Podcast #82: The Importance of Knowing Your Body Composition Metrics

I know I'm not the only bodybuilding coach out there who cringes every time a client gets all bent out of shape about their lack of fat loss despite training hard and eating clean.

And I know we've all been guilty of this mindset at one point or another in our lives.  And that's because we all seem to have this magical number in our heads that WHEN we see it appear on the scale, we will feel accomplished, attractive and "fit."  Except in many cases, it's a number we saw back in college, when we could also eat whatever the hell we wanted and never gain a pound.

And of course, we're never factoring in the fact that our body composition changes a lot over time.

Nevertheless, it's this commonly-shared mentality that inspired me to write THIS BLOG POST a long time ago, when I was actively competing as a vegan bikini competitor.  (The gist of the blog post being that every single year I stepped on stage, I weighed more than the year before despite my body fat percentage staying similar.)

Well it's been seven years since I wrote that blog post.  And I'm still over here running my online vegan coaching biz.  And still having to reassure way too many clients that scale weight is not all that important in the grand scheme of tracking progress.  In fact, as a coach, I care wayyyy more about your body fat percentage than your overall weight.

So naturally, when I discovered the FitTrack scale, I got excited.  I immediately got one for myself and started nerding out on all the metrics it provided me with.  Then harassed my clients to get one so I could see screen shots of their reports.

The FitTrack basically sends a weak electric current through your body and the voltage measured calculates 17 different metrics from body fat percentage, BMI and BMR to bone mass and muscle mass.  It’s basically the next best thing to a $150 DEXA scan.  Just the inexpensive home version.  And honestly, it's been a game changer for my own progress and something that I strongly believe can be super beneficial for any fitness freak or devout bodybuilder.

And it's also what inspired the latest episode of our podcast.  Because your scale weight only tells us one thing.  But your body composition metrics tell us a whole lot more.  For instance, my water weight goes up quite a bit in the days leading up to my period.  Or who knew that I have freakishly high bone density thanks to my 12+ years lifting weights like a beast?

Anyway, we go into great detail on this stuff on this podcast.  So give it a listen.  And if you want to nerd out on your body composition metrics too (or at least learn how much of your weight is fat vs. muscle) I highly suggest you get one too!  And be sure to use the code JACKEDONTHEBEANSTALK at check-out to save 20%. Link to buy your own FitTrack scale is HERE.

Now without further ado, let's get onto the episode already!

Click the "play button" below to listen. Or HERE to listen on Apple or HERE for Spotify.