Hands up if you weigh yourself daily! STOP it NOW.
Here’s why. There are so many variables that can influence and make your weight fluctuate every day. You could be dehydrated or hydrated, have changes in eating patterns, you are more active on some days, and you may have lost sleep on another day.
The scale, if used correctly – only as one tracking tool can be useful. It is well documented that body weight is not the ideal way to measure progress. So, if you are trying to shred weight, use the scale as a guide on a weekly, fortnightly or monthly basis – and remove it from view until it’s time to weigh in.
When truly tracking your health goal progress use several tools to gauge and guide you.
BMI – Body Mass Index is another tool used, again not totally accurate but a good tool and easy to measure. BMI has ranges within which you may fall –
Healthy 18.5 to 24.9, Overweight 25.0 to 29.9, and Obese 30.0 or higher.
There is an easy calculation to find your BMI.
Weight 80 kg divided by Height 1.70 metres divided by Height 1.70 metres = 27.68 (overweight range). Your turn! Grab your calculator and find out what your BMI is.
The next tool is the good old tape measure. Again here, there is a measure we should aim for. And often measuring yourself this way is a great way to see the changes in your body. The scale doesn’t alway show changes where the tape measure will.
For men, a waist circumference below 94 cm is ‘low risk’, 94–102 cm is ‘high risk’ and more than 102 cm is ‘very high’.
For women, below 80 cm is low risk, 80–88cm is high risk and more than 88 cm is very high.
Another tool is the Bio Impedance Scale – and some can be very sophisticated. Here you can measure your weight, body fat percentage and your lean muscle mass percentage. This is a tool I use to show my clients the improvement made on a monthly basis.
Again, if you are putting on lean muscle mass there may not be the movement you expected on the scale. As you probably know, lean muscle weighs more than body fat – so if you see an increase of lean muscle and a decrease in body fat, you know you are doing something right.
Other measures that are so important when you’re losing weight are your energy levels and also how you’re feeling. We often neglect important self feedback, and just checking in with ourselves daily can help move you forward and stay motivated.
This is an inexpensive Bio Impedance Scale that I use at my practice. What is great about this scale is it can be connected to an app to measure your progress.
https://www.rebelsport.com.au/p/rawtech-bluetooth-digital-bodyfat-scale-590216.html
So the moral of the story is use several tools to measure your progress!