The debut issue of Get Active magazine includes features on the life-enhancing powers of exercise, how to begin an exercise regimen, how fitness can boost your finances, how to flex your political muscle, and an interview with Catherine Oxenberg and Casper Van Dien, stars of the Lifetime television reality series, I Married a Princess. In addition, the magazine will provide tips on training, nutrition, gear, and choosing a personal trainer. Every edition of Get Active magazine will also consist of feature stories covering a variety of topics and the magazine will tell the personal stories of health club members who have achieved positive results in their fitness routines.

"There's so much fluctuation in body weight due to fluid that you lose or gain, and that can represent two, three, sometimes four pounds," notes Harry DuVal, Ph.D., associate professor of exercise science and director of the fitness center at the University of Georgia in Athens. "You get all excited, thinking, 'Look what I lost!' and then you go and replenish your fluids and, bingo, you're right back up to where you were -- if not higher -- so you get discouraged."

The scale can also be inaccurate, particularly if you're strength training, because of the change in your muscle mass.

Of course, you've probably heard a million times that muscle weighs more than fat -- but just how much does that affect the number on the scale? "If you're doing a vigorous form of resistance training at any age, you can gain lean muscle mass," says DuVal. "And it takes very little gain in muscle mass to equate to pounds gained. You can still be losing significant body fat, but if you're gaining just a little bit of lean muscle mass, it doesn't show up as a loss on the scale."