Hello. I’m Claire. And I weigh myself every morning. But why? Are we not always told to only weigh ourselves once a week? – Or better still once a month? I mean, weight goes up and down like a yoyo depending on the amount of glycogen in your body (it takes 3-4 grams of water to bind to each gram of glycogen), the amount of salt in your body, what time of day you are weighing yourself….and so on and so forth. And then there is all the psychological stuff….you are more than a number on the scale; that number is not necessarily indicative of health; the number on the scale should not determine happiness. I could go on. I won’t, but I could.
So why, when I know all of this, do I choose to weigh myself every morning?
Y’know when sometimes you stumble across something which makes such a difference you wonder why on earth it hadn’t occurred to you before? Weighing myself each day was one of those things. It actually seems counter-productive and certainly goes against any advice the various slimming clubs have given me.
Weight Stability
I weigh myself every morning, before any food and drink. And, given how wildly my weight has fluctuated over the course of the weeks when I attended said slimming clubs, I have been mightily surprised by just how stable it is when tracked daily. I am losing less than a pound a week, on average. This means that my weight remains the same (exactly the same) for five or so days, flicks between that weight and one pound less for a day or two and then settles at one pound less. Then, the cycle begins again. Even during the monthly cycle (which had always caused tremendous gains) it is stable. I put this down to my healthier life style.
Self Control Tool
However, weighing myself daily is not just interesting to see the general stability of my weight, but also to catch myself if I put on a pound. Usually this only happens on date night, when I eat more than normal. I believe the extra pound is weight in me rather than on me, but it always makes me much more careful with my food the next day. In general, if there is an increase, I can get rid of it easily by swapping one of my meals for a juice that same day. When I weigh myself the next morning I am always back down. In this way, I know I will not let one pound become two pounds, or three….or four.
Latest Research
There’s research to back this up too.
There is a caveat to this. I do not have an eating disorder (at least not of the obsessive weighing and worrying kind). The scales have never been my enemy. Sugar? Yes! Pastries? Absolutely! But never scales. Possibly, if the scales are your enemy or you are prone to eating disorders and/or anxiety and depression around those scale numbers, weighing yourself daily may not be for you. But for me it has become my daily barometer. It is what allows me to go out and enjoy myself and ensures I pull back the next day. It puts the power in my hands, and makes sure I never get out of control.
I am currently at the lowest weight I have been for donkey’s years. I still have waaaaaay further to go, but it seems doable now, simply taking one day at a time, losing an ounce here and there and watching them add up to a pound every week or so. I’m in no rush. My lifestyle has changed, and this feels eminently doable until the day I die. Eventually my body will settle into its own comfortable weight, and when that happens I will have reached my goal, regardless of the number on the scale. That number is a tool and one I choose to use daily for the rest of my life.
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Congrats on your continued weight loss and observance of how your weight fluctuates. I weigh myself similarly every morning before any intake and it has kept me in balance, too.
Oh me too!!
I think it is probably the best thing I do to maintain my weight loss😊 Thanks for sharing your journey and I wish you the best for continued success!
I weigh myself pretty close to daily for the same reasons you listed too. It helps keep me more accountable to myself and makes me more aware of what I’m eating
Hi, Claire! I finally found a chance to catch up with all your nutritional posts. I am commenting only on this one, to save you the time of reading. We, too, are trying to be a little more healthy in our food choices. It seems I am determined and then I need a speedy meal, so I go to the processed foods. Blah. I totally get the water post. I drink more now than ever, but I need my Dr. Pepper every once in a while. 🙂 I think I need to get the scales out of the garage and back in the bathroom, especially after my last doctor appointment. I think weighing every day is a great idea. It would certainly make me think more about what I am eating and why I am eating. I sometimes wish our kitchen had a door to close it off from the rest of the house. It is central to coming and going, therefore, food is constantly there, if that makes sense. I am so glad you are doing well with your healthy eating and the resulting weight loss. Keep it up, my friend. You are an inspiration to me! Hugs to you from sweltering Texas.
Ah Claire you’re doing sooo well and looking brilliant – happy and healthy too!! I absolutely get what you mean about the weight stability thing, you see how with weekly slimming clubs you could just be on an unlucky day due to what you had for lunch, for example!!
Glad you can see your healthy eating as a long term thing, that’s the way true weight loss and improved health really happens!
Helen xxx
That’s such a good rate of weight change – sounds like the things you’re doing are sustainable life-long, which is far more important than shedding the pounds fast. If it works for you, do it! I’ve been trying to eat more vegetables lately; we don’t own any scales, but I can tell whether I’m eating properly by how my clothes fit, how much energy I have, and a few less mentionable metrics 😉
That is counter to how I’ve always seen it taught, but your reasoning makes sense.
Over a decade ago my brother set out to gain weight, he was tired of being called string bean and all that, so he set out to gain a lot of muscle mass. He had one day where he wrote down exactly how his weight gains went. It was hilarious to read. His weight fluctuated up and down all day long as he ate and exercised, and not necessarily in relation to each other.