This is a post on a health-related topic. We are not medical or other trained health professionals. The information presented here was what learned about ourselves on our journey. Your journey is different and it is best to consult your doctor or other medical professional before making a change. Please see our disclaimer at Before Making Lifestyle Changes before making any changes to diet, activity, etc.
We feel the bathroom or similar scale has been demonized in our culture. For that reason, many people dread standing on it to see what it says. By the end of this post, we hope you will see it as a tool and friend for weight management. Data collection drives consistency and consistency, over time, is key to weight management.
Addressing the Elephant in the Room
First, let’s address the stigma of stepping on the scale. Weight is a number. The scale tells us what that number is. That number is not a judgment of you. That number is data about what you weigh at that moment in time. If that number is not what you want, there are tools to change it. If that number is what you want, there are tools to maintain it.
When we started our journey we had ideas of what we wanted in terms of physical fitness. Physical fitness meant weighing what we should as well as the ability to do certain things. We expected knowing what we should weigh would be easy and it was anything but. We found over and over that even medical professionals don’t 100% agree on what is over or underweight for someone. It felt impossible to find an answer that fit us. We will revisit this in another post to give a better explanation but for now, we can focus on weight as it is a tangible goal.
Consistency is Key
We couldn’t can’t manage our weight without using a scale consistently. By consistently we mean every day or two, same(ish) time, sam(ish) clothes, or better yet before you dress. There is a lot of debate on whether to do this every day or every 3 days or even only twice a week. Eventually, we settled on every day based on the challenges we saw with hydration and weight. We learned our best chance for accuracy came from weighing ourselves every day, consistently You may choose a different cadence. To recognize noise vs reality daily weigh-ins became our choice of cadence.
The scale is a tool but the real power of it comes in taking notes. In our previous post on calories, we discussed phone apps to help. Using the same apps we used for calories made the job of taking notes easy. More importantly, because they were the same app, we could look at calories and weight and learn the connections between them. We also understand weight is a private thing for many and some people worry about others using their information. If you’re not comfortable using an app, use a spreadsheet or even a journal to track your data instead.
What to Expect
As you record your weight you should notice two things:
- Fluctuations between days.
- An overall trend across days.
Fluctuations between days happen as your body and life are dynamic. Depending on water intake, food eaten, stress levels, and other environmental variables your weight fluctuates daily. We have seen spikes up and down of up to 4 lbs between days. It’s interesting feedback and something to drive a question of why but it is also just noise that occurs.
The overall trend is the important piece. This trend is what is truly happening. Monitoring weight to attain goals is very similar to monitoring blood pressure. You can ask yourself, is the trend the same weight, increased weight, or decreased weight? Does the trend align with your personal goals? If it is, then you know what you are doing is working, and if not you know you need to make a change.
If your goals aren’t being met, don’t be upset and give up. Data is data. The human body isn’t simple. What works for one person may not work for another. You aren’t doing something wrong. Take the data as a way to have an honest moment with yourself. We will continue to explore other ways to attack these problems.
Try to See the Scale as a Tool
We hope that you find a new friend in your weight management journey. By forming good habits around its use and collecting data, you become empowered. You know what is happening and you can decide to, or not to, take action based on the data it provides. Through being consistent in its use you will learn about yourself, your needs, and your body.