Before I even begin this, let me first state those with a diagnosed eating disorder (bulimia, anorexia, etc) should NOT weigh themselves daily.
But if you do not have an eating disorder AND you want to be healthy, lose body fat, increase muscle, or any combination of the aforementioned, you MUST weigh yourself daily.
Let me first say that what I'm asking you to do is get into a place of mastery with your emotional response to the scale.
Meaning, our natural reaction is to get excited or upset when we see the number on the scale.
Where we're trying to get is just looking at the scale objectively without any emotions attached.
DATA > YOUR FEELINGS
To get there, we need to first realize a couple things:
If you are telling yourself "I have a negative relationship with the scale," two things are wrong with that thinking. First, you do NOT have a relationship with the scale. Relationships are 2-sided. You're not going to try to take your scale to a bar and get lucky, right? Right. Second, even saying this sentence is giving the scale power over you. Say this enough and it becomes a belief.
If you are getting on the scale daily and getting naturally excited or upset, this means you're basing your progress on the result and not the habits. This is a losing battle.
To #2 above, if you're getting excited or upset about the daily number, you aren't looking at the data correctly. You are going to fluctuate A TON every single morning you get your weight. This is why we take the average from week to week.
This allows us to see a better picture of our progress as well as teach us delayed gratification.
"Are you switching my macros??? I'M NOT LOSING ANY WEIGHT!!!"
I got a variation of this message from a client last week. I LOVE getting this, because it really gives us an opportunity to explore this deeper and teach us how to look at the results properly.
First, understand that it does not matter whether you saw progress or not. Because
After doing the math:
Week 1:
Day 1 - 195
Day 2 - 193
Day 3 - 193
Day 4 - 191
Day 5 - 191.6
Day 6 - 191
Day 7 - 190.2
AVERAGE = 191.8
Week 2:
Day 1 - 189.2
Day 2 - 188.2
Day 3 - 189.4
Day 4 - 189.4
Day 5 - 189.4
Day 6 - 189
Day 7 - 189
AVERAGE = 189
This is a clear 2.8 pounds per week trajectory.
That is huge.
Especially since we're only on the iceberg in terms of nutrition, training volume, etc.
Results obviously aren't linear. You can be at 100% adherence and not see any progress for 2-3 weeks.
Very frustrating.
But also putting us in a "fixed" mindset instead of a "growth" mindset.
It's easy to get discouraged at scale progress.
But just remember our progress isn't based on the scale, it's based on your adherence to the habits and your ability to create strategies/structures when you fall off the wagon.
-DC