Muscle and fat after bariatric surgery: what your scale isn’t telling you!

After Weight Loss Surgery, success isn’t always about the number on the scale!

We know you guys hate it when we say this, but it’s the truth… and we are about to show you the PERFECT example.

Check this out – http://people.com/bodies/fit-mom-looks-drastically-different-2-lb-weight-loss/

Adrienne’s transformation is truly incredible! Despite losing a measly 2 lbs (i.e. going from 182 lbs to 180 lbs), a quick look at her before and after picture clearly shows a dramatic change in her body composition.

What do we mean by ‘body composition’? Body composition refers to what proportion of our body is fat, muscle, bone and water. Since the weight of our bones and water stay relatively stable, it is the percentage of our fat and muscle that change when we gain weight, lose weight and, in the case of Adrienne, also when we exercise.

Unfortunately, what we measure on our home scales is simply the total weight of all of these (i.e. fat + muscle + bone + water). This means when we gain muscle and lose fat, which is what happens in the case of exercising and weight lifting regularly, our scale is not able to express these shifts in body composition.

Moral of the story: the scale does not always dictate your progress. If you are sweating your butt off in the gym, you are definitely changing your body.

It breaks our hearts when we see clients who are healthy, super fit and 3-5 dress sizes smaller, but they are still not happy with their ‘success’ because of the number on the scale. Sadly, in some of these cases, the clients were so desperate to lose more weight that they stopped their weight training to intentionally lose muscle. Crazy right? All just to see the number on the scale go down.

Remember: Success looks different on everyone.

Weighing yourself is only one measure of progress. Ask yourself the following questions if you are exercising regularly but not seeing results on the scale. If you answer yes to any one of these questions, you are most likely changing the composition of your body for the better (i.e. gaining muscle and losing fat).

– Do your clothes fit slightly looser?

– Are you less out of breath when walking?

– Are you using a smaller hole on your belt?

– Do you feel powerful at the gym?

– Is there more definition to your arms and legs?

– Do you feel stronger?

Although Adrienne’s story does not involve bariatric surgery / weight loss surgery, she is a perfect example of how you can dramatically change your body while being ‘plateaued’ or ‘stalled’ in terms of your weight.

What are your favourite non-scale victories? Post below in the comments!

If you’re reading this article because you’ve been gaining weight after surgery, you may be looking for a ‘reset’. Read more about that here.

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– Monica & Lisa

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