The weighty question

I woke up yesterday and decided that I was ready to get into my next phase. Since finishing my competitive season over 7 weeks ago I have been relaxed with food and exercise. I now feel that I am the point where I am happy to put a bit of focus back on an organised training and nutrition plan. I am certainly not about to go head first into hard training, but a technically good program that will keep me strong and fit and add some variety to my usual training.

I am a strong believer in measuring and tracking results, if you want to replicate your results you need to know what does and doesn't work for you. More importantly if things aren't working you need to know what to change. So the night before I dug my scales out of the top of the cupboard and got my camera ready to have some front and back pictures taken. I also logged my food for the day to see what calorie range I was in.

During my competitive season I keep my scales in the bathroom as I weigh myself daily to track my progress for my weight division. I am not emotionally attached to the scales as I have seen daily gains and losses for many years now, and I can tell you what effect different foods and activities will have on my weight the next day. So I jumped on the scales guessing the range I would be in, and was a surprised to see that I was a few kgs heavier than expected. My clothes are tighter and I can see that I have added some weight, but I am sure I have reverse body dysmorphic disease as when I look in the mirror I certainly don't see myself as that much heavier. So the question begs...

"Should we weigh ourselves daily to keep our weight in check? "

I have read studies and newspaper articles based in studies that say that people who weigh themselves daily or regularly are lighter and have more success with their weight loss attempts. I agree that as a daily measure it is good tool, however I also strongly believe that unless you have no emotional attachment to your scales it can also develop some pretty serious obsessive behaviour. So this is my test, if your happiness and self worth for the day is determined in the bathroom at your morning weigh in, you need to stay off the scales and get some perspective. However if you stand on them, take note and then go about your day, you are in good shape and feel free to jump on regularly.

We all need small checks on our life and this is what the scales are, a small check of our weight not a barometer of our happiness.

Lisa