Don’t Let the Scale Steal Your Progress

Are you letting the scale hold too much weight? (see what I did there?) This week Brianna is chatting about how to use the scale in a helpful way rather than letting it impact your day to day mindset.

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Featured Mocktails: 

Liquid Death 

Click play, sip back, and be empowered.

Transcript

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Brianna 0:22

Hello everyone, and welcome back to this week's episode of Mocktail Minutes. This is Brianna. Um, I don't have it with me, but I just got done with a Liquid Death, the Dr Death flavor. And I'm just gonna say it, and I know I'm probably gonna get a lot of pushback for this, but I feel like Dr Pepper, the taste of Dr Pepper is superior to Coke So nice. With that being said, when it comes to, like, the cola flavored things, I like Dr. Pepper flavored stuff more than I like Coca-Cola flavored stuff. I know that I shouldn't be saying that, but it is what it is. Um, anyways, this week I'm gonna touch on something that I have been... kind of like this reoccurring thing I've been having probably... I mean, I have it a lot, but for sure, like, I feel like the last couple weeks I've been having the same conversation with almost everyone. And maybe it's the time of year, like, you're coming off of summer. A lot of people don't focus as hard on their goals during the summer, I think. Like, it's a bit chaotic. You're traveling, you're going places, you're doing more fun things. And so maybe coming out of summer, this is just something that's talked about more. But... And it's not something, like, new. We've talked about this before, but it's basically how the number on the scale is not the best indicator for your weight loss, specifically fat loss. Efforts. So, a- and I'm, I'm not against using the scale. I have people use the scale, but it is just one indicator of progress. It's one measurement. It's one data point, and it's a data point that can be impacted by a lot of different things. So I don't like to use it as the sole one or even, like, the most superior one because, I mean, you could get on the scale, get off the scale, drink water, and then be the mass of what you were plus that water, right? Like, it's... So it's, obviously you didn't gain, you know, half a pound of fat if you just drink water. So I'm gonna kinda talk to you about indicators that I have people use, and if you are gonna use the scale, how to kinda use it so that you can get out of your head. Because something that will happen is you will feel beat down. If you are on a weight loss journey or you're really trying to see that needle move, and you are constantly seeing the scale kinda say the same thing, it is going to really take the wind out of your sails and hurt morale. And you do what you think. If you are thinking that certain things don't matter, if you're thinking like, "Well, you know, I did this and I didn't lose weight," if you keep having that break you down, you're gonna eventually stop taking the walks, you're gonna stop moving, you're gonna stop strength training, you're gonna stop focusing on n- on your nutrition. You're not gonna care about that extra glass of wine. You're not gonna really prioritize sleep. So you have to really make sure that what you're doing for your mindset on your journey, it... Like, like you're locked in. And if you're weighing yourself every single day and you are finding great value in whatever that number says, you are going to feel beat down more times than not. And so it's something that can really impact you. So let's just start off, and again, this is things... It's so funny, because I will have conversations with people, and they know these things, okay? They know that what I'm about to say is correct, and they'll even start off with that. Like, "I know that this can impact the scale. I know this, but I'm still feeling some sorta way." So I think sometimes the more you know and the more that you can kinda challenge stuff that you're saying to yourself with facts, I think it kinda also helps your mindset, right? So stuff that can impact the scale on a day-to-day basis that has nothing to do with fat or true weight loss. So water retention. You could have excess water. You could have not enough water. Eating something that's higher in salt, and maybe especially you didn't, you know, you didn't even it out with, you know, potassium. You could've sweat more. It could've been hotter. It could've been colder. Like, water shifts happen for multiple reasons all throughout the day. These definitely do make a big impact, because your body is made up of a lot of water. Obviously, the food and the drinks that you're eating and drinking, those are temporary, right? You're digesting them. They haven't been used and eliminated. You know, you haven't had a bowel movement. Obviously, if you eat, the scale is gonna go up. Um, glycogen, so your stored carbohydrates in your muscle and your liver, it binds with water, and so eating more carbs can temporarily make the scale go up. This is why,, so many people think, like, "When I did keto, it worked instantly," and, "I'm not a type of person that can eat carbs," because they're basing it off the scale. And that is just a difference in glycogen and, and water, okay? If you eat a higher carb meal, the scale is gonna go up momentarily because you're holding more water. This is also why I try to tell people to be kinda consistent with your carb intake, especially if you're counting calories and you're like, "Well, I don't