When a LB Isn’t Always a LB
What the Scale Doesn’t Tell You
We talk about LBS as if they were gospel, as if one number could tell us everything we need to know.
“I lost 5 LBS.” “She gained 10.” “He dropped 30 in three months.”
LB after LB, we throw around these numbers like they’re the whole story, when in reality, they’re only one tiny part of it.
But here’s the truth: those numbers aren’t the full picture. Not even close.
Because when it comes to your body, your well-being, and your actual progress, one LB isn’t always what you think it is. Not all LBS are equal. Not all bodies process those LBS the same way. And not all victories, or setbacks, should be measured by a single, lonely number on a bathroom scale.
And I learned that in the most unforgettable way possible: on national television, in front of millions, with a camera zooming in as the numbers rolled like a Vegas slot machine.
Water Weight: The Invisible X-Factor
Before I go any further, I need to plant a stake in the ground about something that throws more people off than anything I’ve seen in my 10,000+ one-on-one body composition consultations and my 2,500+ daily personal “check in’s”:
Water weight isn’t a footnote.
It’s the entire hidden storyline.
And most people have no idea how much it’s messing with their mindset.
Water makes up 50–65% of your total body weight, which means more than half of what shows up on the scale any given morning is tied to the most reactive, sensitive, constantly-changing part of your entire physiology.
Hydration.
Dehydration.
Carbs.
Salt.
Sleep.
Stress.
Hormones.
Inflammation.
A single restaurant meal.
One tough workout.
Travel.
Alcohol.
Digestion.
All of these can push your water up or down 2, 3, 5, even 7 LBS in a single day, with zero of that being fat.
Which means this:
Your bathroom scale isn’t lying.
You’re just reading the wrong language.
That’s why I love the image of that crumpled, transparent, blue-tinted water bottle shaped like a human body, because that is us.
We are water.
We are reactive.
We compress, swell, tighten, release, hold, and let go.
We are not made of LBS.
We are made of water, muscle, fat, bone, and the story of how those shift over time.
So when someone steps on the scale and thinks they “gained 3 LBS of fat overnight,” it’s not just untrue,
it’s biologically impossible.
What they gained (or lost) was water.
And unless you're using a body composition scale, you will never know which is which.
And if you don’t know which is which, you will make the wrong meaning, feel defeated, and quit a plan that was actually working.
This is why your body composition scale isn’t optional.
It’s the only “way + weigh” to not get thrown off course.
A LB isn’t a LB.
And water is the reason.
The Misleading Simplicity of the LBS
Every week on The Biggest Loser, there was one moment we all knew was coming: the weigh-in.
One by one, we’d step onto that giant platform. The numbers would spin. The dramatic music would build. And when the weight flashed up on the screen, the whole country would react instantly, either cheering or groaning, based on the LBS lost.
But that number? That LB change? It wasn’t what determined who stayed and who went.
It was the % of weight loss that mattered.
Why?
Because 5 LBS for someone who weighs 200 LBS is a bigger deal than 5 LBS for someone who weighs 400 LBS. The show made it fair by calculating weekly progress based on the % lost, not the raw LBS.
Yet in everyday life, that’s not how we see it.
We hear someone say, “I lost 10 LBS,” and we automatically think they’ve achieved a significant weight loss. But the truth? That 10 LBS could be water. It could be some muscle. It could be some fat. It could even be inflammation from a challenging workout.
A LB isn’t a LB, not in the way we think.
Flipping the Script: % Over LBS
What if your bathroom scale showed % instead of LBS?
Instead of saying, “I lost 3 LBS,” you’d say, “I lost 1.4% of my body weight this week.” That may not sound as exciting, but it’s way more meaningful. We’re not comparing apples to oranges, we’re finally looking at progress that’s relative to your body, not someone else’s.
And to be clear, I’m not knocking how The Biggest Loser handled it. They were ahead of the game. Behind the scenes, they tested our hydration levels before each weigh-in to ensure nobody was manipulating the system by sweating out water weight. And most importantly, they ranked us by % lost, not just LBS.
But here’s what even we as contestants didn’t fully realize week to week, and what viewers never got to see:
No one talked about our body composition.
We were losing weight. But what kind of weight?
Water? Fat? Muscle?
We did get DEXA scans at the beginning and again at the end of the show, the gold standard of body composition testing. Those scans showed how much of our bodies was made up of muscle, fat, water, and bone.
