The Scale Experiment

Some people have asked me why I advocate weighing yourself every morning, naked, before you have anything to drink or eat as part of the Tens Diet program. Let me explain the reasons for this by telling you about an experiment I’ve been conducting on myself over the past several weeks.

I first began the practice of weighing myself every day when I first started losing weight consistently. Many diet programs insist that you set just one day a week for “the great weigh-in,” but I didn’t want to wait! I could see the results in the mirror, so I was curious to know for sure whether it was just my imagination or if I really WAS dropping weight on an almost daily basis.

What I found by doing daily weigh-ins surprised me, though.

First of all, I discovered that it IS possible to measure even very small weight changes. I bought a digital scale from a local drug store (it cost less than $20). This scale measures weight in tenths of a pound – such as 128.2, rather than my old hatch-mark type scale that was not only difficult to read, it was adjustable, so I never knew if it was accurate or not. Using a safe, weekly loss of 2 pounds as a goal, we should lose an average of 0.2 to 0.3 pounds per day.

I kept a small notepad in the bathroom so I could record each morning’s reading. When you’re really trying to lose weight, it’s encouraging to see written proof that all your efforts are paying off. Today, I no longer record my daily weight (since I’ve leveled off and am just at the maintenance stage), but it was really helpful while I was actively losing weight.

But, here’s where it got interesting…

Some days I actually weigh more than the day before, even when I follow my eating and exercise plan to the letter. After encountering this several times, I started weighing myself several times throughout the day just to see what was going on. I learned that being constipated (even a little) can make a big difference. Yes, as gross as it may sound, having a bowel movement is measurable!

I learned that not drinking enough water or eating foods with high sodium content (salt) results in retained water. Water weight definitely shows up on the scale. Needless to say, this applies to pre-menstrual bloating as well.

I learned that consuming even one 8-ounce glass of water DOES show up on the scale.

I learned that I “lose” as much as 2-3 pounds every single night – then “gain” it back during the day. I determined this by weighing myself just before going to bed, then weighing myself again first thing the next morning.

So, what can you learn from this little “experiment”? Here’s the list:

1. weight loss products that claim they help you lose weight overnight are probably just relying on the fact that we ALL weigh less in the morning than at night; 

by adding diuretics to help us lose water, many people are convinced that their weight loss pills helped them lose actual weight, when they really lost nothing
more than retained water (or, in some instances, they become
dehydrated – which can be dangerous); 

2. don’t let weight loss products that result in more frequent bowel movements or more complete voiding (by adding laxatives) trick you into believing you are losing fat;
3.  diet programs which record weight changes weekly don’t provide an accurate depiction of the progress being made (by not taking into account all of the things I learned), resulting in feeling disheartened if the scale doesn’t reflect a change from one week to the next);
4. by weighing myself on a daily basis, I learned not to obsess too much over the number on any given day. You can benefit most by knowing that there will be ups and downs reflected on the scale, and that making steady incremental progress for the long haul is all that really matters.

So, get the scale out of the closet where you can step on it
every morning and find out what your REAL numbers are!

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Tags: lose weight, weight loss