know. I was like the same amount of calories every day this week, but the scale was like being really weird from day to day." And then you look at macros and you're like, well, yeah, one day you had 60 grams of carbs and the other day you had 300 grams of carbs. Those are big discrepancies. That's gonna show up on the scale. And again, not true fat. It's just glycogen, water, that sort of thing. Um, we talked about this with food, but digestion and constipation. If you are not eliminating waste every day or you are not having at least one bowel movement, that waste holds weight. Um, so Have you had a bowel movement before you are weighing yourself? If not, or if you haven't had one in a day or two, that's gonna make the scale look higher. I have had a few patients in, like, a clinical setting who have literally been, like, five, six, seven pounds heavier simply because they're people with chronic constipation, and every time they're able to have a full bowel movement, clean all that out, they're suddenly... I'm like, "Well, you didn't just lose six pounds of weight. You... I mean, you did. You lost six pounds of weight of waste." But having that daily bowel movement, if you're not having it, it's going to impact the scale. This is especially, too, for people on a GLP-1, where you are dealing with a little bit more constipation. It may not be that you need to go up on a dose. It may mean that you need to focus more on your bowel movements. Um, hormones can make you have temporary water retention. And so for some women, I'm having them kind of track their weight at a more consistent part of their cycle, especially if they do see a lot of big swings during, um, you know, luteal or during, ovulation 'cause sometimes during ovulation you do retain a little bit of water. You look a little bit more, like, youthful and puffy, whatever. Thank you, hormones, but that's gonna make the scale go up. Even exercise, and this one really messes with people 'cause it's like, "Well, I just went to the gym" or, "I just worked out yesterday. Shouldn't the scale be lower?" And this is where the whole if you're using what the scale says and it's holding a lot of weight, it's gonna mess with you because I've had so many women be like, "I'm not gonna go strength train again because when I did that, the scale went up." The scale can go up for a short amount of time after workouts. So you have that temporary, inflammation and fluid retentions, within your muscles. That's what we want. We want that muscle breakdown and the muscle recovery, that short-term inflammation. This is a good thing. So you could be stopping something before you're really seeing an impact simply because of that short-term change that you just can't get over. Um, obviously the type of day it is. I don't know why people are weighing themselves at night. Don't do that. Don't do that. And I will have people weigh themselves in the morning and then at night and be like, "I must have ate horrible today because the scale went up four pounds." And I'm like, "What?" That's not even a true measurement. But again, the things it's doing to your head. So obviously weighing in the morning after you've gone to the bathroom, without your clothes on, before you've eaten, probably the most optimal time. Sleep and stress can both impact fluid balance and appetite. We've talked a lot about how sleep can impact that. And then of course, scale conditions, right? Like, everybody weighs more at the doctor. Stop it. Don't even care. Don't even look at it. It doesn't matter. You will always weigh more at the doctor for multiple reasons. It's their scales. Also, you're wearing clothes, you're wearing shoes. But I will have so many people be like, "Well, I thought I was losing weight, and then I went to the doctor's and I'm, like, this weight." It's just all those different things, and a lot of times it's multiple of those things impacting it. So if you are wanting to use a scale to track progress, this is what I recommend doing. I'm not gonna sit here and tell you don't weigh every day, because I would love for you to not weigh every day, but the reality is so many people don't listen to that. So if you're going to weigh every day, just know that you're probably driving yourself a little cuckoo, okay? You probably are. If you don't wanna feel cuckoo, stop doing it. I would say once a week is more than fine. Once a week, pick a day of the week. Um, do not make it... Do not let it be Monday. That's, that's the one thing I say is don't let it be Monday, because everybody usually does different things on the weekends. You're maybe getting a little less sleep. Maybe you have a drink. Maybe you go out to eat. You're having a little bit more salt, a little less water, whatever it is. Don't do it on a Monday. Do it on a Friday or a Thursday or something, but pick a day of the week. Weigh yourself. Document it somewhere, in your notes, on your phone, whatever it is. Again, if you're gonna weigh every day, do not d- I don't want you recording every single weight. I just don't. Then what I want you to do is I want you to kinda look at it from a month or more aerial view and see what does that weight trend look like. Am I trending down? Am I kinda maintaining? Am I trending up slowly that I didn't notice? So kinda taking the trend of what those weights are instead of the day-to-day. So, and I, I pointed this out to I think three people this week of, "Hey, let's, let's look at what you were first week of August." And every single one of them was three to five pounds lighter now than they