If you have been around T-Tapp much at all, I’m sure you have heard how we focus more on inch loss than weight loss.

Why is that?

The number on a scale is not able to tell you exactly what you lost–was it water? Muscle? Fat?

There are “body fat scales” that claim to measure the body fat percentage–but many sources will tell you that they are not 100% accurate. They can give you a general idea, if you keep all factors the same (time of day you weigh, what you’re wearing, how soon after or before eating you weigh, etc.)  Here is one interesting article I found:  Body Fat Scales:  Do They Really Work?

So while body fat scales may give you a general idea….they still aren’t going to tell the whole story. And, quite frankly, I feel it is way too easy as women to let that number drive us.  Even when we know in our heads it’s not 100% accurate, we still seem to struggle with taking it to heart!

Early in my T-Tapp journey, I was frustrated with the scales.  Really, even before T-Tapp!  I was part of a weight loss Bible study group, and even then–the most I lost was 13 lbs.   I was getting into smaller clothing but my joy and “progress” were stolen by a number on an instrument that wasn’t telling the whole story.  I never won any prizes, that’s for sure!  :p

Thankfully, I was not in the diet mindset since at that time I had a nursing baby–as I did when I started T-Tapp, too! 😉   Quite frankly, I like to eat!  And if you tell me I can’t have it…..it makes me focus on it all the more!

As I started losing inches in T-Tapp (finally!  You can read how I was fearful I would be fat forever on my Trisch’s Transformation tab!) I was still stumped at the scales.  Oh, I lost weight.  And gained some back.  And lost some more.  Then gained some back.   Then was stuck for quite awhile at one number!   I’m so grateful for the T-Tapp forums and the veteran T-Tappers and trainers who answer questions and assure newbies that they are doing fine!  I believe it was trainer Kirsten Tucker that told me, when I was expressing my concern over not losing weight, that if I was losing inches but not weight, then it was most likely because I was building muscle density.  I often joke I was trading fat for muscle! 😉

That’s probably not too far from the truth! Consider these facts:

The first few weeks of T-Tapp you will gain 5-7 lbs. in spinal muscle density.

That is a gain we want!  Those muscles love to eat glucose and fat!  Not to mention those muscles help your posture, which in turn helps many other body functions.  Teresa Tapp does a great job explaining the importance of increasing spinal muscle density in this article:  The Estrogen Trap.

Dieting can help you lose weight, but you might be sacrificing muscles to do so.

Or, said another way, dieting can help you get smaller–but it can’t help you build muscle or get toned!   It is important to fuel your body well to feel well, for healing–especially healing of the metabolism.   Dr. Diana Schwarzbein says, “You have to eat well to feel well, and you don’t lose weight to get healthy, you get healthy to lose weight!”  (Or inches, I like to say!)

The first few paragraphs of this article explain it very well (although I do not agree with their “diet” recommendations later in the article):  Eating to Lose Weight

The number on a scale can’t tell you whether you are gaining bone density.

Bone density is also weight we want to gain!  story–from age 85-87 she gained 18% bone density in her lower lumbar region alone!  (Berei is almost 90 and still in great shape!)

Here is a great article on 5 Ways to Boost the Bone Building Power of Your Workout–and T-Tapp will take care of all 5!

Weight does NOT tell the whole story!

I’m proof of that!

If I had only gone by how much weight I had lost, I would have given up about 4 1/2 years ago….when I gained back 10 lbs. of the first 25 I lost!  And then….stayed there for nearly a year!

By the spring of 2011, after 4 years of T-Tapp, I had lost almost 180 inches, 8 sizes…..but only 30 lbs!  I have no grand explanations other than what you’ve already read–muscle and bone density!  “Trading” fat for muscle!  🙂

I had shared some stats on the T-Tapp forums of how crazy my inch loss compared to weight loss was, but I can’t find the thread anymore since the upgrade. I’ll keep looking though! Here’s a little bit of it (it’s also in my book Fatigued to FABULOUS!):

If I had went by my weight loss, I would have quit a long time ago! Actually, I hardly ever weigh anymore because I have learned that it doesn’t tell the whole story, and it was stealing my joy.  I couldn’t enjoy my inch and size loss, my better sleep and less PMS, because of a dumb number on the scales!  That was so absurd I put the scales away until I could laugh at them!  😉

Life is too short to be totally stressed all the time by numbers, especially numbers on a scale that can only give you general information.  If you want some proof that weight really doesn’t matter, here is a compilation of threads I did at the T-Tapp forums a few years ago:

Weight Doesn’t Matter–Repeat After Me!

I have more that I want to “weigh in” on this matter, so I will continue next week with more thoughts! 😉

Photo credit:  winnifredxoxo