I am so excited I can hardly stand it!

I probably look a bit nuts – dashing around insisting that everyone get in on my ecstatic InBody570 raptures.

InBody570 is one of my ridiculously fancy new toys at BioFit Philly.

This high-level piece of machinery uses bioimpedance (painless electrical currents) to precisely measure what you’re made of.

When it first arrived I couldn’t wait to beta test it.

My husband (Mr. Fitness Text Book Author) went first, and his results blew my hair back. His right leg has 1.5 lbs more muscle than his left. This makes perfect sense, because he’s constantly using his dominant leg to demonstrate single-leg exercises. Is that wild or what??

Then it was my turn. Do I really want to know? With my husband watching?

I’ll be completely honest – I didn’t like seeing those first results. They showed me a body composition significantly mushier than I had Circa People Magazine.

It was exactly what I needed to see.

While I maintained the same weight and dress size over the last year, I knew my strength had dropped off. I couldn’t see clear muscle definition. I didn’t feel particularly confident in form-fitting clothing.

I had a pretty good sense that the steadiness on the scale was actually a loss of muscle mass being met by an uptick in body fat.

I was right.

My results were emotionally difficult, because keeping the scale steady had allowed me to pretend I was still as fit as ever.

InBody570 said “Oh, honey – No.”

As soon as I had ridden out a long string of inward-facing expletives, I firmly resolved to get my fitness back.

I reengaged the Beast. I banished all booze and mindless munching. I kept my daily date with Shaun T. I reminded myself how rewarding it feels to give 100%.

I held off on weigh-ins, because I wanted to see a big change and I knew it was coming. I could feel it in the way my jeans fit. I didn’t even think about using my home scale – I was getting back on the InBody.

After a few weeks I was ready. I was stoked. I was going to see my weight drop!

I bounced into BioFit Philly with a smile on my face. InBody time!

Your weight is the first thing measured. I was *convinced* that I was going to be down AT LEAST 3 lbs.

I was up 0.1.

I almost burst into tears. I’m not kidding.

I had worked so hard! Waaaaaaaah!!!

But then the real test got started. Limb by limb the InBody scanned my body comp. The results were absolutely EVERYTHING.

Has my overall weight stuck? Yup. But the truth of what I have accomplished is SO much more.

I’ve gone up 2.1 lbs in water weight (due in large part to the status of my female cycle), I gained TWO SOLID LBS in muscle mass, and I dropped 4 lbs of fat.

My overall body fat percentage dropped 2.7 points!

Holy Emotional Roller Coaster, Batman!

In less than a minute, I went from crushing defeat to literally running, screeching with joy, around the gym.

I KNEW my body  had changed. I could SEE my muscles developing. I could FEEL my clothing hanging more loosely. But because of that single metric point, that single number on the scale, I doubted myself.

I’ve worked in fitness and nutrition for a few years now, but in a single “you didn’t lose weight when you thought you did” moment I lost all reason. I questioned my own system, my own abilities.

And there it was – the No. 1 With A Bullet reason why Goal Chasers (my own clients included) throw in the towel. They’re “doing everything right” and “nothing is changing.”

But SO MUCH could be changing! The stupid scale staying put might not mean as much as you think! Dropping 2.7% overall body fat is a BFD, and the scale alone reflects none of that.

Without my Body Composition scan, I probably would have done something stupid – like make deeper cuts to my daily calorie balance. I would have gotten in my own way.

But 2 more lbs of lean muscle and 4 pounds of torched body fat? Don’t change a damn thing!

I have been fighting to break the bonds that tether my heart to a single data point for my whole life.

This window into what I’m actually made of just might do the trick.