Scale fluctuations – Why they don’t matter as much as you think they do

If you’ve ever been on a diet before, or ever worried about your weight, the bathroom scales are probably the bane of your life. That number on that scale has the power to make or break your day.

The number has gone down? Best day of your life!

The number has gone up? It has the power to wreck your day, kill your mood and potentially even break your diet 🙁

What is the scale actually measuring?

The scale is measuring your body weight. Not body fat.

Our bodies are made up of fat mass and non-fat mass.

Fat mass = fat tissue

Non-fat mass = all tissues that are not fat. For example skin, hair, bones, muscle, organs, blood etc.

When we try to “lose weight” what we actually want to lose is body fat.

But the scale can’t differentiate between fat mass and non-fat mass.

Further, there are so many processes going on in your body all the time that can affect the non-fat mass in your body, and therefore your scale weight.

For example: if you drink 500ml of water, that water is absorbed into your blood stream and your intestines and can increase your scale weight by half a kilogram, even though your fat mass is exactly the same!

So the number on the scale is a measure of everything that’s going on in your body at that one single point in time.

Common reasons for scale fluctuations

Next time you weigh yourself and feel disheartened, remember this list of reasons that your weight will be constantly fluctuating:

1. Water retention
Causes an increase in scale weight (but not body fat).

2. Higher than normal carb intake
When you consume 1g of carbs, your body also stores 3g of water, leading to an increase in scale weight. (For this reason, keto diets often begin with a fast “weight loss” as your body loses all the excess water that is stored while carbs are consumed)

3. Higher than normal salt intake
Consuming more salt one day will lead to water retention and a higher scale weight.

4. Stress levels
A hormone called cortisone is produced when you’re stressed. This hormone promotes water retention.

5. Poor sleep
This increases the stress on your body and therefore also increases water retention and scale weight.

6. Menstrual cycle
Enough said 😕

7. Alcohol consumption
Alcohol dehydrates you, leading to a lighter weight the next day. (And we all know alcohol makes us hungrier and leads to less optimal decision making around food 😬)

8. Time of day you weigh-in
It’s important to weigh yourself at the same time each day, as you will weigh different at different times of the day depending on what else you’re doing.

9. What time you are your last meal
If you usually eat at 5pm and then one day eat at 8.30pm, you’re going to weigh more than usual the next day as your body will still be processing your food.

10. High intensity exercise
Particularly after you first start exercising again, or you suddenly ramp up your exercise intensity, you will probably notice the scale weight increases. This is due to two reasons:
– High intensity exercise causes micro muscle tears (which is what we want as the repair of these tears make our muscles stronger). The repair of these micro tears causes water retention.
– Our muscles store glycogen inside them to use during exercise. Increased exercise leads to our bodies increasing the glycogen stored in muscle, and therefore the amount of water stored in muscle also (glycogen is a carb).

As you can see, there are heaps of reasons the scale weight can fluctuate, but none of these above actually mean your fat mass is increasing.

So how shall I measure my weight?

Remember when we’re measuring our weight, what we’re really measuring is our progress.

So there’s three important ways you can measure your progress, depending on which is right for you:

1. Don’t weigh yourself at all

   This is a great idea if you’re not actively trying to lose weight. If you’re focusing on maintaining a healthy lifestyle, improving your nutrition and getting in some fun exercise, there’s no real reason to measure your weight.
   Instead, focus on other factors:
   – How do your clothes feel?
   – How are your sleep patterns?
   – How much energy do you have?

2. Use visual measurements

   If you’re trying to lose weight, it’s important to track your progress so you can see what works and what doesn’t. If the scales aren’t working for you, there are better ways you can track your progress:

   – Progress photos will allow you to visually see how your body is changing. Take photos on the same day, in the same clothes every two weeks.
   – Body measurements are also a better way to track how your body is changing. Use a tape measure and measure your upper arms, chest, waist, hips and upper thigh every two weeks.
   – Performance is maybe my favourite way of tracking progress. Are you getting stronger? Can you lift more weights? Can you do more reps? Are you faster? Can you walk further? Can you run faster? Track your workouts so you can see how your performance is changing in response to your new lifestyle.

3. Look at long term trends on the scale

   If you do like to weigh yourself (and there’s definitely pros to that as well) the best thing to do is weigh yourself at the same time every morning and track it. Then you can look at long term trends rather than just moments in time.

   For example over a seven day period, your weight will be fluctuating up and down but the weekly trend will hopefully be going downwards. If you look at just two data points it could look like you’re not moving or even gaining weight.

   But looking at the data over a week, you’ll be able to get a much better picture of where you are