Why weigh every day - 82.1kg
I've been challenged on why to weigh every day when trying to lose weight. I thought I'd better review this again given that I'm advocating it for others.
Why take the measurement at all
The reason for taking the measurement is to help you better understand how your behaviours prior to measuring have affected your body, and by how much. It should be used to inform and educate you about how to change your behaviours for the future, as well as to measure how your past behaviours have impacted. It can help you to identify the little behaviour that make a big difference e.g. 'That tea I had last night was bigger than usual, next time I'll make smaller portions and only use one chicken breast if the kids aren't eating with us', or 'wow - if I exercise AFTER my tea, I seem to lose more weight each day than if I exercise before my tea'. Some of these things might seem obvious and follow a general principle, but others will be unique and specific to you and your day.
Behaviour change is what enables weight control
Behaviours are the things you say and do (mostly 'do' in this context) and they can have a positive and negative effect on weight loss. Key behaviours that I think of when I'm doing my assessments are mostly lots of little things:
Measure close to the point of the behaviour you are changing
Weight change will occur when behaviours change, those behaviours being what we eat/drink and how active we are. As we eat every day, normally three or four times a day, and we are active to a greater or lesser degree every day, it follows that our weight is constantly changing as energy is burned. In order to get a better understanding of how what we eat/drink and what exercise we do affects the body it makes sense to take a reading as close to the point of the behaviour change as possible. If you leave it for a week between measurements then it is much harder to see the little things that make the difference.
Measure regularly to ensure that weight change is occuring at the right pace
When you start to assess and make changes to your behaviour, you need to know that you are doing it right. The sooner you know if something is not working as you expected the better. This works both for situations where there is no weight loss, and where there is too much loss (that is dangerous).
Daily routine will make it less intrusive
If you have a daily routine which broadly defines your eating, drinking, exercising and sleeping, then managing your weight will be easier. Most people do have a daily routine revolving around these things, all of which affect your weight change. If we are changing our behaviours we are likely to be changing our daily routines, so taking a measurement on a daily basis seems intuitive.
Building the weighing into the daily routine may also ensure you will do it naturally and it will be less intrusive/invasive. It feels weird and intrusive when you first start because you are not used to it, and nor is anyone else, and the whole family might be having to accommode that change. That is because it is not yet part of the established routine. If it isn't built into the routine then whenever you do try to take a few minutes out to take your weight, it will be invasive because nobody else is accommodating it. My personal experience of this was when I was weighing myself using the wii. When I first started to do it the kids hated it because I was interupting their TV viewing, and they made it difficult for me. But after a while they got used to it and would automatically pause their program for me, and even help me out.
Become more in tune with how your body works
Once you have built up the routine for eating, exercise and measurement, you start to better understand the relationships and become a better judge of what is good for you personally and what is not so good. This tuning means that you will be automatically more aware of how your weight is changing and jumping on the scales should really just confirm what you already know.
Avoid weird behaviour the day before measurements are taken
If you only measure occasionally then there is a temptation to behave 'out of routine' the day before to adversely influence the results. For example, if someone only weighs themselves once a week they might choose to weigh themselves only after what they think is a 'good day', or worse they might even change their behaviour the day before to influence the results. This is not a sound practice and you are cheating yourself. If you weigh every day then there is no way to fiddle the system.
Get a small piece of good news each morning
For the most part, a weight reduction program will deliver just that if done correctly. So each day you will see small changes of weight downwards. This is a positive thing to see and can be very encouraging each day, even though the weight change itself is small. On the flip side occasionally you will see your weight go up, BUT, the chances are it will only have gone up by a small amount from the day before, so it is only a small piece of bad news. Small pieces of bad news are much easier to manage, and far less likely to cause you to fall off the wagon. As an alternative consider the person who only weighs themselves once each week. They might get a big piece of good news (e.g lost 1kg), the effect of which may only last a few hours, but they might get a big piece of bad news (e.g. gained 1kg) and the effect of this could be to give up completely. Small, regular updates are easier to accommodate than large irregular ones. Also, you will get lots more of them, which will have a much greater positive impact overall than a small number of big changes.
