When the Scale Lies: The Importance of Progress Shots

When someone decides to lose weight, often times the focus is on the number on the scale. At 275 lbs, I was morbidly obese, and shedding pounds was the most important thing to me. I was pre-hypertensive and pre-diabetic, and the scale was my main tool for determining success. Weight loss isn’t linear, and I was aware of this, but the trend was downward oriented, so I was happy. But when I reached my goal weight of 160 lbs in August 2014, things changed: I switched to maintenance mode, upped my calories, and started strength training. And that’s when the panic began.

With eating slightly more (I didn’t go crazy, just a couple hundred calories) and adding kettlebells to my workout routine, the scale started to climb. And climb. And climb. November through January I was in a pretty dark place. I almost got back to 175, a gain of…