Scale Weight

One of the best ways to give up on a diet is to put forth a lot of effort in eating right and exercising only to step on the scales and find that you either lost weight or gained weight. You must keep in mind that your body weight can fluctuate several pounds often depending on several factors:

A. Time of day:
Even the time of day can reflect a higher weight at night and lower in the morning.

B. Food weight:
Food in your stomach and intestinal track including liquids. This can change your weight several pounds even on the same day! After all, if you eat an 8 oz steak and drink two 8 oz cups of water you now weigh one pound more.

For this reason, you should weight yourself the same time each day (mornings are best so your body has time to process food and liquids).

C. Water weight:
Your water weight controlled by your sodium intake. Lots of salt (sodium) = more water retention. Note: there are some medical conditions that will cause your body to retain water.

D. Glycogen in your body:
Glycogen is a complex carbohydrate that powers your muscles. The carbohydrates you eat allow your muscles to store the glycogen. Each gram of glycogen in your muscles store four times as much water.

That is the trick to the low carb diets. Low carbs = low glycogen = less water in the muscles = less weight. Returning to normal food with carbs = more glycogen = quick weight gain after the diet.

E. The time of the month for women:
Most women retain extra water prior to their monthly periods.

F. Muscle gain:
Some dieters who weight train (especially when they are getting close to their goal weight) find out their pants keep getting loser but their weight stays the same. Muscle weighs more than fat. Gaining muscle = more weight. Gaining muscle and losing fat = little to no change on the scale.

G. Poor quality scales:
Often scales are inaccurate and have not been reading correctly-especially the old spring-dial type. Consider owning a digital scale accurate to within .5 pounds. You can often pickup bath scales cheap at second hand stores.

H. Exercise:
If you weigh yourself before an intense aerobic workout and weigh yourself after to see that you are now 2 pounds lighter, it is not because you lost 2 pounds of fat. Losing fat takes time to metabolize. The 2 pounds of weight loss is water from sweat loss.

Depending on your situation, you may weigh yourself each week (best to do this on the same day and time). For others who easily get depressed if the scale does not move, weigh in only when your pants get lose or once every month.

If you look at the majority of people who have lost 100 pounds or more and kept it off, they will almost always tell you not to focus on what the scale says-especially when you reach a stubborn plateau. Instead they will tell you to focus your attention on simply being healthy and happy.

Tip: If you want a real accurate body weight measurement, take the lowest scale reading over several days.

Tip: Does fluctuating scale weight make you depressed and want to give up? Then it is best to weigh yourself only once a week on once a month. Some dieters even choose to wait until they lose a pants size. Remember; focus on eating right and getting healthy through exercise. The weight will follow.

Quote:
If you look at the majority of people who have lost 100 pounds or more and kept it off, they will almost always tell you not to focus on what the scale says-especially when you reach a stubborn plateau. Instead they will tell you to focus your attention on simply being healthy and happy.