Why weigh in the morning
The other challenge I've had is that the mornings are too hectic, and we are focused on getting ready for school/ work. Well, my reason for this is based on trying to get the most consistency from one day to the next, and weighing as soon as you wake up and have been to the toilet, but before you eat, is likely to be the most consistent period from one day to the next. This consistency is particularly important if you are using a biometric scale.
There are other periods during the day when you can take the reading, but they can be less consistent in my experience:
I don't want to do this for the rest of my life
This is the final challenge I had. You only need to weigh yourself every day while are are ACTIVELY trying to change your behaviours to achieve your weight loss. Once you have reached your goals you can move to measuring less regularly as long as you maintain the behaviours you have worked to change. At this point you should be doing maintenance of your behaviours rather than active change of behaviours. I would suggest weighing every day while you are working to achieve your weight goal, and to continue it for a period of time after you have achieved your goal to ensure you are able to maintain your desired weight. Then move to a less frequent period of weighing if you can make sure you do it occasionally.
Is it obsessive?
I do not think that taking a behaviourally sound scientific approach to weight loss and measuring once a day is obsessive. I guess it depends on how often you are weighing yourself and what you are doing with the information.
It depends on what it makes you think and feel, and whether you are taking an interest in how your body works and reacts to the things you do, or if you are weighing yourself simply to see the weight come down. If you are weighing yourself simply to see the weight loss then that might be obsessive. If you are weighing yourself to help yourself to change your behaviors that is not obsessive.
As an example, sometimes I'll weigh myself before and after certain activities or meals, or just before bed, in additon to the measurement I take in the morning. But I do this simply to learn how it works, I certainly don;t worry about the natural changes I see, and I haven't built this into my program.
This person also has some interesting points on weighing daily:
http://trustmeimahaggis.blogspot.com/2011/03/obsessive-weighing.html
Why take the measurement at all
The reason for taking the measurement is to help you better understand how your behaviours prior to measuring have affected your body, and by how much. It should be used to inform and educate you about how to change your behaviours for the future, as well as to measure how your past behaviours have impacted. It can help you to identify the little behaviour that make a big difference e.g. 'That tea I had last night was bigger than usual, next time I'll make smaller portions and only use one chicken breast if the kids aren't eating with us', or 'wow - if I exercise AFTER my tea, I seem to lose more weight each day than if I exercise before my tea'. Some of these things might seem obvious and follow a general principle, but others will be unique and specific to you and your day.
Behaviour change is what enables weight control
Behaviours are the things you say and do (mostly 'do' in this context) and they can have a positive and negative effect on weight loss. Key behaviours that I think of when I'm doing my assessments are mostly lots of little things:
- How active I am - do I walk to work or drive in
- Do I take a scheduled exercise -eg Gym, walk, run, weights, Kinect game. If so how far and fast
- When do I exercise - what time of day has the most impact
- How much am I eating - portion control at the point of service
- How do I prepare the food - portion control at the point of making and what ingredients am I using
- Who prepares the food - if I make it after a run do I make a bigger meal
- How does a large lunch affect me compared to a large tea
- What luxuries do I allow myself, when and why - e.g. a bag of crisps at end of day is a reward for not snacking all evening, but the timing is really bad from a metabolic perspective
Measure close to the point of the behaviour you are changing
Building the weighing into the daily routine may also ensure you will do it naturally and it will be less intrusive/invasive. It feels weird and intrusive when you first start because you are not used to it, and nor is anyone else, and the whole family might be having to accommode that change. That is because it is not yet part of the established routine. If it isn't built into the routine then whenever you do try to take a few minutes out to take your weight, it will be invasive because nobody else is accommodating it. My personal experience of this was when I was weighing myself using the wii. When I first started to do it the kids hated it because I was interupting their TV viewing, and they made it difficult for me. But after a while they got used to it and would automatically pause their program for me, and even help me out.
