Why you NEVER need to step on the scale again!
How much do you weigh?
It’s an interesting question.
When people ask it, I often wonder what they’re hoping to learn from the answer.
Many people view scale weight as the #1 measure of a persons overall success in Health & Fitness.
Generally speaking…
People think that weighing less is good… and a higher number on the scale is rarely celebrated.
… This is further enforced by the narrative of magazines, tv shows, the medical profession, our parents, friends, social media and more.
In my role as a health and fitness coach…
The most important question that MUST be answered, is:
How does scale weight (and our perception of it) impact a persons real-life results?
Let’s dig in.
The Typical Life Cycle of the Diet
I’ll start by sharing a familiar story for many of us…
A person decides they want to improve how they look.
They may have stepped onto a scale and were horrified by the number they saw, which inspired them to take action.
They make some adjustments to their diet…
And they start exercising more.
They continue to weigh themselves regularly to monitor their progress.
At some point…
1 of 2 things will inevitably happen…
Their weight loss slows down and begins to plateau.
Or they may even gain a lbs or 2 on one of their weigh-ins.
As a result…
They might feel frustrated and confused.
Or perhaps even so demotivated, they may throw in the towel there and then.
If they decide to hang in there…
They may, in an effort to lose more weight faster, try something more extreme with their approach to diet and exercise.
Until In the end…
It all becomes impossible to sustain, so they stop exercising, relax on their diet … and stop weighing themselves.
Inevitably they begin to slip back into unhealthy habits and routines.
Until the cycle repeats itself at a later date.
This may sound familiar for many of us…
Or if this hasn’t happened to you, I can guarantee you know someone who repeats this cycle over and over again, sometimes for decades!
There are potentially several areas where a person goes wrong in the typical diet story.
But the one we’re focusing on today is the role of the scale.
2 problems with the Scales
#1 Unreliable
The scales are unreliable.
They will fluctuate form hour - hour. day - day. Week - Week
Getting a consistently accurate scale reading is near impossible because there are so many variables at play that can impact the number we see.
The amount of carbohydrates we’ve ate.
The amount of salt we’ve ate.
Our hydration levels
Whether or not we’ve been to the toilet.
And for women, where they are In their cycles
And that’s just to name a few.
Because scale weight can be influenced by so many factors…
This alone is a reason not to pay too much attention to it.
#2 What the scale DOES NOT tell you?
The scale does give you an indication of what your current body mass is at any given time.
But, I’m more interested in what the scale doesn’t tell you.
Body composition - It doesn’t distinguish between mass.
Or in other words, it doesn’t tell you how much of your bodyweight is fat.
And ultimately fat is what we’re looking to reduce to look at our best.
When we stand on a scale.
We are getting a measurement of:
Muscle
Fat
Bone
Blood
Hair
Skin
Water
Waste Product
Even what’s in our pockets.
A scale doesn’t subcategorise for us.
But for some reason…
We have tendency of seeing a higher scale weight and assuming that (out of everything I just listed) we are gaining fat.
If we want to monitor our results to improve how we look…
We should be much more concerned with our body composition.
We can assess body composition in a few different ways. But I find Progress photos to be the easiest and most accessible to monitor visually how much body fat we have.
If you find it difficult to be objective about your progress photos, you could always ask someone you’re comfortable with to help you assess them.
Health - the scale doesn’t indicate how healthy we are.
Health is better measured by other factors too.
We could look to our:
blood pressure.
Resting Heart Rate.
Cholesterol
And many other health markers
And we could also look at a persons habits and lifestyle.
Are they exercising regularly?
Are they eating a varied and nutritious diet?
Are they getting consistent high quality sleep?
Are they managing stress well?
Our health is such an extensive topic.
We need to monitor it in a much more extensive fashion that only scale weight.
Self Worth - Scale weight is not a reflection of our self-worth.
We are so much more as people, than just a number on the scale.
But I’ve seen scale weight affect people’s confidence so severely that they don’t even want to go our with their friends, go clothes shopping or do activities they want to do.
When a person becomes emotionally wrapped up with the scales…
It can really affect their ability to obtain long term results.
I find that 2 main barriers present themselves …
Demotivation.
This is always a frustrating thing for me to see as a coach.
You can be working with someone who is making exceptional progress.
They’re working towards a goal:
Training.
Preparing healthy meals.
Improving sleep.
And investing in themselves.
Then a weight fluctuation can derail the whole thing.
No matter how much you try to explain the potential reasons weight can fluctuate.
Their emotions are too affected to see the logical explanation.
We call this the ‘screw it’ affect.
They feel demotivated, so they say screw it… and abandon all of their healthy habits out of frustration.
Which brings us onto the next barrier…
Focusing on the wrong things
A person who’s emotional energy is directed toward the scales…
Would achieve much better results if they were to focus on more important aspects of their health and fitness.
Being stronger
Healthier.
Fitter.
More confident.
Being a role model to friends and family.
Improving their energy, productivity and focus.
Investing in becoming the best version of themselves.
These are all much more profound reasons to focus on our health and fitness.
Imagine a world where magazine front covers went from:
“how I lost 2 stone in 6 weeks”
To
“how my life improved by regularly exercising”
By focusing our energy toward other markers of progress (and the process by which we achieve them) …
We’ll make better decisions for our long term wellbeing.
And we’ll get better results too.
In summary
Scale weight is a tool that can be used by some people.
But I spend more of my time convincing people to STOP weighing themselves than I do encouraging them to hop on the scales.
That’s because…
Time and time again I’ve seen a poor understanding / relationship with the scales lead people to sub-optimal results or worse… quitting on their health all together.
If you can achieve amazing results without ever needing to know how much you weigh… then why step on a scale?
I encourage you to focus on other ways to monitor your results.
And ultimately measure your success against your health and happiness… not your gravitational pull to the earth.