And other tools to track your progress.

Over the last 5-6 years of working with women in the health and fitness industry, moving through the barrier of being hung up on that simple number on the scale is one of the biggest challenges most of my clients have had to learn to move past.

I think that over a long period of time women (and men - however I am speaking from my own experience as women’s specific coach) have been conditioned, by society, media and unrealistic expectations, to be so obsessed with the number on the scale. We have somehow put so much worth and so much of our identity into one single number.

And this has happened for so long and has been so deeply rooted in our brains, that it takes a lot of re-conditioning and quite a bit of time to unravel it all and learn to look past that number.

The truth is, though, if you don’t have appreciation, respect and some level of love/affection towards your own body NOW, then you probably won’t gain that when you do lose those few kilos that you want to.

Once we learn and truly understand that WEIGHT-LOSS IS NOT LINEAR, then we become a little kinder, and little more appreciative, towards our bodies and ourselves.

I’m not saying this is easy or will happen quickly, it’s likely to be a constant battle of reminding yourself the truth of your scale weight and using other tools to show how you’ve progressed. And also focusing on other areas of your body or yourself that you love and appreciate, to slowly transition from that negative self-talk/self-image to a much kinder one.

Where we need to start on this journey is 1 - learn all of the things that can contribute to a fluctuation on the scale, and 2 - find other tools to track your progress and either completely remove weighing yourself or do so in a controlled manner.

There are a number of factors we need to take into account when we jump on the scales, the most basic being:

• What time of day is it?
  The most optimal time of day to jump on the scales is first thing in the morning after going to the bathroom. This is to get the most accurate reading. If you’re regularly weighing yourself, it needs to be in the most controlled aspect - so with the same circumstances each time. You can see how this might be difficult as every day is typically different.

• When was the last time you ate?
  Our bodies can retain approximately 3g of water per 1g of carbohydrate consumed. The amount of fibre included in your meals can also cause water retention or heavier stools. So this gives you an idea of how much of your scale weight can be water-weight, based on the food you eat. When people go on weight-loss shakes, skinny teas or other ‘fat-loss fuelling’ products, this is the weight they are losing and it will come back instantly when they begin to eat real food again. Do not take this as a bad thing, it is a natural physiological process that everybody experiences and it does not mean you should cut out entire food groups.

• How much water have you drunk?
  This ties in with the point above, but your body will be holding different amounts of water at different times. This is a big factor as to why almost everybody’s scale weight can fluctuate between 2-5kg on any given day.

• How did you sleep the night before?
  Sleep deprivation or poor quality sleep is a big factor that can trigger a bit of a domino effect with other factors. Dehydration, water retention, poor digestive function (food still in your body), increased stress and hormonal fluctuations, to name a few.

So as you can see, there are a number of factors that go into the measurement of your body weight and it’s not always the most accurate marker for progress - especially when there’s not much weight to lose.

When it comes to tracking progress for my clients I will do one of two things, depending on the individuals mindset around scale weight:

1. We do not use scale weight at all and focus on other tools to track progress

2. We use scale weight every single day, first thing in the morning and work out a weekly average, as well as putting more of our focus on other tools to track progress

So whichever way we go, we are always using other markers for progress. These can include:

• Progress photos - #1 tracking tool for me and my clients

• Weekly reflection based on achievements, challenges, intentions and gratitude

• Daily tracker for sleep, mood, stress, nutrition and exercise adherence

• Circumference measurements

• Strength and conditioning markers - we always set performance based goals and re-visit once these are achieved, this is one of the best things to focus on progress as it often yields a greater sense of accomplishment

I hope this article finds you well and gives you a little bit more of an understanding of the processes that happen inside your body and how your scale weight does not define you.

If you’re looking for some extra support or would like to learn more, contact me at dee@thehealthfitco.com or head to my ‘Coaching’ tab.

Much love,
Dee

* The content on thehealthfitco.com is not intended to provide medical advice and should not be relied on as such. If you are experiencing health concerns, please seek medical advice from an appropriately qualified medical practitioner *