First, let’s understand the whole buzz about weight! Because for me it’s simple:
Your weight is an external marker of your internal health status – physical, mental, and emotional.
The human body is resilient to daily traumas on all these levels. That’s why we don’t stop walking when we have a wound, we don’t get a migraine every time we bite into cheese, and nor are we upset every month because we got a period!
The wound gets infected when our immune system is weak leading to a fever. Cheese gives us a headache as a result of an allergic reaction due to over-exposure or poor digestion. You are upset not because you are on a period, but because your hormones are out of balance.
If that’s the status of your health internally then no surprise that you would have gained weight because what you’re experiencing is INFLAMMATION and weight gain is simply EVIDENCE of it! So why is weighing daily a bad idea?
#1 It Didn’t Start Overnight So How Would It Reverse That Quick?
Coming to how it happened! Clearly not overnight, as our bodies can combat the trivial everyday stressors. This happens when we fondly ignore the several warning signs that our body gives us leading to this internal disturbance causing us to be BLOATED, HEAVY, AND UNCOMFORTABLE!
So now we know that this took its own time, so we can safely assume it will take as long if not more for the symptoms to alleviate, the inflammation to reduce and the pounds to drop! Will weighing yourself every day help in this case? The answer is NO!
#2 Don’t Confuse Weight Loss With Fat Loss!
Fat is accumulated in the body over long periods for a variety of reasons like toxic overload, liver function, hormone imbalance, and blood sugar dysregulation. These factors take time to revert to their optimal levels which allows you to lose the fat and gain muscle which is crucial to your health , which may or may not show a difference on the weighing scale. Hence weighing yourself is not the right indicator of your health status.
#3 What & When You Eat Matters
You binged on glutenous Nutella cupcakes endlessly for Sunday brunch and you were 2 pounds over today. What happened?
Refined sugar converts into fat in as little as 4 TO 8 HOURS. This means, by the time you finished dinner, the energy produced by the cupcakes was not required by the body immediately, thus finding its way into your fat stores leaving you hungry for yet another meal. That added to your caloric load and slowed down your liver, wrapping up the night for you with too much stored glucose and nowhere to use, showing up the next morning!
#4 Salt and Water Are Best Buddies
A processed/preservative-loaded take-out dinner on a busy workday adds to the salt content in your cells. These then hold back fluids in the cells to maintain cellular function causing water retention which shows up the next morning on your weighing scale.
#5 You Aren’t Hydrated!
To piggyback on our previous cause, poor hydration levels can add to water retention in cells thereby showing up as water weight on your scale.
#6 Stress – Out!!!
A busy workday, performance pressure, and deadlines raise our CORTISOL LEVELS which conserve all our blood sugar for energy as the brain and hypothalamus-pituitary axis presume forthcoming danger. This shuts down other digestive processes and STORES THIS EXCESS CIRCULATING SUGAR AS FAT when not utilized.
#7 Daily Is Discouraging
Daily check-ins are a very common reason for demotivation and stepping away from goals as no change in the number or a slight increase can discourage us mentally and make us step away from our health goals!
#8 Digression to Quick Fixes
It is often observed that not seeing a change in weight over a few days compels many to skip meals or adopt calorie deficit and nutrient-deficient diets to see the quick results! These are harmful in the long run as the quick fixes can affect liver function and metabolic activities leading to obesity and allergies in the future.
In my opinion, a weekly check-in is ideal motivation for your diet and weight loss goals. It accounts for any indulgences or off days without disregarding the efforts you put in through most of the days to stay in check of your health. After all, we are nothing but WORK IN PROGRESS!
