To Weigh or not to Weigh -Fighting the Scale

Stepping on the scale to weigh yourself can be both more encouraging and discouraging while you attempt your weight loss. There seems to be a lot of debate on whether it is a good idea to weigh yourself often, only once and a while or even not at all. There seems like no right or wrong answer at the moment but if you do plan to weigh yourself like I do while you attempt weight loss, these are some things to keep in mind.

Weight Fluctuates -Water Retention

There can be a lot of reasons why weight can fluctuate. One reason can be water retention which can be the result of a number of factors. Depending on the situation this can add or subtract several pounds within a day or two.  You really need to keep it in mind that if the scale moves up a little you have not gained pounds of body fat overnight. Also consider that your body weight can fluctuate throughout the day, so if you do plan to weigh yourself, try to be consistent on the time of day you do it.

Muscle Mass

Another factor that can skew your perspective on the scale can be added muscle mass. Muscle weighs more than fat does so adding even a little muscle to your body will cause a change to your weight. This is very common with people who have changed to a healthy lifestyle and begin to become more active. As you lose weight and feel better so your activity level and energy increases. This might seem insignificant at first but the added activity can cause lots of positive changes to your body including more muscle. Adding muscle not only helps improve you mobility and activity, it also increases your metabolism helping you burn more calories at rest. It is a great benefit to your health but make note that it can add some pounds back on which in this case, is not a bad thing at all.

It is Not the Best Measure of Health

Measuring you progress by weight loss along can have some significant issues in accuracy. As mentioned several factors unrelated to fat loss can impact a persons weight. Someone can be making great strides towards a better lifestyle without losing weight. There are other ways to measure your progress including tape measurements, BMI (body mass index), fat caliper readings etc. but the reality is these are neither convenient and not without their own issues. One of the best and most simple measurement to success I think can be keeping just a journal of improvements you notice in your day to day activity. in addition to weighing myself this is my personal favourite and also the single most important way to measuring success.  I do it by  taking note of such things as

• If my clothes feel more comfortable.
• Am I out of breath less walking up hills or doing an activity like mowing the lawn.
• Am I able to be more active during the day, do I suddenly have a desire and motivation to get out and be more active.
• Can I do things I could not before, such as push ups, do more sets or reps with weights, or walk up stairs faster.
• Do I notice reductions in symptoms like back pain or joint stress. -always confirm any ongoing pains with a doctor to make sure it is not something more serious. I myself have had back pain associated with my weight which I have had looked at with my doctor to confirm it was weight related.

Keeping the Long Term Perspective

When weighing yourself often you can go through a bit of an emotional roller coaster. Looking at a long term weight loss chart is a bit like looking at a stock market chart. It will have lots of spikes and drops, maybe some time where it just flat lines for a bit. But with patience and planning over time you can really see the trend of it moving in the right direction. Just like investing, (and there is no better investment than your health)  keep a long term horizon and don’t get caught up in the emotional roller coaster of short term ups and downs. In the short term try to focus on the before mentioned metrics of feeling better and moving better.

Weighing Yourself Can be Good- Why I am Doing it

With all this seeming negativity why am I going to weigh myself? The reality is that it is a good measure of my progress as long as I can keep the above mentioned in mind. I can hopefully find correlations to weight loss where my calories and exercise are working and maybe where things need adjustment. That is the idea anyways, but as with most things I will be keeping an open mind to change if I feel it is not working as I planned. Right now I the strategy is to weigh in once a week keeping a very strict mindset not to be discouraged if my weight stalls or climbs. The long term chart is what matters and how I feel and move matters most. Once a week feels like the sweet spot for now, so that will be my starting point, but I think people should do what feels right for them. If you feel you will be too overwhelmed by the ups and downs perhaps weighing yourself is not for you, but if you think you can control the physiological aspects and keep the long term goal in mind you might find it a useful tool in your weight loss kit.