Why the Number on the Scale Deserves a Lot Less Power
We see something interesting happen all the time when someone steps onto our InBody scanner. Before the scan has even started, they’re already preparing themselves for the number.
“I’m scared to see what this says.”
“This is going to be bad.”
“I haven’t been eating very well.”
“I already know I gained weight.”
Sometimes it’s said jokingly. Sometimes there’s genuine anxiety behind it. But we’d guess 98% of the people we work with have some degree of negative anticipation before they step onto that machine.
And you know what?
Coaches do it too.
We know better. We understand body composition. We understand how much body weight can fluctuate and how many things influence it. (There are A LOT of things that can influence it, we’ll talk more about that another time.) We understand that a number on a scale tells us very little by itself. We also understand that the number on the scale doesn't tell us anything about who we are as people.
And yet we still have to work on our own mindset around that stupid number, too.
Every once in a while, though, we get someone who's genuinely excited to see what it says. They're curious. They want the feedback. They want to see what's changed, what hasn't, and what they can learn from it.
We LOVE that. And we'd love to see more people approach the scale that way. Not because we expect everyone to be excited about every number they see, but because we'd love to take some of the fear out of it and replace it with curiosity.
Most of us learned that the number on the scale means something about how well we’re doing. If it's lower, YES! We're doing good. If it's higher, shit. Something went wrong. But think about what a scale is really doing for a second. It's measuring how much you weigh at one particular moment in time. That's it.
Yet, we've given that number the power to affect how we feel about ourselves as human beings.
It doesn't change your personality. It doesn't change your heart or your soul. It doesn't change your hopes, dreams, ambitions, relationships, or the people who love you. It doesn't change the kind of spouse, parent, friend, coworker, or human you are.
It's literally a number on a piece of equipment.
Now, that doesn't mean the number is useless. Quite the opposite. We tell our clients all the time:
It's just data. And data is useful.
If you're working toward a goal and the number is higher than you hoped it would be, that's not bad data. It's simply a piece of information telling us where you are at that moment in time.
Then we get curious. What's happening underneath that number? That's one of the reasons we use an InBody scanner at The Herd Health & Wellness and CrossFit 605 instead of relying solely on body weight.
Let's say you step on your bathroom scale and it says 200 pounds.
Maybe you're hoping to eventually weigh 175. But your bigger goal is to lean out, lose body fat, build muscle, feel better, look better naked, and improve your overall health.
Seeing 200 doesn't tell us how you're doing with most of those things.
When you step on the InBody, we still see the 200 pounds. But now we get to look underneath it.
How much of your body is skeletal muscle mass?
How much is body fat?
What percentage of your body weight is fat?
What's happening with your visceral fat, the fat stored around your internal organs that is associated with increased health risks when present at higher levels?
We can also look at body-water measurements and segmental analysis, which helps us see things like how lean mass is distributed between your arms, legs, and trunk.
Suddenly, 200 pounds tells a much bigger story.
Maybe your weight hasn't changed much, but you've built muscle and lost body fat. Maybe you're losing weight, but you're also losing muscle that we'd really like to preserve. Maybe your body fat percentage is moving in the direction we want even though your total weight isn't changing as quickly as you hoped. Maybe your visceral fat level is improving. Or maybe the numbers aren't moving the direction we'd like them to at all.
That's useful information too. Because the scan isn't a grade. It's feedback. If the plan is working, the data helps us see that. If it isn't, the data gives us an opportunity to ask why and decide whether something needs to change.
That can be the scariest, most uncomfortable part of it all. Data doesn't care what we meant to do. It doesn't care that we planned to eat better, move more, drink less, sleep longer, or finally get consistent.
It shows us what's really happening.
Sometimes that confirms what we already know. Sometimes it catches us in a place where we've been giving ourselves a little more credit than we've earned.
We can tell ourselves we've been doing pretty well. We can minimize the weekends, the missed workouts, the extra drinks, the handfuls of snacks, or the nights we stayed up too late. The data doesn't lie to us the way we can sometimes lie to ourselves.
That's not punishment. That's accountability.
Sometimes the most useful thing a scan gives us isn't validation that everything is going well. Sometimes it's an honest look at where we are so we can stop guessing, stop rationalizing, and decide what we're going to do next.
That's how we want people to start thinking about the scale. Not as a judge. Not as something that gets to decide whether you've been “good” or “bad.” And definitely not as something that gets to decide how you feel about yourself that day.
It's a tool. One data point. One snapshot in time. And this is something we have to remind ourselves of too.
When we're working toward our own goals, whether we're trying to lean out a little, build more muscle, improve performance, or change something about our health, there's still that little bit of anticipation when it's time to scan.
Is it working?
Did anything change?
Am I going to like what I see?
Am I being honest with myself and living in alignment with my goals?
Knowing better doesn't magically erase years of conditioning around what we're supposed to weigh or what we think that number is supposed to look like. So we practice the same thing we ask our clients to practice.
Look at the data. Don't judge it. Get curious about it. Maybe it's exactly what you hoped to see. Maybe it isn't. Either way, you haven't changed as a person in the 30 seconds it took you to step onto that machine. You simply have another piece of information.
And now you get to decide what you want to do with it.
So the next time you step onto a scale and feel yourself bracing for whatever number is about to appear, remember:
A number can tell you something about your body. It cannot tell you anything about your worth.
It's just data. Use it. Learn from it. And carry on forward.
What’s Behind the Number?
At The Herd Health & Wellness and CrossFit 605, we use InBody body composition scans to look beyond body weight and better understand changes in muscle, body fat, visceral fat, body-water balance, and more.
Whether you want to establish a baseline, better understand where you are today, or track your progress over time, an InBody scan gives you more information than the number on your bathroom scale.