I'm starting to lose weight slower now... am I on a plateau?

I stepped on the scale, and it said I'm 183. Woot woot.

I'm starting to notice that my weight loss is starting to slow down a little bit. While in the past I was able to lose 2-3 pounds a week easy, now it's like I can hardly lose 1 pound. I have a feeling this kind of near-plateauing will continue until I... well... plateau.

And that's okay, I suppose.

What a lot of people don't realize, I've found, is that they think losing weight is all about the pounds, when it's not. It's measurements. It's muscle gain. It's preventing muscle loss. It's a whole bunch of equations that can get overwhelming if we think too much about it. 

Bottom line is: eventually, the scale becomes useless.

The scale is a good device for getting an idea about your overall fitness. The scale is more useful when you're at a heavier weight and when fat just melts like butter on a grill.

Once you start getting to a better weight, though, throw the scale out.

Instead, use this bad boy:

Above is my mangled-up body measurement tape. I got it from Beach Body's 10 minute workout set (which I haven't used in ages, by the way), and I've been using it ever since.

Why measure your body instead of weighing?

When you get to the point where your fat gets at more healthier levels, you will need to eventually focus primarily on building muscle. What this means is you're going to be maintaining weight for a while, or even gaining (gasp). 

Muscle weighs more than fat. Simple as that. According to BambooCore fitness, one pound of muscle is 18% denser than one pound of fat. So, generally speaking, if you were to build muscle, you can weigh 18% heavier and still look the same "size".

(Of course, that's throwing out any sexy muscle definition you might be getting. But you know, details details.)

In that same sense, though, you can look 18% smaller, but still weigh the same, and that can drive you nuts if you rely solely on the scale!

So get some body tape. They're really cheap and you can get them in almost any fitness store. They usually come in a bunch of weight-loss kits, like mine did. 

And whatever you do, don't use this as an excuse to eat more.

It's very easy to start building your muscle and ignore your diet plan, step on the scale, gain two pounds and go "Oh well! It's probably all muscle weight." You still need to eat well, and you still need to exercise regularly.

And, if you're anything like me, fat stacks on me like pancakes at IHOP, so make sure you're still eating right.