Many have debated tirelessly on the pros and cons of weighing yourself every day. On the one hand you can hold yourself accountable for every pound up or down; if you do it daily. On the other hand when you do it daily and see it petering back and forth in the same spot for an excruciatingly long time you want to bash that scale into a million tiny little pieces.
I’m just speculating.
I can concede with both sides of the argument now having been an ardent scale watcher for 388 days. Yes, looking on the scale every day holds you accountable, but lately for me it’s been a demotivation tactic. I’ve been in the 180’s forever now and it’s frustrating. If I do everything perfectly I’m there, if I fall off the wagon and indulge, I’m still there. I’m in this 180 groundhog day vortex that I can’t seem to get out of. But, my size 14 pants are baggy. I’m sitting rather comfortably in my size 12’s right now.
I found an article focusing on some of the pros and cons of living by the scale alone; here are some helpful tips if you’re trying to release yourself from the scale chains too…
Courtesy of http://exercise.about.com/od/weightloss/a/losinginches.htm
Focus on Fat Loss, Not Weight Loss
When you talk about losing weight, what you usually mean is slimming down. But slimming down doesn’t always mean losing weight. It may sound odd, but it’s possible to get thinner without actually seeing a change in your weight. This happens when you lose body fat while gaining muscle. Your weight may stay the same, even as you lose inches, a sign that you’re moving in the right direction. But, if the scale doesn’t change, you may not even be aware that you’re getting real results. Knowing the difference between losing weight and losing body fat can change how you get results and may even change how you look at your own body.
The Truth About Your Weight
What does your weight say about you? If you think about it, that number doesn’t tell you a whole lot. The scale shows your weight, but does it tell you how much of that weight is muscle and how much is fat? Or how much of that weight is water, bones or organs? A bodybuilder’s weight could be off the charts because of extra muscle, but does that mean he’s overweight or fat? Most of us would say no because we know that weight doesn’t tell the whole story.
Knowing your body composition is crucial information if you really want to get results and, unfortunately, the scale doesn’t tell you that. Another reason scale weight isn’t so reliable is that it changes all the time. All of us experience weight changes throughout the day, sometimes by as much as 10 pounds depending on what and how often we eat and drink. You could gain weight right now by putting on a pair of heavy boots, but does that mean you’ve gained fat? No. Just as taking those boots off doesn’t mean you’ve lost any fat.
While the scale isn’t completely useless, it may not be the best tool for people just starting a fat loss program. If it doesn’t help you stay on track and reach your goals, maybe it’s time to throw out the scale for good.
Should You Throw Out the Scale?
You now know that focusing on fat loss is much more important than focusing on your weight. When you lose body fat, you’re making permanent changes in your body, shifting your body composition so that you have less fat and more muscle. When you lose weight, you could be losing water or even muscle. It’s impossible to know if you’re seeing real results or just the product of your daily habits, hormonal shifts and changing hydration levels.
When you first start a program, you may need extra encouragement to keep going, proof that what you’re doing is working and the scale may not give you that. Other ways the scale can work against you:
- It measures everything: The number on the scale includes everything – muscles, fat, bones, organs, fat, food and water. For that reason, your scale weight can be a deceptive number.
- It doesn’t reflect the changes happening in your body: If you’re doing cardio and strength training, you may build lean muscle tissue at the same time you’re losing fat. In that case, the scale may not change even though you’re getting leaner and slimmer.
- It doesn’t reflect your health: As mentioned above, the scale can’t tell the difference between fat and muscle. That means a person can have a low body weight, but still have unhealthy levels of body fat.
- It isn’t always a positive motivator: If you step on the scale and you’re unhappy with what you see, how does that make you feel? You may question everything you’re doing, wondering why you even bother at all. Focusing on weight may overshadow the positive results you’re getting such as fat loss, more endurance and higher energy levels.
Change How You Measure Your Success
Even if you’re not ready to stop weighing yourself entirely, using other ways to measure progress can keep you motivated and help you realize that you are making changes, no matter what the scale says.
- Go by how your clothes fit. If they fit more loosely, you know you’re on the right track
- Take your measurements to see if you’re losing inches
- Get your body fat tested or use an online calculator
- Set performance goals. Instead of worrying about weight loss or fat loss, focus on completing a certain number of workouts each week or competing in a race
If the scale is making you crazy, taking a break from weighing yourself may just open your eyes to other possibilities. Your weight isn’t the only measure of your success. Put away the scale and you may just see how far you’ve really come.
So, even though I may not be losing the pounds, I’m losing inches and doing something right. I’m getting stronger, I’m getting tighter, or at least I will.
A week ago tomorrow I signed up for personal training sessions at the gym two days a week. And Sunday was my 2nd session.
The first seemed so easy it was laughable. And we did a lot. Circuit training, machines, free weights, crunches! I was like wow, I can totally do this! Then the next day I was sore as a mother*ucker! But man nothing like that sore; that makes me happy. I never thought I’d be ecstatic to feel pain. Just so we’re clear it’s total bearable pain, its good pain. It’s the pain they talk about when “they” say “No Pain, No Gain” – but alas, I’m gaining. This brings me full circle to the dreaded scale.
I lost 85ish pounds in the last year solely based on nutritional relearning/rebalancing. I had to teach myself how to eat like a healthy human rather than a college student. And I feel I’ve succeeded, which doesn’t say I don’t have the occasional cheat meal here and there – I am human not a robot! But I know I’m not resting on my laurels and I can’t just rely on that scale.
It’s about how I feel – physically, mentally, visually etc. Right now, I’m in a pretty good place. I’m not at my end goal by any means, but I’m definitely not as unhappy and miserable as I was.
This I thought could be the dreaded crossroads. This is where I could just lose it all and go back. But I’ve taken steps to make sure that doesn’t happen. I’m still adhering to eating better and I’m at the gym 2-3 times a week and based on my 2nd workout (a) I need it and (b) it’s working.
I had my 2nd training session on Sunday and this one kicked my ass. We did different machines, different weight training and different circuit training and all of it was hard. I don’t know if he was taking it easy on me the first time or what, but this time was hard. But I didn’t quit, I pushed through and my body is happier for it.
So what I think I’m going to do for now, is keep doing what I’m doing. Keep eating properly, keep going to the gym, but I will not get on that scale. That scale has been nothing but a disappointment to me even though I know I’m getting healthier, I’m feeling better and getting smaller.
I’m going to do the 2 week no look challenge (yeah I just totally made that a thing). And hopefully the not knowing will keep me more motivated than the looking every day. All I know is that I need to do something that gets me back on the track to the ultimate goal. 
In the health coaching business I see a lot of great transformation stories, lots of successes in a short amount of time too! I’ve come to learn and accept that that’s not me. I do have a great transformation story in progress and I will get to my end result in time, just not quickly – I still have so much to work out, so much to figure out, so much to battle with and this is NOT EASY. I will say that again, THIS IS NOT EASY. But if this was easy do you think we’d have so many people like me in the world? You have to want it bad enough. You have to fight tooth and nail for this. You have to fight with yourself all the time to not make that excuse, or to make that wrong choice and sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. Sometimes you want someone else to do it for you. Sometimes you are all alone in this and sometimes you lose sight of things, but you have to keep fighting. No matter what happens you have to keep going or else all of this was for nothing. And I will not be a failure ever again.
Allison In Onederland? 