The Power of the Scale

I know that all the popular weight-loss advice says that you should not weigh yourself every day. It's normal, during a diet, for one's weight to dip and surge as part of an overall downward trend.

I weigh myself daily, anyway. It's a must. If I don't, then I tend to start playing the game of "what I don't know won't hurt me." If I don't know what my weight is every morning, then it's easy to think, "Oh, an extra serving won't hurt me this time."

Daily weighing keeps me accountable. Every day I step on that scale. Every day I know how I'm doing.

Of course the down-side to this approach is that it can affect my mood for the day. I've been in a particularly black mood for the past couple of weeks for a variety of reasons (not all related to dieting) and my weight was up 0.8 of a pound. Not a good start to the morning.

It's really frustrating to see my weight go up when I've been at, or slightly under, my calorie targets for the week.

I keep reminding myself that what I'm really looking for is an overall trend in the right direction. The weigh-ins that really count are my weekly measurements. Yeah, I'm keeping track of my daily weight, but the only weigh-ins that count are my weekly check-ins and body fat measurements.

Still, the power of the scale is mighty.