A lot of times my clients struggle with how often they should weigh-in. Should they weigh in once a week? Once a month? Daily? The answer: It really depends on what your mindset is. You see, most of us have an emotional response to our weight on the scale. If we step on the scale and our weight is down a little- we are excited, proud of ourselves, worthy. If we step on the scale and our weight is up- we are frustrated, defeated, depressed. If this sounds like you, the first thing you need to do is work on separating the emotion from the number on the scale. You need to make the number on the scale ?information?- because that is ALL it is.
It is information about your hydration status. You can have a swing of up to 5 lbs of water weight in a 24 hour time frame. Think about professional fighters and how they manipulate their water balance to make weight for a fight, and then they immediately rehydrate and their weight shoots back up (usually more than 5 lbs. because they are using extreme methods).
It is information about your digestive status. We all know we feel lighter when we empty our bowels, and that number shows up on the scale also. For most of us, this only makes a difference of 1-2 lbs, but if you are trying to lose weight and see that you have ?gained? a pound, just know that it may not truly be that you gained weight.
It is information about your menstrual cycle. This partially goes back to hydration status, but if you track your weight regularly you can begin to see patterns related to your menstrual cycle and you will better understand what is happening in your body. We tend to hold more water weight during the first few days of our period. Another thing that can happen is sugar cravings and binge eating surrounding our cycle or even ovulation for some women. Becoming aware of this is the first step to changing it because it can really slow down your progress if you are on a weight loss journey.
It is information about patterns related to their life. For example, many of us have a great schedule during the week and are able to set a plan and stick with it, but then the weekend comes along and we struggle to stick to anything. If you can track your weight daily, you will see how this plays out for you. I?ve seen some people who are able to consistently lose weight even with less than perfect weekends, but I have also seen people that sabotage all of their progress this way. Again, you have to become aware of what is happening to be able to change it.
I say all that to say this. Your first goal should be to take away the ?meaning? you have attached to your weight. You are valuable, you are worthy, you are needed in this world and any self-loathing or self-doubt related to weight is not serving you and it is honestly holding you back from living to your highest calling. Your weight is just a number, like your temperature, that?s a number too. Your next goal is to get curious about your weight, begin to truly track it. Use an app on your phone so that you can see trends and graphs. Work towards weighing a few times a week, but if at any time you get in your feelings about it, back off and revisit that first goal.
I weigh daily. I do it first thing in the morning and I track it on an app. I also track my menstrual cycle and by combining these two I know that my weight tracks up a little on the weekends and quickly normalizes by Tuesday, and that if I take the right combo of supplements surrounding my cycle I don?t get the urge to eat everything in sight. Also, I get grace for the times that something was emotionally bothering me and instead of processing that emotion I chose to eat out of character. BUT, when we know better we do better. We are all a work in progress, friend.