Become more in tune with how your body works
Once you have built up the routine for eating, exercise and measurement, you start to better understand the relationships and become a better judge of what is good for you personally and what is not so good. This tuning means that you will be automatically more aware of how your weight is changing and jumping on the scales should really just confirm what you already know.
Avoid weird behaviour the day before measurements are taken
If you only measure occasionally then there is a temptation to behave 'out of routine' the day before to adversely influence the results. For example, if someone only weighs themselves once a week they might choose to weigh themselves only after what they think is a 'good day', or worse they might even change their behaviour the day before to influence the results. This is not a sound practice and you are cheating yourself. If you weigh every day then there is no way to fiddle the system.
Get a small piece of good news each morning
For the most part, a weight reduction program will deliver just that if done correctly. So each day you will see small changes of weight downwards. This is a positive thing to see and can be very encouraging each day, even though the weight change itself is small. On the flip side occasionally you will see your weight go up, BUT, the chances are it will only have gone up by a small amount from the day before, so it is only a small piece of bad news. Small pieces of bad news are much easier to manage, and far less likely to cause you to fall off the wagon. As an alternative consider the person who only weighs themselves once each week. They might get a big piece of good news (e.g lost 1kg), the effect of which may only last a few hours, but they might get a big piece of bad news (e.g. gained 1kg) and the effect of this could be to give up completely. Small, regular updates are easier to accommodate than large irregular ones. Also, you will get lots more of them, which will have a much greater positive impact overall than a small number of big changes.
Why weigh in the morning
The other challenge I've had is that the mornings are too hectic, and we are focused on getting ready for school/ work. Well, my reason for this is based on trying to get the most consistency from one day to the next, and weighing as soon as you wake up and have been to the toilet, but before you eat, is likely to be the most consistent period from one day to the next. This consistency is particularly important if you are using a biometric scale.
There are other periods during the day when you can take the reading, but they can be less consistent in my experience:
- Just before bed - the time when this happens is variable and don't want to go to bed worrying about it. However, it does make the reading even closer to the behaviours you are trying to influence. Just before bed means that the learning you took from the measurement is forgotten by the morning.
- Just after exercise - not a great time because you are dehydrated and will get false readings
- Just before tea - possibly a good time to measure as you could use it to directly influence how much you then eat. Not always possible though and tea time is just as hectic especially if you are the one making it.
I don't want to do this for the rest of my life
This is the final challenge I had. You only need to weigh yourself every day while are are ACTIVELY trying to change your behaviours to achieve your weight loss. Once you have reached your goals you can move to measuring less regularly as long as you maintain the behaviours you have worked to change. At this point you should be doing maintenance of your behaviours rather than active change of behaviours. I would suggest weighing every day while you are working to achieve your weight goal, and to continue it for a period of time after you have achieved your goal to ensure you are able to maintain your desired weight. Then move to a less frequent period of weighing if you can make sure you do it occasionally.
Is it obsessive?
I do not think that taking a behaviourally sound scientific approach to weight loss and measuring once a day is obsessive. I guess it depends on how often you are weighing yourself and what you are doing with the information.
It depends on what it makes you think and feel, and whether you are taking an interest in how your body works and reacts to the things you do, or if you are weighing yourself simply to see the weight come down. If you are weighing yourself simply to see the weight loss then that might be obsessive. If you are weighing yourself to help yourself to change your behaviors that is not obsessive.
As an example, sometimes I'll weigh myself before and after certain activities or meals, or just before bed, in additon to the measurement I take in the morning. But I do this simply to learn how it works, I certainly don;t worry about the natural changes I see, and I haven't built this into my program.
This person also has some interesting points on weighing daily:
http://trustmeimahaggis.blogspot.com/2011/03/obsessive-weighing.html
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