Should you weigh yourself?

Should you weigh yourself? 📉

When you’re trying to lose weight (by which we mean body fat, as that’s what actually changes body shape), it’s important to find ways to measure progress. The scale can be a great tool to assess whether you’re making progress. However, the number the scale shows is JUST a number. It’s simply your relationship to gravity at that moment in time. It’s meant to be used as a data point to track progress over time.

If you decide to use the scale, you need to overlook the day-to-day changes you’ll inevitably experience. Scale weight is affected by lots of factors; food in your system, hydration, glycogen levels, hormones, salt intake, recent exercise, type of food you ate yesterday (diff foods can cause more/less water retention), etc. None of these reflect how much fat you’ve lost or how your shape has changed. Think about it, if you had the body you wanted and felt confident wearing anything, would it matter what that scale number was? No!

Data is king, and the more data you have, the better decisions you can make. It’s not good to rely too much on one method of tracking progress since all are subject to daily fluctuations that make it harder to view and interpret trends. Using things like body measurements and how clothes fit are useful ways to see if you’re losing fat. If you do use the scale, it’s better to take regular readings, then average them for the week or month and compare to previous averages to see the overall trend.

Should you weigh at all? First ask yourself, what’s your relationship with the scale like? How much power do you give that number to define how you feel for the rest of the day? Are you thinking about all the factors influencing that number? If you find it hard to overlook fluctuations, dread the scale, or let the number impact you emotionally then no, it’s probably not a good option right now. Use other progress markers like photos, measurements, how clothes fit, performance, mindset shifts, and confidence changes instead. If you like data and know the scale will fluctuate and that doesn’t faze you then go for it!

🤗
xx