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Dear Reader, I hope this article finds you well.

For those who know me, I am a numbers guy. As a matter of fact, one of my favorite song lyrics is “Women lie, men lie, numbers don’t lie”. This is true, but they don’t tell the whole story. The number on the scale doesn’t always tell the whole story but it is important. 

The human body is a complex machine. It rarely reacts exactly the way we want and/or expect it to. Weight loss or gain is no different. I can vividly remember a younger me trying desperately to gain weight for my next football season and the scale needle would not move. Right now , I have a similar struggle  as I am in a fat loss phase. Weight is just generated downward by a given object. This number doesn’t take into consideration size and/ or composition see image below. 

That said there may be times when you’re doing everything right but the scale just won’t budge or isn’t going in the desired direction.  Here are 5 reasons why the number on the scale may be misleading :

1. Hydration levels – If dehydrated or “ overly” hydrated your weight may be subject to fluctuation. Well known boxers and bodybuilders will not drink water for hours or days in order to make weight. Hydration levels will either add to or reduce your weight. 

2. Carbs and Sodium – Carbs, and sodium can lead to your body holding on to water for a longer period of time. Holding on to water will likely keep your weight at either the same or a higher number.
3. Essential movements – whether you peed and/or  had a bowel movement also impacts your weight. If you want to have fun weigh yourself before and after (in pounds).
4. How “hard” you trained –  Weight and body composition are different. When we train, we break down our muscles with microtears, and while we recover our muscles come back bigger and stronger. When training we can get some lower-grade inflammation.This impacts insulin sensitivity which determines how we use up the carbs we eat.  This then may reduce the rate of weight loss.
5. Menstruation – Hormone fluctuation, bloating, and water retention are all effects of a woman’s periods. Just know that during this time your weight can and likely will fluctuate, do not get discouraged.

What can we do?

Weigh yourself at the same time of day, ideally in the morning. Typically in the morning, we have: 

• Fasted for a certain number of hours. 
• Typically,  fluids would be at a base level.
• We  usually stop eating around a similar time on the day before unless it’s a special day

Find a nice and flat surface for the scale. If the tool you use to measure is off then the numbers will likely be off.It is also important to keep the bottom of your scale as clean as possible. The scale is measuring downward  so if the bottom of the scale is full of dust then you may get false readings. 

The most important thing is to follow the trend line and not the individual weight fluctuations. What we want is a general upward or downward trajectory, if the line is trending the way we like, then stay the course and ride the peaks and valleys.

Sincerely C.Occil

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