why the scale lies...

[hollygrove]

hello all i have never posted here before but visit daily. i have noticed a lot of posts about scale frustration and found this info to be quite helpful. i have seen other posts similar but just thought it might help someone to hear it again... "

thank you all for being an insparation to me! i have gone from 202 on april 1st to 174 this morning on may 18th ! i definently could not have done it without all of the wisdom i gain from all of you wonderful people... lots of love.

"
We’ve been told over an over again that daily weighing is unnecessary, yet many of us can’t resist peeking at that number every morning. If you just can’t bring yourself to toss the scale in the trash, you should definitely familiarize yourself with the factors that influence it’s readings. From water retention to glycogen storage and changes in lean body mass, daily weight fluctuations are normal. They are not indicators of your success or failure. Once you understand how these mechanisms work, you can free yourself from the daily battle with the bathroom scale.

Water makes up about 60% of total body mass. Normal fluctuations in the body’s water content can send scale-watchers into a tailspin if they don’t understand what’s happening. Two factors influencing water retention are water consumption and salt intake. Strange as it sounds, the less water you drink, the more of it your body retains. If you are even slightly dehydrated your body will hang onto it’s water supplies with a vengeance, possibly causing the number on the scale to inch upward. The solution is to drink plenty of water.

Excess salt (sodium) can also play a big role in water retention. A single teaspoon of salt contains over 2,000 mg of sodium. Generally, we should only eat between 1,000 and 3,000 mg of sodium a day, so it’s easy to go overboard. Sodium is a sneaky substance. You would expect it to be most highly concentrated in salty chips, nuts, and crackers. However, a food doesn’t have to taste salty to be loaded with sodium. A half cup of instant pudding actually contains nearly four times as much sodium as an ounce of salted nuts, 460 mg in the pudding versus 123 mg in the nuts. The more highly processed a food is, the more likely it is to have a high sodium content. That’s why, when it comes to eating, it’s wise to stick mainly to the basics: fruits, vegetables, lean meat, beans, and whole grains. Be sure to read the labels on canned foods, boxed mixes, and frozen dinners.

Women may also retain several pounds of water prior to menstruation. This is very common and the weight will likely disappear as quickly as it arrives. Pre-menstrual water-weight gain can be minimized by drinking plenty of water, maintaining an exercise program, and keeping high-sodium processed foods to a minimum.
Another factor that can influence the scale is glycogen. Think of glycogen as a fuel tank full of stored carbohydrate. Some glycogen is stored in the liver and some is stored the muscles themselves. This energy reserve weighs more than a pound and it’s packaged with 3-4 pounds of water when it’s stored. Your glycogen supply will shrink during the day if you fail to take in enough carbohydrates. As the glycogen supply shrinks you will experience a small imperceptible increase in appetite and your body will restore this fuel reserve along with it’s associated water. It’s normal to experience glycogen and water weight shifts of up to 2 pounds per day even with no changes in your calorie intake or activity level. These fluctuations have nothing to do with fat loss, although they can make for some unnecessarily dramatic weigh-ins if you’re prone to obsessing over the number on the scale.

Otherwise rational people also tend to forget about the actual weight of the food they eat. For this reason, it’s wise to weigh yourself first thing in the morning before you’ve had anything to eat or drink. Swallowing a bunch of food before you step on the scale is no different than putting a bunch of rocks in your pocket. The 5 pounds that you gain right after a huge dinner is not fat. It’s the actual weight of everything you’ve had to eat and drink. The added weight of the meal will be gone several hours later when you’ve finished digesting it. "

[chinadoll]

Seems like this needs to be posted once a month because so many newbies run into the scale issue. And it doesn't hurt the rest of us to be reminded either.

[SunnySmile501]

why the scale lies... ????

Because it is evil and possessed! It likes playing with us! It probably gets bored sitting in the bathroom alone, so it decides to create a little excitement by making us shriek in frustration or cry with disappointment.

[Georgiana]

Originally Posted by SunnySmile501

Because it is evil and possessed! It likes playing with us! It probably gets bored sitting in the bathroom alone, so it decides to create a little excitement by making us shriek in frustration or cry with disappointment.

Now you tell me, Sunny? Guess who's gonna sleep in my bed tonight?















To avoid other answers: my scale.

[akash]

amazing info....thanks for posting this. I was having problem with cheese intake and diet pepsi, guess sodium was the devil.............

[hollygrove]

im so happy that this helped someone! ... i had the same problem with sodium too! i cut down on cheese .. now i have it as a treat a couple days a week and i stopped with the soda and it made a huge difference for me! i was stuck at 180 for awhile and then i read other posts about cheese and soda, made changes and then whoosh! woke up with a nice 3 pound whooshie and the weight has kept moving down ever since

[Georgiana]

Originally Posted by akash

amazing info....thanks for posting this. I was having problem with cheese intake and diet pepsi, guess sodium was the devil.............

Diet Pepsi... you mean the stuff with aspartame in it? That's probably what stalled you. Cheese has something like 200 mg of sodium per ounce, so you get maximum 600-800 mg of Na from cheese. Unless you eat a lot of processed meat (bacon, ham, sausages, etc.) or add a lot of regular salt in cooking or are sensitive to sodium, 3-4 oz of cheese should not mess up your weight loss. There are way more chances for aspartame to do it though.

Drop the diet sodas and happy losing!