This Woman Proves the Number on the Scale Means Nothing

After time spent eating healthy, fueling foods and pushing your body to its limit during workouts, stepping on the scale can be an anxiety-ridden experience. You squint your eyes in anticipation of what the scale will show, and if the number it settles on shows an increase? It can be devastating and confusing.

You’re doing all the right things, so why don’t your lbs reflect it?

One fitness blogger, Kelsey Wells of My Sweat Life, posted a series of progress photos on Instagram with a powerful message just for you: “Screw the scale.”

Wells explains that she was eight weeks postpartum in the first picture and weighed 145 pounds. She weighed 130 pounds before pregnancy and set her sights on a post-baby goal weight of 122 lbs. After a few months, she hit that goal weight and took a second progress photo.

She continued on her healthy journey and shared the final photo in her series, complete with ripped abs, toned arms and legs, and a confident grin. Wells says she gained 18 pounds from the second to third pictures and went up two pant sizes, proving that the scale can’t track your true progress.

“According to my old self and flawed standards, I would be failing miserably. THANK GOODNESS I finally learned to start measuring my progress by things that matter — strength, ability, endurance, health, and HAPPINESS,” Wells wrote.

She suggests taking progress photos and videos, keeping track of how many reps you can do during your workouts, and watching changes in your body composition. Remember that muscle and fat weigh the same, but muscle takes up less space!