I'm breaking up

Good morning folks!! 

I've been in a fight with my scale for a couple of weeks now and I've finally decided that I've had enough!!  I'm breaking up with my scale!!

Initially, when I lost weight, I focused on the scale. I was thrilled to see the numbers decreasing!! Weighing in every day became a habit. I've watched those numbers fluctuate daily for 6 years!! I told myself that frequent weigh ins helped keep me accountable. I have become dependent on that scale, it is my drug!

Recently, I noticed my weight trending up. Time to make a change!!  So, I cleaned up my diet and stepped up the training and I saw some progress. The numbers were going down again. But, a couple of weeks ago, something odd happened. It was a Friday and I was pretty pleased with the number I saw on the scale. But, on Monday, when I stepped on that sucker, it showed a 5 pound gain! Now, I know you can fluctuate a little bit, but 5 pounds in 2 days didn't seem accurate. So, I paid close attention to my diet, drank plenty of water, and sweated like a fiend that week but alas, the numbers didn't budge!!  That's when I decided to break up with my scale.

Frequent weighing can be misleading and ultimately lead to frustration and discouragement. can be misleading and ultimately lead to frustration and discouragement. Fluctuations that occur naturally can lead to drastic, unhealthy eating behaviors, such as skipping several meals to get immediate results on the scale. When daily weigh-ins don't meet expectations, dieters may avoid the scale completely or totally give up and go on a food binge.

Daily weight changes from one day to the next are mostly a reflection of changes in body water. Fluid shifts happen every day. A small percentage of daily weight changes could be fat. Unfortunately, a scale can't differentiate the weight of bone, fluid, muscle and fat. We've all heard the myth that "muscle weighs more than fat" Well, that isn't really accurate. 5 pounds = 5 pounds. The fact of the matter is that lean muscle is more compact and takes up less space than fat.

So, I've decided to take drastic measures to change my thinking. I'm putting the scale in the closet effective immediately. I'm going to focus more on fat burning, muscle building workouts. I'm going to try to rely more on my tape measure and what I see in the mirror rather than the scale. I'm going to have to learn to celebrate the NSV (non scale victories) such as less flab and changes in my body fat index. Its going to be a hard habit to break, but its necessary. Currently, my plan is to challenge myself to this for a month. I'm hoping that this paradigm shift will yield positive results.

Do you weigh everyday??