were a month ago. But they're people who've been looking at the scale, and it's like, "Oh, it says 162, and then it says 164, and then it says 161, and then you're 162.5." And then it kinda just looks like you're hanging out, you know? But when you look at it from aerial view of, you know, what does... what did I look like a month ago and compare it to now, oh, well, four pounds is a lot better than I thought it was. It's about a pound a week. You are actually losing weight. And when they kinda have that aha moment, it's like, "Okay, well, suddenly I feel okay. I feel good. Maybe what I'm doing is working," and you just kinda have this different perspective. So I need you to look at your trends and not at what the scale is doing every day. If you're someone who has, um, who notices, like, hormones and your menstrual cycle play, like, a big role in your swing on the scale, I'm one of those people, I recommend weighing around the same part of your menstrual cycle every month and kind of using that as a better gauge. Um, and for a lot of women, that's actually way more helpful and insightful. So that's what you could do if you're gonna use a scale. And then I'm gonna tell you that you cannot just use a scale, so pick something else as well. Um, you can pick to take measurements. If you're gonna take measurements, try to take them the same exact way at the same exact spot on your body. Find a freckle or something, take those measurements. I really don't think you need to be measuring more than once a week. This is something I have people do, like, maybe every two weeks, but really probably four weeks is more appropriate just because you need to... It takes a bit to see that move, and if you're doing that every day or every week, uh, the changes can be minuscule looking, and that's just gonna hurt you even more, your morale. So give it a little bit of time to see some differences in measurements. But do that. You could take your waist circumference. You can pick a pair of pants or a bra or something that fits you a certain way and, like, try those pants on every so often. Can I pull them all the way up? Can I zip them? Can I sit down with them zipped? 'Cause those are two different things. You know, how are these feeling on me? That way you can know, okay, these pants definitely were way tighter on me last month. Clearly something is happening. Um, another thing I really like is pictures in the same outfit and same lighting because sometimes people really do need to see that visual, you know, to be like, "Okay The scale is kind of freaking me out, but I am seeing that that is a difference. So different indicators of progress sometimes have multiple of them, and then obviously there's other indicators like the non-scale, non-measurement victories like better sleep, better digestion, better workouts, better recovery, more energy, less brain fog, more sex drive, a- all those. But for that analytical data, having more than one. And then something I want you to kinda think of too is if the scale isn't necessarily moving but my measurements are, That is really what you want. You are losing fat, gaining muscle. Even though the scale might not be the number that you want, you are headed in the, the direction that you aesthetically and health-wise want. So hang in there. And then let's say your measurements really aren't changing, but your clothes are fitting better. There is a possibility that you're having body recomposition, just not necessarily in those parts that you're measuring, and that's important because we don't... You know, how we kind of lose weight and lose fat, it's a little bit different for everyone, and clearly if you're putting on a dress or you're putting on a pair of jeans that feel- fit way better but your measurements look the same, clearly you're having those body composition changes, it's that body recomp, It's just, it's all evening out. But when you're on a weight loss journey, you definitely need to have multiple indicators of progress, or you just really do get in your head. And this is where I, I don't like relying on the scale because I see so many people throw in the towel before actually seeing something that really works because they're so focused on that instant gratification from the scale. And if the scale goes down, I'm doing something right, and if the scale goes up, I'm not, and they'll do it from day to day. And that shortsightedness just completely gets in the way of what you're trying to do in the long run. So this was a long-winded way of saying F the scale, but I know you're still gonna use it, so let's use it correctly. And again, I tell people all the time, I preach this every day, multiple hours a week, and I'm gonna tell you right now, if I go get on the scale tomorrow, and this is something that I think it's not gonna say, it's gonna mess with my mindset. And I fully know that that's incorrect, but I'm telling you, if it could do it to me, it's absolutely gonna do it to you. So it's just human. So kind of knowing and being able to prep yourself of like, "Okay, I'm choosing to do this." I'm gonna buckle up. And then having those other indicators to fall back on so that you can have that internal s- talk with yourself of like, "Hey, let's not throw the baby out with the bath water. Okay? Like, let's just hang in there, walk in, and give it a moment." So hopefully this is helpful. Um, if you have questions, as always, you can message us at Mocktail Minutes on Instagram., We will be back next week with a brand-new episode. I hope you guys have a fantastic week. Bye.