This is one of those questions that has a standard answer, one that I would have given without hesitation years ago. Everybody knows that if you are trying to lose weight, you shouldn’t weigh yourself more than once a week, right?
Back when I was doing personal training and competing in natural bodybuilding competitions, I followed this rule pretty much to a tee and I instructed my clients to do the same. We know those daily fluctuations on the scale are relatively harmless and meaningless at least until the end of the week. All that really matters is what the scale reads at the end of another successful week of dieting so in the meantime, STAY OFF THAT SCALE! Well I say, WRONG! There IS another way.
While the ‘stay off the scale’ advice certainly does have its place, so too does the school of thought that daily monitoring can be beneficial. Case in point, how do you know if your weight is getting off track if you don’t check for several days? I don’t know about you but I can pack on quite a few pounds in a week if I stay in a state of blissful denial. You know, like on a week long cruise for example? Yes there certainly are signs, but many of us ignore those signs quite easily. You know, the tightening waistline of our favorite jeans, the little extra wiggle and tug we had to do to get them on and even the more elusive heavy, full and satisfied feeling after a big bowl of pasta three nights straight. Don’t think those things add up? I’m here to tell you that they do.
Like I always say, my intent here is to share my experiences and the things that have helped me to both lose weight and maintain that loss over the years. At the risk of flying in the face of conventional wisdom, I am telling you that you absolutely, positively should weigh yourself each and every day. I finally have accepted this and I am telling you it has changed my life. I have to give credit where credit is due. . .hubby is responsible for this one, but daily monitoring of my weight allows me to assess where I am and what I need to do (read, EAT) that day to stay in check.
Stepping on that scale daily will also help you to get in touch with your weight and how what you eat affects it regularly. Stepping on that scale regularly will convince you that those monthly 5 pounds really amount to only about 1 – 2 pounds give or take a few ounces. Stepping on that scale each day gives you the power! When you know how certain foods affect your weight, say, how much more water you retain, and what seems to trigger the scale to climb rather than fall, you have the power to plan each day accordingly using this data.
Okay, so it sounds so simple and obvious now but why don’t we do it? Oh, because we don’t want to see those numbers on the scale staring us in the face every day, that’s why. But take the challenge and try it for about a week. Weigh yourself each morning and be sure to note the weight. Don’t get on the scale multiple times per day or at different times each day though. That is a recipe for confusion and disaster. Also, it will be easier if you keep a diary as the trick is to note what you ate the previous night, day, and day before that. But you don’t need to journal if you don’t care to do this. You will get into a rhythm of checking and recalling what you ate and what happened on that scale each day and you will start to adjust to compensate. You will likely also use this same information to gauge when you might have a little extra too! Try it out and let us know how it goes!