SURPRISE‼️ Scale weight fluctuations are NORMAL!
It’s certainly not uncommon for people (especially in the fitness community) to weigh themselves each morning. However, it’s important to understand the context of WHY certain numbers are looking back at you, and not to let your mood be heavily dictated if they’re a few decimal points above or below your previous weigh-in.
When looking at scale weight on an acute basis (day-to-day) we should actually view it as an incredibly IMPRESSIVE feat that the body CAN balance out over a 24 hour period to even BE within a few decimal points of a previous weigh-in, let alone the exact same weight a few days in a row!
The reason for this is because across a 24 hour period our body is experiencing significant fluid shifts of multiple kilograms! This is a result of eating, drinking, exercising, going to the bathroom, sweating, breathing, and much, much more! And amazingly... the body is so well biologically equipped to manage these shifts and impressively balance out at an equilibrium.
Given this we have a few recommendations when it comes to interpreting that number on the scale :
- Collect a fasted morning body weight each day and calculate weekly averages to identify weekly and monthly trends
- Don’t let scale weight be your only metric of tracking progress. Whatever the number is, make sure you’re comparing and interpreting it alongside progress photos, training performance, skinfolds, girth measurements, health markers, quality of life etc.
- Don’t associate acute fluctuations with actual tissue weight gained or lost - it likely isn’t ACTUAL tissue!
- If the scale is fluctuating then take all of the above influencing factors into consideration and try your best to control your variables if possible! E.G daily sodium and fluid intake
- The number on the scale is just that... a number! Think objectively about why that number may be higher or lower than yesterday.
Focus on the bigger picture and recognise that chronic changes in scale weight = true tissue and body composition change.
Don’t stress the small stuff.