just to clear up a common myth, muscle does not weigh more than fat. A pound of muscle equals a pound of fat. The difference, however, is how much space each one takes up. Muscle is compact while fat takes up more space on the body. That's why you can weigh more or less the same, but look smaller, leaner, more toned, and more sculpted. Your clothes are going to fit differently, your shape changes, and you have improved strength. These are all signs that the body composition is improving even when the scale stays the same.

8:19Now all of this brings us back to the idea that the scale is just one piece of information. It's one piece of data. It can be helpful especially when used consistently and interpreted correctly but it doesn't tell the whole story. Things like progress photos, measurements, strength improvements, and how you feel in your body are all much more important or as important as the scale. This data can help us recognize true body transformation and changes with your body composition. If the scale is more or less the same, but your waist is smaller, that is a great sign that you're probably losing fat and gaining lean muscle.

8:52Some scales can actually help you measure body composition as well, which gives you a better idea of those composition changes. I love and use the Hume Health Scale. It tracks body composition. It gives you a full report and tracks those percentage changes over time. I'll link that in the show notes if you are curious and want to include a body composition scale in your journey. I do think that they are very helpful because it gives you that bigger picture. Again, it's not about being perfect here or having exact numbers, but it's about having enough information and focusing on the right things so that we have an understanding of what's really going on and that we know we are truly transforming because it's not just about being smaller.

9:31It's about having better body composition. And speaking of that, I want to wrap this up by zooming out because the goal is not just a lower number on the scale. The goal is to feel strong in your body, confident in how you look, feel supported in your health, especially for the years to come. And all of that comes from having less fat, but also more muscle. So the scale can help guide that process, but it should not be the center, the thing that determines whether or not you feel successful. When you use it as data, alongside data, alongside other markers of progress, it becomes a tool instead of a source of stress.

10:09And that's the relationship I want you to have with the scale. So to bring this all together before we wrap up, here's what I want you to take away from this episode. First is that the scale is measuring a total body weight, not just your body fat. So that number can be influenced by so many things, water, food, digestion, glycogen, hormones, stress, sleep, and workouts. So remember that when you're stepping on it every single day. Number two is that daily fluctuations are normal. Carbs, sodium, hard training sessions, poor sleep, and hormonal shifts can all move the scale without any change in body fat, especially when it comes to carbs.

10:48Remember that glycogen stores water, roughly three to four grams. So higher carb days might show up quickly on the scale, but that does not mean that you've gained fat. Number three is that I want you to remember that tracking matters. How you're weighing in matters. Random weigh-ins tend to create confusion and chaos. So weigh in daily and then track the trends over a week. If you use something you can track your weight in every day, it will put it on a graph for you. That's what I do with my clients. And then we can actually see it. We're stair-stepping our way down. It's never going to be a linear process when you're losing fat.

11:22You're going to have fluctuations that bounce around a little bit, but if you are trending down, you know that you're having success. This is what gives you that clearer picture of what's actually happening over time and helps to remove the emotional reaction to that single number. Number four is that fat loss happens at different rates for different people. Someone with more fat to lose may see larger weekly changes, sometimes two plus pounds early on, but someone who is already relatively lean is going to lose at a slower rate. anywhere from a half a pound to a pound is very normal. So stay consistent, stay patient, and trust the process.

11:56Number five is that the scale doesn't always change when your body does. So if you're starting training, eating enough protein, you can lose fat and gain muscle at the same time. The scale may stay the same, but your body composition, your shape, your strength, and how your clothes fit can change significantly. So remember, we are focused on body transformation, better body composition. So if those things are improving, even if the scale isn't changing, that is a sign of success. And finally, the scale is just one piece of the puzzle. Things like photos, measurements, strength, all of those things, how you feel in your body, matter as much or more.

12:33When you look at the full picture, the scale becomes a tool and not a source of stress. I hope you found this episode helpful. If you did, I would be so appreciative if you could leave a rating or a review. It really does help the show grow and find more women like you who need to hear it. And if you're looking for support with fat loss, body recomposition, and building your best body over 40, you can always find ways to work with me in the show notes. Also, if you have show ideas, feel free to comment if you're on YouTube or DM me on Instagram because I would love to hear from you. And until next time, keep getting stronger.