Why you shouldn’t trust the scales!

 

So, you decide you need to lose weight. You clear out all the unhealthy food in the house and start a diet and new exercise regime. You weigh yourself. First thing, after you’ve been to the bathroom, and before breakfast, because of course you want your weigh in to be as accurate as possible.

Fast forward a week. You’ve been eating all the right things, counting your calories and exercising hard. Time for the weekly weigh in. You step on the scales under the exact same conditions as before and smile. You’ve lost 2 pounds!

But then it all goes wrong. A week later and your weight has stayed the same. Then the week after… you’ve gained a pound! You feel despondent and decide all the effort you’ve put in hasn’t been worth it. The diet is officially over!

Does this sound familiar?

This is the reason why weekly weigh ins are fundamentally flawed. You see, weight loss isn’t a linear process, even more so for women. Hormones fluctuations, water retention, the amount of food in your digestive system, no two days are the same.

Now if you weighed and logged your weight every day, it would look something like this:

 
 
Weight+loss+graph.jpg
 
 

So, from the above scenario, you would’ve given up your new regime 3 weeks in, thinking that you weren’t losing weight when in fact, you were!

It is the downward trend that is important. Daily weight fluctuations are perfectly normal. The most common reason is water retention. Our bodies are made up of approximately 60% water and there are numerous reasons why our body may hold onto more or less water each day:

 
 
 
 

And if that isn’t enough to convince you that you didn’t gain 1 pound of fat overnight: 

To gain 1 pound of fat you need to consume approximately 3500 calories above your maintenance calorie level

For the average person, let’s say 2000 calories is maintenance (the amount required where no weight is lost or gained). Did you really consume 5500 calories the day before to cause a 1 pound increase in weight overnight? Of course not! At least, I hope not… 

If you want to test this out for yourself, there are many weight logging apps available, I can personally recommend Happy Scale if you own an iPhone. Or you can do it the old-fashioned way with pen and pencil, just remember to work out a weekly average to help spot the overall trend.

So, by all means use the scale to track your weight, but if you weigh weekly be sure to take the results with a pinch of salt!

If you would like to transform your body through my Personal Trainer service, please contact me for a free no obligation consultation 

Mobile personal trainer in Haslemere, Liphook, Hindhead, Fernhurst, Grayshott, Surrey, Hampshire, West Sussex

 
Karen Baker