Step 8: Don’t focus on the Scale!
I should have put this one first but none the less here it is. What does a scale do for us? It let’s us know how much gravity affects us. That is it. Let me break it down a little more. A scale measures mass. And in the case of a scale it measures ALL mass. When we lose weight, we want to focus on losing fat. Sometimes when we diet we end up losing water weight. This is always temporary and therefore our weight goes back up. What’s worse is our weight fluctuates daily so one day we may be down 3 LBS and the next we are up 4 LBS. The scale can guide but never should be the determining factor if we are successful or not. Especially daily. Weigh yourself once a week. Same day of the week and same time of day.
Below is a break down of what constitutes our weight. What are we made of? Here is a list
1. Water – We are between 40% and 70% water. Blood is mostly water. Muscle and organs are about 70% water with the lungs being 80% water and Bones are even 25% water. Most of what you weigh is water!
2. Dry lean mass – All the stuff water is in. Muscle, organs….you get it. This is approximately 20% to 30% of your total weight.
3. Fat – Fat is very low in water density. Fat is actually between 5 and 10% water. The ideal amount of Body fat for a man is 15% and for a woman that number is 23%.
Don’t focus on the Scale!
Action Step – Don’t step on the scale until you have followed steps 1 – 7 for 2 weeks. We all feel tempted when we have done a few things right and expect to see massive change. When I was 16 I worked at a local grocery store. My job was to collect shopping carts, bag groceries and help out when asked. I have to admit I did not enjoy my job very much and would often focus on the clock to see how much time I had left until I could go home. The time would slow to a crawl and it felt like 4 hours became 10.
One thing I would sometimes do is refuse to look at the clock until I had collected all the shopping carts and swept the entire store. I would think “that had to be at least and hour”. I must have been amazing because it always ended up being like 20 min. I felt discouraged every time expecting to see hours pass off the clock and only seeing minutes. The point of all this? Don’t focus on the scale!
It is like the clock of the younger me. It wasn’t until I started to simply focus on my responsibilities that time seemed to pass more quickly and without the pain.
Do every step for 2 weeks then weigh yourself. Don’t expect too much but if you followed the steps you should be down about 4 or 5 lbs. Doesn’t sound like much but if I said if you don’t change your behaviors for what you are doing now you would weigh 4 or 5 pounds more in 2 weeks you would freak out. So keep things in context. Follow the plan and see the results!
Now that the process is in place, now is the how to keep it off!