A few weeks back I received a question asking “Why is the scale going down, yet I can’t really see a difference in the mirror?”. This was a question I once pondered when I first began losing weight. It was beyond frustrating losing double digit pounds in a month with nothing to show for it in the mirror. Why was that? Then I found this analogy that just made sense, putting my mind at rest.

The Paper Towel Analogy

Bare with me here, this could potentially get a bit confusing… but once you get it it will make perfect sense. Have you ever bought a new roll of paper towels from the store? … actually that’s a stupid question, who hasn’t? Let’s break this down a bit, assume for the sake of this analogy that the cardboard roll is your body frame. Now assume the paper towels wrapping around this roll as the layer of fat on your body. WITH EACH individual square of paper towel represented as 1lb of fat. I can’t even begin to give you an estimate on how many squares are on a roll, I never cared to look. I usually just pull, spin, and rip.

Ok, so are you with me so far? Roll = your body frame, paper towels as a whole = layer of fat, individual square of paper towel = 1lb of fat. Good?

On a brand new roll remove one individual square (or 1lb of fat). Visually there’s no difference in the appearance of the roll, correct? Heck, you can probably take off 20 sheets (or 20lbs) and it still looks like a new roll (or still fat for this analogy). Why is that? Well when you remove one sheet it never really wraps around the roll, not even half way. It would probably take removing 3 individual sheets to make it wrap around the roll just one time. But what’s one go around a new roll… nothing, visually!

Let’s fast forward to the end of the roll (or closer to our goal weight!). Now pretend the roll has 3 sheets/squares of paper towels left to go. Remove one sheet from the roll. That one sheet will wrap around the roll (our frame) 1 to 2 times, that ONE sheet covered a lot more surface area. The roll has lost 1/3rd of it’s appearance! When on a new roll, one sheet would only wrap around a fraction of the roll and was barely noticeable. Hopefully you can see where I’m getting at with this? Essentially, the closer you get down to your last few lbs (or last few sheets) the more noticeable every lb will look on your body. And unfortunately for those of us who have or had more to lose than others, the changes will be less noticeable until we get closer to a lower bodyfat %.

If you can wrap your mind around it, it makes all kinds of beautiful sense. The moral of the story is quite simple; keep going, don’t give up, your reward is near the finish line. Because every lb you lose becomes more visually rewarding than the last!