Why you should stop weighing yourself today and use body composition instead!

Why do we prefer to use an Inbody body composition scanner instead of traditional scales at RiseUp?

Weighing yourself on a traditional scale tells you just one thing - how much you weigh. This number, while it can be looked at as an important health metric, does not tell the full story! It is more informative and more accurate to look at the breakdown of your weight into muscle, fat, and bone mass, allowing you to track progress beyond just total weight. It gives a better understanding of your body's composition, not just the overall number on the scale, which can be influenced by factors like water retention or muscle mass. For example, by traditional weight standards, you could be in the normal range for weight but have an unhealthy amount of fat mass on your body. You could also be outside of the normal range for weight but this being due to extra muscle mass on your body - not necessarily an unhealthy thing. For this reason, it is important to look at not just weight, but to use an Inbody scanner to evaluate your body composition. 

What is Body Composition?

Body composition evaluates a person’s weight by breaking it down into its’ core components: fat, protein, mineral, and water content. It is used by health professionals because it describes your healthy weight more accurately. It also provides a better glimpse into your overall health than traditional methods like BMI & weight on a scale. Over time, body composition analysis can accurately show changes in fat mass, lean muscle mass and body fat percentage. These measurements are important because a healthy body composition contributes to a stronger immune system and reduces your health risk for common chronic diseases and conditions like high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, and type 2 diabetes.

Why is Body Composition important to measure?

Measuring your body composition will tell you your own body’s unique makeup and help you identify areas to work on to improve your overall health and wellness. No two people are alike, and just looking at a person's weight paints a small piece of the large picture of overall health. We must go beyond the scale to get the full picture of our health. However, most diet and fitness goals focus on weight loss or gain, overlooking that two people of the same sex and body weight may look completely different from each other because they have different body compositions. Instead by using body composition, you will know whether you need to gain more lean mass or lower body fat percentage to achieve a healthy body composition and a better level of health. 

How can BMI and weight on the scale be misleading?

Body Mass Index (BMI) is a popular method used to assess the health of an individual by comparing the amount of weight they carry to their height: BMI – kg/m2

BMI has many limitations and is a poor tracking tool for weight change because there’s no way to identify if changes in your weight are in fat or muscle. Predicting health or mortality using a single number such as BMI oversimplifies health and ignores important factors that contribute to optimal health. 

When you set out to get healthier, you likely focus on losing fat and gaining muscle. The weight scale and BMI cannot tell you how much of your weight loss is fat, muscle, or body water, but body composition can.

What does your weight really represent? When you step on a scale, you can’t see how much muscle or fat you have—all you see is a number with no context.

How does Inbody work?

InBody uses bioelectrical impedance analysis, which is a non-invasive technique that measures the body's electrical resistance to a small alternating current to estimate body composition.To precisely measure body composition, it sends multiple electrical currents through the body, resulting in up to six different impedance readings for the trunk and each of the four limbs. The currents are very mild – you won't feel a thing.

Doing a scan is super easy. You’ll remove your shoes, socks, and empty your pockets. Then, you’ll stand on the scanner platform and hold the handles. The machine will guide you through what to do and you will have a trainer present to assist you. You’ll enter your phone number so you can track your progress over time, and take a printout home with you showing your results.

If you are interested in learning more about our nutritional program or getting an Inbody scan, you can find more information here: https://www.riseupfitness.com/simple30