Body Measurements : Are they really a good indicator of an individual’s health and fitness

To give you a background why this subject came up!

I had been dealing with a lower extremity injury (specifically IT band ~ Iliotibial band, if you must know 😅) for the past couple of months. Needless to say, it was a trying phase for me. Keeping in mind, how my body and mind thrive on heart beat raising activities, especially running.. In addition to this, I was told by my physio (quite a competent one at that) to also curb all leg workouts as it may aggravate my injury.

So I followed all the advice to the letter! Ended up walking instead of running and my time at the gym was primarily devoted to upper body and core conditioning workouts.

Consequently, after days and weeks of focused nurturing, things started looking up – my injury began to ebb and life slowly seemed to brighten up as I was again in a position to focus on varied workouts without neglecting any key muscle groups.

Though, in the last few days, I was beginning to feel a lack of definition in the lower extremity muscle group, and I finally managed to get down to measuring myself to better comprehend the situation. It turns out that the number on the tape looked similar to the old benchmark (given when I was injury free and relatively better disciplined with workouts and food) however, the weight seemed to have reduced by over 1.5 kg.

Reason to rejoice or reanalyse the situation?? 🤔🤔

Which brings me back to the subject under the spotlight – why take measurements when the weighing machine is readily accessible, less time consuming and gives us comfort with the numbers.

Here’s why : Weight is just a gravitational pull on the body i.e. mass times gravity.

Further, a person who has a high muscle content will most likely weigh more than someone with a higher fat composition (assuming that other parameters such as height, body type, etc are comparable) Why? Simply, because muscle mass is denser and hence heavier and as a result, it also makes one look leaner (and fitter, IMO).

For those of you still wondering, I was sure I had lost some muscle 😦 (though a skinfold measurement would be a more appropriate measure of localized fat / muscle assessment)

Well, in my case, my day’s cardio plan was swiftly replaced by a super engaging weights session focusing on my legs.

Hope this article was informative, especially for those of you, who are wholly obsessed with the number on the weighing scale. I do hope it doesn’t define you and doesn’t form the basis on whether you’ve gained ‘fat’ or become ‘thin’.

P.S. This article is more relevant for those who exercise regularly and engage in regular weight training to achieve their fitness related goals and aspirations!

For more fitness related advice and tips follow me @fitter_witht