The scale being dictated by so many variables, is the reason why we ask our client to record their weight regularly. This being done at the same time of the day (in the morning, after using the bathroom ideally).
Transforming your body through changing your body composition, increasing muscle mass or decreasing body fat, is not always easily readable on the scale and this can be hard for some people to comprehend.
There are so many factors effecting the ‘NUMBER’ that appears on the scale. Including but not limited to:
Strength Training
Water Intake
Carbohydrates
Fiber
Sodium
Bowel Movements
Hormones Levels
Sleep
Digestion
Alcohol
Soreness/ Inflamed Muscles ⠀
Supplements ⠀⠀
Food allergies / Intolerance
Inflammation from Cold/ Flu and other illness’s ⠀
Lets break down a couple of these reasons, and WHY they cause the scale to fluctuate:
Bowel Movements
Well, to keep it real, if you are not going to the bathroom regularly and removing excess waste from your body.. you will probably see that reflected onto the scale, self-explanatory really.
Sodium
Excess sodium (Salty Food) can cause water retention. Sodium binds to water in your body and helps maintain the balance of fluids both inside and outside your cells. If you eat foods that are high in salt your body may retain water, this making you 'heavier' on the scales.
Higher Carbohydrate Intake
Some of the carbohydrates you consume are stored in the form of glycogen. For every 1 GRAM of carbohydrate you consume, there is around 2-3 GRAMS of water retained. If you consume a high carb day the day before or a high carb meal the night before stepping on the scales, there MIGHT be spike in scale weight due to the retention of water. Therefore, when someone starts a low-carbohydrate diet or ‘keto’ they appear to lose weight quickly according to the scales, as they deplete their glycogen stores which also results in them losing fluid as well. This is not actual “fat loss”.
Food Intolerance
An intolerance is caused by the body’s inability to process a certain food, which can be caused by several different problems, such as an enzyme deficiency or damage to the lining of the gut. Symptoms include but are not limited to bloating; abdominal pain; joint issues; asthma; inconsistent bowel movements; constipation; lethargy; lack of focus or diarrhoea. All of which can impact your ‘scale reading’.
Hormones
As you are probably aware, your hormones can affect your scale weight. From around 5 days before your period (this is when the female sex hormone, estrogen peaks) you may experience weight gain due to water retention, making you feel bloated and on average gain about 2 kgs on the scale, however it can be much higher. Please do not panic, you did not get fat, just hormones. The other hormone is progesterone. Progesterone levels spike in the second half of your cycle, which again leads to water retention, breast tenderness, and sometimes water weight.
Sleep
Sleep is extremely important for your body to repair itself! While you are asleep, your body has the chance to get back in balance. Excess fluid that has accumulated during the day makes its way from your cells into the bloodstream, from the bloodstream to the kidneys, then out.
Strength Training
Intense exercise causing small tears in your muscles and inflammation, which is a good thing, creating those tiny tears in your muscle fibres means that when they repair, they GROW and that is the goal, to shape, tone and add additional muscle, right?
So why does the scale go up if I should be burning fat to?
Your body needs to take on more water to help the muscles repair the micro tears. The way your body provides energy to the muscles can also add a little weight at first, glycogen (carbs) that your muscle cells convert to glucose is the energy source for your muscles, regular strength training will mean your body stores more glycogen to use as FUEL. Although, as you become more accustomed to exercise, your muscles begin to need less glycogen storage to maintain the same level of energy output.
Alcohol
Alcohol isn’t processed the same way as other beverages and foods, so it can take longer for your body to eliminate, this process also slows down the digestive system, which can retain water.
Beyond that, alcohol contains extra calories that you may not be accounting for in your overall diet. You may also pay less attention to your overall calorie intake while drinking alcoholic beverages.
So, what do we recommend? Looking at your scale reading as just another form of data. In the case of weight loss, look at the weekly of fortnightly averages, and follow the trends in scale readings, rather than focusing on one scale number.
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