A lot of people get upset by the frequent fluctuations of the scale. Why? Its just water. Its not fat. We are only trying to lose fat.

Women in particular seem to more subject to great fluctuations on a daily basis but it should happen to men too because salt levels make a big difference.

If you go out for an Asian meal, you can be sure your weight will be up the next day. It doesn’t mean you have ‘gained weight”. Its just your body holds more water when you consume a lot of salt. What’s the big deal. The water will leave you when you go back to normal eating.

It is helpful to consider all the different ways in which our bodies go about retaining a bit of extra water. I could list them but I’m tired now.

Dieters would benefit from learning how to be more dispassionate about the number on the scale on any one day. Its the general sequence that counts and….

Moreover if you have been dieting and then over eat for a meal, or a day or two, you are suddenly going to regain everything you’ve lost. One scientist diet writer says that we won’t regain much anyway because out bodies will actively help us not to put it all back on a bit. Its only if we continue eating too much and badly, overriding what she calls our FAT BRAKE, that we will put on the weight again. I am referring to Dr Amanda Sainsbury Salis – an australian diet scientists for the want of a better word. Her books which i highly recommend even though a couple of the things she says i no longer go along with are The Don’t Go Hungry Diet and Don’t Go Hungry For Life. Her own concepts in this book seem to be sound though. I mean she still recommends low fat dairy but i have always been suspicious of this idea and now it seems fat is not the evil we’ve been told it was for so many years. But apart from that bit of borrowed wisdom, her books are great with useful practical ideas.

But she also agrees with me on regular weighing, if not everyday. And explains why. As a dieter herself (now a non dieter) or rather someone who has had to deal with her own weight issues, she’s able to go into a number of little things (mostly in her second book) that most diet books don’t bother with. And her second book is in response to the way her weightloss clients responded to the first book and just fine tunes the way people interpret it.

Anyway this post wasn’t meant to be about her books but about weighing.

I weigh every day and keep a record of the score along with my food log. Its useful to be able to go back and see where you were at the beginning of the month, or three months ago and so on.

For me i weigh daily because if i didn’t, i’d probably stop weighing myself at all.

The thing is it doesn’t mess with my head at all. It only messes with your head because of how poorly you interpret the rise and fall of the scale and how much emphasis you put on any particular reading. The scale goes up you think, uh oh, i’ve put on fat. The scale goes down, you think, great i’ve lost fat. I happen to know that you don’t lose that much fat over night or regain it.

I have no intention of stopping to weigh myself at all. As i said, it causes me no strain at all. Its just like a nurse taking your temperature with a thermometer. Clothes are not at all a useful guide for me. Measuring with a tape measure is more objective and accurate than clothes but still an a balloon filled with a 3 cups of water is bigger than one with only half a cup of water. It also weighs more but there’s not an ounce of fat in it.

That said i can live with out a scale and lose or gain weight. But regular weighing keeps me focused and it no longer even bores me to jump on it in the mornings.