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It is not unusual when trying to lose weight to see that the weight on the scale is increasing instead of decreasing as time goes on, despite the fact that you are eating properly, exercising, and doing all of the right things to lose weight.

What is often overlooked is that the weight on a scale consists of two items:

• Body fat (adipose tissue)
• Fat-free weight (all of the body’s weight excluding fat – muscle, bones, blood, organs, etc.)

Standard scales do not determine what your body fat percentage is – body fat percentage is the percentage of total body weight that is carried as fat.

In general, the body fat percentage of a fit individual should be the following:

• Women (21%-24%)
• Men (14%-16%)

Therefore, two men (or two women) could both weigh the same amount on a scale but have very different body fat percentages (muscle weighs more than fat).

You can quickly and easily check your body fat percentage using body fat calipers. I use these body fat calipers from Accu-Measure – they are inexpensive and easy to use. Your doctor or gym might also be able to test your body fat percentage for you. Some scales do have a body fat percentage feature, but scales do not tend to be as accurate as using body fat calipers.

Some people also use the Body Mass Index (BMI) as a way to measure their body fat; however, BMI is just a relationship between your height and weight.