As I did my morning cardio, I started to think about progress and what it means to people. There seems to be a small debate amongst the Shredder Council about numbers and their place in the process. I am on the side that says that numbers are pretty much essential for measuring progress. While I can see the reasoning behind not focusing too much on the numbers, I feel like not focusing on the numbers is failing to plan. I've always been taught that failing to plan is planning to fail.
Now, if you don't focus on numbers I am not saying you are destined to fail, so don't get me wrong. At the same time, can you truly say numbers don't matter. One person, Lilla, commented that at one point she was 92 pounds and now she is about 110 pounds. She says that her body fat percentage was the same at 92 pounds as it is at 110 pounds. I say this proves the point that knowledge of the numbers is important. Let's say that Lilla was 18% body fat at 92 pounds. This means she had 75.44 pounds of lean body mass. Now she is at 18% body fat at 110 pounds. That's 90.2 pounds of lean body mass. At which point was Lilla healthier? Clearly she is in better shape now at 110 pounds than she was at 92 pounds. Without knowledge of the body fat percentage number we would not be able to come to this conclusion. Most people would immediately say that Lilla was healthier at 92 pounds in the absence of the body fat percentage number. Thus, that number is extremely important in the determination of how healthy a person is.
To me, the scale is irrelevant. I've proven, through crunching numbers, that I can stay at 230 pounds and still be extremely healthy just by dropping my body fat percentage down. It all depends upon your goal. There are reasons for having a low body weight as a goal. If a low body weight is your goal, the scale becomes extremely important. If having a low body fat percentage is the goal, the scale is extremely irrelevant. In fact, I could go up to 250 pounds, as long as my body fat percentage is dropping. However, I would not be able to be comfortable with this concept had I not crunched the numbers.
Society places alot of emphasis on the scale. In each post that rails against the number crunching I see the author discussing the scale and how we shouldn't be upset by what it says. I agree with that 100%, but I say that the scale is completely irrelevant and that is why we should never be upset by what it says.
Until tomorrow…
