The truth about the scales

Why you’ve been reading the bathroom scales wrong all this time

Most people think weighing yourself every day is the LEAST accurate way because of those normal daily weight fluctuations I mentioned before. … But, if you make one small change to the way you do it, you’ll see that daily weigh-in are actually the MOST accurate way to do it.

The scales can be one of the most important accountability tools for fat loss… if used correctly.

There I said it! Now, I’m not a big advocate on encouraging clients to use the scales when beginning a program whether is for fat loss or muscle gain. It usually becomes an unhealthy obsession of number tracking and develops a bad relationship with weigh-ins. In saying that I know that they all use the scales regardless. How do I know this? Well they tell me when the numbers are off!

“OMG, I’ve already lost 3 kilos this week!” or “Why did I put on 400g since yesterday? I did everything you told me to!”

Daily conversations like this with clients have been the inspiration for this article so rather than banning the bathroom scales and labelling them as the devil I think it’s time to explain how to use the scales correctly and what they are actually telling us about our bodies other than our “body weight”.

Regular daily weigh-ins can provide us with some very important feedback about our bodies. Unfortunately, 99% of people use the scales the wrong way.

I bet you are now wondering “How can I possibly use the scale the wrong way? It’s so simple. Right? I strip down, jump on and it gives me my body weight.” The number on the scales then determines your mood for the remainder of the day and depending on what type of person you are you will likely justify that number with “That’s not too bad considering the weekend I had.” Or “I can’t believe I weight that much! I thought I would have lost more weight by now”. One of my all-time favourites is “Oh…it’s probably just muscle I’ve put on!” Now unless you have superior genetics or are using a tonne of performance enhancing drugs it is very unlikely that you can put on a kilo of lean muscle or lose a kilo of body fat per week. So what’s going on with your body weight then?

Infrequent weigh-ins are more likely to build anxiety and give you inconsistent numbers whereas daily weigh-ins can give us some very important feedback to assist us with our body composition goals. Scale weight can fluctuate up to 5% from day to day…and that’s in the healthier bodies.

Learning and understanding the true purpose of what the scales are telling will improve the quality of your LIFE, not determine that way you look. The real wealth in this is your ability to self-correct day to day until stable trends are established over longer terms. Once you’ve mastered that you will be in an optimal position for fat loss.

So what do the bathroom scales actually tell us?

They tell us:

• How consistent your sleep is
• How stressed/ sick you are
• How stressed your body is
• How you respond to certain foods
• How you respond to certain situations – How hydrated you
• How consistent your fluid intake is
• How prescription drugs are affecting you – How your overall digestion is
• Sodium (salt) intake

What we think they tell us:

• How fat you are
• How skinny you are
• How much muscle you have

So next time you decide to randomly jump on the scales don’t freak out! Keep in mind what the numbers are actually trying to tell you. Then follow that up with a conscious effort to track, self-asses, and adjust your day to day lifestyle choices until the fluctuations become minimal and consistent. Once established you are ready for some serious fat loss!