The Truth About Weight Charts

Weight can be deceiving, and weight charts don’t account for individual variation. Too many women and men have developed eating disorders because the weight charts told them they were overweight, and no matter what they did, they remained off the charts.

Scales can also drive you crazy: most diet experts recommend only weighing yourself once a week, since weight can fluctuate dramatically from day to day. Your weight is not necessarily a reliable indicator of your muscle tone, fat levels or fitness.

In fact, muscle is heavier than fat, so people who start working out may even gain weight at first, as the muscle builds up before the fat has melted off.

But muscle also takes up less room on your body than fat does. For example, five pounds of fat take up the same amount of room on your body as three large grapefruits. Five pounds of muscle takes up as much room as three tangerines! That makes a big difference when you’re trying on bathing suits!

Forget weight charts, and pay attention to body fat percentage, a much more reliable indicator of fitness.