But week by week? No one saw those changes in real-time.
And for me, seeing my final DEXA scan results compared to my starting point… it changed everything.
The Moment That Changed My Life
After the show ended, I couldn’t stop thinking about one thing:
Why don’t more people know what their body is made of, not just how much it weighs?
And why do we let a single number on the scale determine whether we’re succeeding or failing?
That question sparked a 15-year journey that’s still unfolding.
After our finale, I began visually journaling every day on Instagram, documenting what I eat, how much water I drink, my steps, workouts, sleep, and weight, to stay accountable and on the course with myself.
You can see it all for yourself at @my_last_100_lbs Right now I have made over 29.9 K posts since our finale on May, 24, 2011. That number doesn’t lie, and it can’t be faked.
Then, on the 10th anniversary of our Biggest Loser finale, I met again with Dr. Huizenga (Dr. H) to “weigh in” and check where my body composition was after 10 years with my third DEXA scan.
He was very pleased with my 247 LBS “weigh in” and my body composition results, after a decade from the show’s finale, which he affirmed that my “Stay The Course” strategy was why I’d done so well.
During that visit, he shared more pre-show medical insights I’d never heard before, ones I believe you’ll find valuable for you to know about for yourself if you tune into what he shared on my Going Beyond The Scale podcast.
That conversation with Dr. H inspired me to explore a very different kind of “weigh in”, what I now call a “check in” because after we met I started documenting my body composition, not just my weight, every day.
Since my visit with Dr. H, I’m daily documenting my body composition, not just what I weight, and I now have over 2,500+ days of results.
After I met with Dr. H I started on a deep dive into being a student about all things body composition and on July 26, 2025, my 68th birthday I began my fifth year of sharing my daily and weekly documented updates on my @my_last_100_lbs Instagram account.
Why?
Because I wanted to keep learning, and keep sharing, what’s happening inside our bodies as we follow a plan, program, or protocol to make changes to our body size or shape.
And over the past decade, I’ve also conducted over 10,000 one-on-one body composition consultations, and continue to do so, with people ranging in age from 18 to 96, helping them understand how their unique body and metabolism impact their size, shape, and overall well-being.
And here’s what I’ve seen again and again:
People are doing so much right, they’re eating better, moving more, showing up for themselves…
But they still feel like they’re failing.
Because their common bathroom scale isn’t telling them the whole story.
It’s Not a “Weighing” Game… It’s a Waiting Game
That’s what makes this so powerful, and so frustrating.
If all you’re looking at is the number on a scale, you’re likely going to quit, not because you’re weak or lazy, but because you’re measuring the wrong thing. You’re looking at the wrong scoreboard.
But once you start understanding body composition, and how your body changes over time, not just day-to-day, you begin to see progress differently. You stop getting crushed when the scale goes up 0.2 ozs., 2 LBS, and yes, even 5 LBS is a single day because it’s water,
You stop panicking when the number doesn’t match your effort.
“You Stay The Course”, because now you know, what’s really going on with your body, it’s progressing, it’s regressing, or it’s pausing. With a body composition scale, you have a better view for what to do, or not do.
What Women Tell Me All the Time
Before I wrap this up, I want to talk about something I’ve heard thousands of times, especially from women.
“It’s so frustrating. My husband and I go on the same plan. He drops 10 LBS in a week, and I barely lose anything.”
And yes, on the surface, that may be true.
Men often lose more LBS, at least at first.
But again, it’s not about the LBS. It’s about the % of body weight lost, and what is actually being lost or gained.
That’s the only fair way to compare progress across different body types and genders.
And even on The Biggest Loser, people thought the men were always winning because their numbers looked bigger.
But when the leaderboard ranked us by % lost vs, LBS lost.
Women not only held their own, they often dominated the weigh in success stories.
So, if you’ve ever felt discouraged because your progress didn’t “measure up” to someone else’s…
Please remember…
Your body is unique.
Your metabolism is unique.
Your timeline is yours.
Your success is yours.
And a LB?
It’s not always what it seems.
Before You Go…
If you’re already a subscriber, thank you… more helpful stories are on the way.
If you’re not subscribed and this article helped, you’ll want the next one.
CLICK HERE to subscribe to my “LOSE THE WEIGHT… GAIN THE WORLD” Newsletter.
And always drop a comment if this made you think differently or you have a question... I respond to every one.