
The scales hold an immense amount of power over people when it comes to fat-loss or any kind of health and fitness journey.
This single metric seems to have the power to derail people from their goals, but today I will be exploring why this is flawed.
What do the scales measure?
The scales measure your total bodyweight at that specific moment in time. They cannot distinguish between bone, muscle, body fat, blood, undigested food, urine or many other components. Many things influence fluctuations in bodyweight, so weight gain does not necessarily mean you have gained body fat.
Body Fat Scales
If you have a fancy set of scales which measure your body fat, I am sad to say that they are grossly inaccurate as the results depend upon your hydration levels. So basically don't waste your money on fancy scales.
What can cause weight fluctuations?
Scroll through the images to take a look at a few reasons which can cause weight fluctuations.
How you react to the scales matters
What do you do when you don't see the scales reflecting all the hard effort you have been putting in? The answer to this question can often be the difference between achieving your goal and not.
Weight fluctuations can often result in people:
a) giving up
b) over restricting food intake (which then often leads to an over eating episode)
c) over training
None of the above are healthy or positive. My advice is to track your habits and focus on the things you can control; how you nourish your body, moving regularly, getting adequate and good quality sleep, reducing stress and exercise.
One way to use scale data
So we have established that the scales are inaccurate in isolation but some people still want to have data to monitor progress. If one of the metrics you use is bodyweight, you are better looking at the trend over a long period of times.
What I advise my clients to do is weigh themselves for the first 7 days of each month, first thing in the morning and record the lowest measurement from the 7 day period; this is likely to be the most accurate. We will then look at these measurements over a period of 3+ months to see what the trend is over time. Then make adjustments according to the results and their goals.
The final 't'
As you can see, many factors can cause your bodyweight to go up and down, however the weight fluctuations are not necessarily changes in body fat.
Many people give up when the scales don't reflect the energy they are putting into their fitness and nutrition. The scales measure your overall bodyweight at that exact moment in time, nothing more and nothing less. A poor relationship with the scales may be what is stopping you from achieving your goals.
Final point, then I'll get off my soap box...

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