We all do it. We are all guilty. We start a fitness journey, we hop on Amazon and by a fancy digital scale. Probably something that can tell you your BMI, % of fat, % of water, % of bone, what you had for breakfast yesterday, and what you really want out of life….We put it out in our bathroom in between the toilet and the sink. We make it a daily habit of stepping on the scale every single morning before we do anything. No clothes, no breakfast, this is as accurate as it gets right? This is what I really weigh right? Well, not so much….
Scales suck. It is that simple. Some of us get so caught up on that number. It begins to define us. At first it makes us feel amazing, getting smaller and smaller we feel unstoppable! Then it stalls, it slowly starts creeping back up. Every morning our eyes bulge out of our head. We don’t get it. Our diet was on point this week. We killed ourselves in the gym. Our clothes are fitting better and better. We feel lighter and more powerful! Yet, we instantly pull our shirts up turning side to side. Meticulously inspecting with microscopes…where is this weight coming from!? Well I will show that scale who is boss…we will just skip breakfast today. Add an hour of cardio in tonight. That’ll fix this problem!
Ok, you might not go to those extremes, but it’s all the same concept. We don’t realize it, because it has become such a normality and part of our lives, but we let our scales run our lives and control our moods, and opinions of ourselves. That dumb piece of metal/glass/plastic that measures your gravitational pull to the earth.
Your weight can fluctuate a few pounds on any given day for a long list of reasons such as: Water intake, sodium intake, medications, sun exposure, hormones, eating later the day before, eating more carbs, stress, lack of sleep, I could go on forever.
Our bodies are nuts. They do things for no reason, without explanation, that we cannot control. There are so many different reasons why that number could be dropping or climbing. But I see either of these things as good signs! It means my body is working! It is doing what it is supposed to do. If you are working your butt off and nothing is changing, that could be weird…If you are dropping in weight hooray!! You are probably trying to lose fat! If you are climbing in weight, you are probably building muscle which does what? Kills fat! Hooray! You can be the exact same weight but have two completely different looks. Or you could be a heavier weight, yet look way more lean than when you started. Do not let that number define you, or dictate how your day will go, or decide what your workout or diet will consist of. Because that number is probably either wrong, or not telling the whole story.
Here is an example. Not too long ago I woke up one morning and jumped on the scale…125lbs?? WTF I haven’t seen that number in years! Instant AMAZING mood!! Because last night I had weighed in at 128lbs (obsessive much? you can see the problem) I felt great, happy, accomplished, I didn’t stop and think it was physically impossible for me to lose 3lbs of fat over night…that didn’t matter at all to me I now weigh 125lbs.
I took my dog for a walk, and 20 minutes later hopped back on that scale (why, I have no idea…big problem here…) and it read 127lbs. WTF I looked up in the mirror in horror. In 20 minutes I had gained 2 lbs and my dreams were crushed. I was an instant failure….all that hard work had given me no results! But, what hard work…in the last 8 hours all I had done was have an awesome snooze fest.
Then I realized, 127lbs is an amazing weight for me. It is perfect. I started all those months ago at 137lbs. I should be ecstatic. I’ve hovered around 127 for a while. That is my normal number, what I think is my natural weight. Soooooo why was I so upset? Because scales mess with your mind! If you don’t want to toss your scale, do what I did. Put it in a far off corner. Write on it, to yourself, encouraging message. Remind yourself that you are getting stronger every single day, and that number is not going to tell you that. Get used to going about your day without it. Step on it a couple times a month. Maybe every 2 weeks, or not at all! Focus on the mirror. Take tons of pictures, focus on changes you can see. Because you will change. A lot. And the scale will not show that progress.
Even if you are in a fat loss phase, and your weight seems to be increasing, be proud of that number, because you are still losing fat. Gaining that muscle will speed up the process. Be proud of your hard work. This is a beautiful process, that so many people would kill to experience, and you get to! You WILL reach your goals with patience and dedication.