Relying on your scales as a measure of progress is problematic – your body weight will fluctuate naturally from day to day but even from hour to hour based on what you’re drinking and eliminating, whether you’re exercising or being sedentary.
Certainly weighing in more often than once or twice weekly is never going to be useful, and on the contrary can be harmful to your weight loss efforts – at least psychologically.
According to the below, since I weighed in last week on Monday 3rd July, I lost 4.6lbs in 5 days, then OVERNIGHT lost another 3.3lbs from 8th – 9th.
I then put back 2lbs overnight, and then the best part of another 1 lb over the last two days!
Clearly, these figures are not truly representative.
I know for example that yesterday and the day before I ate less than 1,500 calories, so surely I should have lost nearly 1 lb over those two days – not put on more than 1/2lb? 3,000 calories over 2 days equates to a calorie deficit of 3,000 calories for me – which is about as many calories as in a pound of fat (it’s 3,500 in fact).
But, the body is a funny thing and it does not work like a simple machine. Especially when you are aggressive about your weight loss, your body may react with genuine resistance and try to “hold on” to the fat – it’s just trying to protect you as it thinks sudden weight loss is a sign of something bad! “Maybe we just hit the winter famine early? Time to go into panic mode!”
The big loss in weight last week I mostly put down to an increase in exercise as this immediately will have an effect on water weight. Taking some recovery time the last two days has allowed my water reserves to top back up, and water is heavy! 🙂
So I’m not at all concerned by these figures.
So why bother weighing in at all?
Well – directionally the scales can be useful week by week. If I take the difference between 3rd July and today – a little more than one week – that shows a loss of 5.3lbs. Do I think that’s accurate? No, I would say I’ve lost a bit less than that in terms of body fat.
Certainly, I would expect/hope to have lost 4lbs this week as it’s my first week, and I did a 36hr fast, plus a number of 20hr fasts, and watched what I ate wen I did eat. So I am certain that this added up to a significant calorie deficit – at least 10-15,000 calories over the week. And a 14,000 calorie deficit equates to 4lbs of body fat (4*3,500=14,000).
It’s certainly not an exact science, but directionally I believe what the scales are telling me – I.e., that I’m losing weight and pretty quickly, which is exactly what I was hoping for in my first week.
Remember my target is to AVERAGE 2lbs per week. There will definitely be weeks where, for various reasons, I will struggle to maintain a good deficit. I may even end up with a surplus of calories and put on weight! So getting ahead of my average is always good.
From a psychological perspective, I’m always determined to ignore the scales when they don’t tell me what I want to hear, and to get excited when they do. That helps to keep me motivated.
I know the reality is that over time, by keeping to my fasting/eating plan, maintaining a calorie deficit if not day by day then certainly week by week, I will continue to hit my targets.
So don’t ever be disheartened by the scales. Tell yourself that they lie. Especially when they don’t tell you what you want to hear! 🙂
Just don’t lie to yourself – if you see the scales moving ever upwards and you know you’ve not been sticking to your eating/fasting plan – then it’s time to get real with yourself and get back on track!
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