The “Real” Weight-Loss Numbers

I have been concerned for some time that my measurements are off. Although I am using an expensive and technically advanced digital scale to measure weight loss, there’s little consistency in the readings it gives. On some mornings it will read 180 pounds; by the evening, I may weigh 187. Sure enough, the next morning I’ll be back down.

I borrowed the scale from a colleague who specializes in weight loss and diet. She assured me it would be accurate. In addition to storing weights, the stainless-steel and glass-trimmed device also calculates
BMI and has a backlit, eye-friendly screen. When I stepped on it January 1, it read 200.4 pounds.

But moving the scale, which must be placed on a hard, level surface, resulted in bizarre fluxuations. The kitchen floor, which is linoleum, gave a more favorable reading than the parquet bathroom floor, where I took my original reading. I was tempted to leave it there but felt the four-pound weight loss in 20 easy steps might be unfair to my boss.

I moved it back to the bathroom, where it has stayed, erratically recording my weight twice a day.

I have tried to rationalize these discrepancies. I can understand the accumulation of weight over the course of a day—six to seven pounds of liquid and food—but the evaporation of that weight at night remains
a mystery.

Fortunately I have other sources of measurements, ones more scientifically tuned. For example, the Tanita Body Composition Analyzer, a $4,000 scale used by my nutritionist and diet doctor, Jamy Ard, has measured me twice. On January 16, I weighed 193.5 pounds. On March 20, it spit out 186.5, a number slightly higher than what my home scale
read that same morning.

For our BMI Weight-loss Smackdown, I’m sticking with my scale—it still occasionally registers 180 pounds. For measuring my progress toward a more perfect weight, however, I’m going with the Tanita.

The competition ended March 31, but my lifetime struggle with weight continues. I need to hit my original goal of 175 pounds; then I need to go beyond it.

Dr. Ard and I think 165 is within reach; a loss like that could result in better blood-sugar control, lower expenses, and a size 32 waist. At that weight, my BMI, which the Tanita measured at 29.2 on March 20, would plummet to 26, putting me in the slightly overweight category—better than my January 1 score of 31, which ranked me as obese.

That would be success any way you measure it.

Competition Numbers:
Start date: 1/1/08
Height: 5′7"
Start weight: 200.4 lbs
Latest weigh-in: 3/31/08
Latest weight: 180.8
Weight lost: 19.6