Body Composition vs. Body Weight

When people think of the idea "getting in shape", the thought of losing weight comes to mind. Shedding pounds seems to be the only thing that is thought of when people think exercise. With this already drilled into the average person's mind, they already set themselves up for failure if they were to begin an exercise program. In today's society, people want results fast, whether it be ordering food or signing on your myspace/facebook/twitter/blog account. If the food takes a while to be served, or the page lags to load, people get irritated. This same reaction applies to weight loss.




If one were to be exercising to lose weight & get toned, checking the scale every day can be demoralizing. This is due to the high expectations placed upon one's self when working hard for a goal. For example: If one were to be constantly exercising (and watching what they eat) 3 to 4 times a week for about 4 weeks and only see a 4 pound decrease, morale may drop for an individual who expected to lose 10 to 15. A healthy rate of weight lost is a pound or 2 a week, sometimes 3. Anything more is usually due to loss of water weight and/or lack of eating REQUIRED calories, which is not good.


Body weight in itself is the measurement of how heavy one's entire body weighs. Whatever is in the body at the time of weigh in, which can be water, digesting food, and the normal bodily organs and tissues are all combined and measured as body weight. So simply put, body weight is your body measured as a whole.


Body Composition is the measurement of what your body is comprised of. This involves two groups of tissue, body fat and lean body mass. Lean body mass are metabolically active tissues which include muscle, bone, and organs. Body fat is adipose tissue that is stored for energy but are not metabolically active.





When people think weight loss, all they really want to do is reduce their fat mass. They don't know that what they're really trying to do is improve their body composition. People just want to lose fat! SIMPLY PUT! With diet and exercise, the body WILL improve. Just because one didn't lose the extra 2 pounds they wanted after an exercise program doesn't mean they didn't lose fat.



When one does a mixture of cardio and weight training, not only will one lose fat tissue, but also gain some muscle, which explains how the body weight can drop slightly along with the body composition changing substantially. One does not need to look at a scale to see their results, instead, look at the mirror. One will see areas in their body changing, improving, looking toner, looking leaner. Instead of listening to a number on some scale, focus on what the body is showing you.