Are you a scale junkie? Someone who can't help but weigh themselves every day or multiple times a week? Yup, been there, done that.
The scale can be a useful tool in measuring changes in weight, BUT it should not be the only tool we use. Weight fluctuates on a daily basis for various reasons, and unfortunately, the scale does not discriminate between fat and muscle. If we don't know how to appropriately interpret the results, it can have us changing routines and habits unnecessarily.
WHAT AFFECTS OUR WEIGHT?
It can be easy to attribute an increase in number on the scale to fat gain, but there are various factors unrelated to fat gain that affect our weight on a daily basis.
If the number is higher it could be due to:
the amount of food you ate
the time of day you ate
the time of day you weighed yourself
substantial hypertrophy ("muscle building") work to large muscle groups
having to poop
where a woman is in her menstrual cycle
sleep quality and quantity the night before
current stress levels
alcohol intake
carbohydrate intake
sodium intake
water intake (even drinking too little water can cause water retention)
changes in muscle mass
So, before freaking out, if you see you're two pounds heavier than the day before, ask yourself if any of the above factors could be the cause.
HOW TO PROPERLY WEIGH OURSELVES
Like I mentioned earlier, the scale can be a great tool to measure changes in weight, but let's make sure we're using it the right way.
Make sure you:
weigh yourself at the same time of the day (ideally in the morning before eating and drinking anything)
for females, compare to the same day in your menstrual cycle from the month before**
always consider all the possible weight fluctuating factors (listed above)
**In other words, women have to consider water retention effects due to their menstrual cycle. A woman can weigh herself on day four of her menstrual cycle of this month and compare it to day four of her menstrual cycle from last month for the best data.
For example:
As we can see, this female is losing weight consistently over the three months even though her weight fluctuates throughout her menstrual cycle.
Another way to properly use the scale is to weigh ourselves multiple times a week (or even every day if we choose) for an extended period of time, document the number every time, and analyze the trend over that period of time.
For example:
As we can see, this person's weight fluctuated multiple times throughout the weeks, but over the course of the month we can say this person lost about three pounds.
"I LOST 30 POUNDS IN 30 DAYS!"
We've ALL seen those commercials where the actors boast about losing a substantial amount of weight in a short amount of time due to some fad diet.
DON'T BELIEVE THEM !!!!!
Did these actors actually lose that much weight? They might have...but here's what they're not telling you:
A healthy amount of weight loss is one pound or less per week. Anything more than that means we are in a bit of an aggressive caloric deficit which can lead to things such as binge eating.
Remember that weight loss is NOT the same as fat loss. What those people advertising on TV mainly lost was water weight. In order to lose that much fat that quickly, one would have to be in a very very very aggressive caloric deficit which would not even be healthy nor sustainable. So, in theory yes, they might have actually lost 30 pounds, but it was not 30 pounds of fat.
Those commercials are examples of improper use of scales and quite frankly horrible nutrition in general.
IN SUMMARY
If we just go off the number we see on the scale and don't strategically take into account all the factors mentioned above, the scale can cause a lot of stress and anxiety. Remember to pay attention to other markers of progress, such as how clothing fits, energy levels, blood work, etc. Always look at the big picture!
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