Don’t Be Afraid of the Scale!

So why fear the power of the scale?

Being under the care of an integrated health specialist for 3 years, I personally had to keep a log of my weight and tempera along with food for the 1st 6 months.

Having done this really helped me to monitor physical signs to pay attention to as I started off by going on a detox initially. So does this mean if you want to lose weight that you have to do this too — to keep it off? Well, possibly. “When it comes to behavior change of any kind, self-monitoring is one of the most valuable tools,” says Scott Kahan, MD, director of the National Center for Weight and Wellness.

There are a few potential reasons stepping onto a scale may help you shed pounds. First of all, weighing yourself could prevent you from yielding to urges to eat mindlessly. When we see food, we’re often inclined to take it as a cue to eat food, however Levitsky says. “A recent study demonstrated that if you first step on a scale, then watch food commercials, it no longer [results in] eating,” says Levitsky. “Weighing yourself daily may give you the strength to resist when you’re constantly surrounded by food cues.”

Secondly, weight gain often goes unnoticed. “If you’re gaining weight, you’ll see it and do something,” says Levitsky. Beyond that, there may be some underlying emotional causes why a scale can be a valuable piece of your weight loss toolboc. “It acts as a form of positive or negative reinforcement,” Levitsky says. “If you see you gained weight, you’ll reflect on what you may need to change, and if you lost weight, it reinforces that whatever you’re doing is working.”

However also the flip-side can also be a real thing too.

As ideal as it may be, the scale can also be misleading. The numbers you see varying may take place for a several reasons — like if you’re retaining water, and/or have been eating too many salty foods, Kahan says.

Plus, sometime the visual changes of weight fluctuation sometimes may tank certain people’s mood. “Everybody has different needs and tendencies. Constant weighing can throw some people for a loop. They get freaked out when the number goes up by a pound, and it ends up being counterproductive,” says Kahan.

Although there are other methods you can use to track your weight, it has been evident for many that it is worth working through your scale-concerns. “No other method of tracking weight loss is 100 percent equivalent to weighing yourself. In a lot of cases, just working through the scale anxiety with a professional help to get past that, so you can use it in a productive way,” says Kahan.

Still on the fence? Try these helpful reminders to fight your fear of the scale.

3 ways to fight your fear of the scale and still lose weight

1. Monitor another health benefit such as blood pressure

Head over to a pharmacy to buy a blood pressure cuff you can keep on hand. “When you’re working towards a physical goal, usually some measures improve before others,” says Kahan. “Maybe the scale isn’t going down as much as you thought, but your blood pressure is getting better, or vice versa.” Though it’s not an exact marker of how much weight you’re losing, monitoring your blood pressure is a helpful reminder that health goes much deeper than a shrinking waistline.

2. Pay attention to your clothes, instead

Pull out your snuggest clothing. The way your clothing fits directly corresponds with how much weight you’re losing, says Kahan. A more precise method of this would be grabbing a measuring tape and jotting down the circumference of your waist, hips, thighs and arms every week. “Keep in mind that this could also have the same effect as weighing yourself, that sometimes the number goes in the right direction, but sometimes it doesn’t move as much as you’d think it would given how hard you’re working,” says Kahan.

3. Realize your fear of the scale is simply that, only a fear.

Control your fear toward the scale. If you were to weight yourself before a meal and then go eat a light meal or simply a beverage and get on the scale again. “Your weight will likely go up between one and three pounds, just from what was just consumed. No real calories, and no real weight gain. This is a good way to start to understand the scale,” says Kahan. When you realize the number can rise because of arbitrary reasons, it’s easier to see the scale as exactly what it is: a useful tool to track your weight — nothing more, and nothing less.