Part of our ultimate goal in doing all this habit changing is to lose weight, of course. We’ve talked about making goals and keeping our eye on them, and how to set achievable benchmarks for ourselves as we do what we can to make ourselves healthier. Part of that is the practice of weighing in and seeing what our progress has been. Unfortunately, this is another area where people too frequently miss out on developing a good habit, and find instead discouragement and frustration.
The tricky thing is, sometimes the scale doesn’t have good news. Sometimes we stand on it and we don’t see the decrease we want, or, worse, we see we’ve picked up a pound somewhere despite all our hard effort. This is hard to take sometimes, and is one of the biggest causes of giving up. However, just like all other problems, there is an explanation and a habit that can help solve it.
The Weighing Habit Step 1 – Picking the Time
The first problem that tends to come up is setting the wrong time length for our weigh-in sessions. Eager to see results, we often start by weighing in every day. On the surface this feels logical. After all, we keep a daily food journal, make daily goals into weekly milestones, and try to plan daily meals for ourselves. However, body weight takes a long time to settle properly, and can actually fluctuate from day to day. So even though what we see as an extra pound we’ve gained between today and yesterday might not be a permanent thing, seeing it there causes discouragement.
Instead, set your interval for one week. Don’t even look at the scale in the intervening days! A full week is enough time for your body to begin responding to changes, so waiting a week lets your measurements on the scale have more impact. That way the short term swings and dips don’t give you the wrong impression, and you gain an idea of the way your weight is trending. Also, make it the same day and time every week, to establish firmly in your mind that this is a habit to be followed, not something you squeeze in when you can.
The Weighing Habit Step 2 – Treat it as Information
Information is neither good nor bad; it’s just something we can use
Related posts:
- Losing Weight – Discourage Discouragement
One thing we all really understand is that dieting is hard. It isn’t just a case of ‘not eating so much’ or ‘showing a little willpower.’ Our bodies have been evolving over millions of years into very efficient energy storing machines. There wasn’t always as much food as there presently... - Losing Weight – A Body in Motion
Newton tells us that a body in motion will stay in motion unless acted upon; likewise, a body at rest will stay at rest until acted upon. This gives us a powerful metaphor for the difficulties of getting into a proper, healthy exercise habit that can help shed weight and... - Losing Weight – STOP and Shed Inches
One of the most interesting truths is that we are our own worst enemies. We can be full of confidence, exuberance, and encouragement for our friends and families. We’ll exhort them to quit smoking, support them in taking the time to exercise, and compliment them on even the slightest loss... - Losing Weight – A Pattern of Portion Control
Managing our weight can be a tricky proposition. Unhealthy food choices surround us, we don’t always have the opportunity to exercise, and society’s system of three meals a day can send our metabolism into fits. Finding a way to take control is one of the most important steps that we... - Losing Weight – Counting and Setting Goals
Effective weight loss hinges on goal setting. While weight loss itself is our final goal, the end product we want to achieve, our weight loss journey isn’t just a one-step process. If it were that easy everyone would likely have done it already. The truth is that the ideal weight... - Losing Weight and Building Confidence
Having confidence in your goal is important. It’s tough to stick to something we don’t believe we can do, after all. We’ve talked in other articles about how easy it is to get frustrated, and about controlling negative thoughts in our effort to build up good and healthy habits. We’ve... - Losing Weight – Redirecting Your Snacking Habit
Snacking is a pretty natural impulse. While we may be accustomed to three meals a day as a standard practice, our body is actually functioning nonstop. It will process food whenever it’s put into the system, and it uses up energy without ceasing. Even when you’re asleep, your brain is... - Losing Weight: Redefine Full in Four Steps
Overeating is about more than reckless epic binges or always ordering the double large portion from your favorite restaurant. In many cases it can actually be a very subtle occurrence, done one small step at a time rather than in a big and noticeable way. For example, do you frequently... - Losing Weight – 3 Steps to Mix Socializing with Dieting
We are a social and habitual species, so it’s natural that we build up patterns of behavior related to socializing. We go out with friends and have our little rituals, such as eating dinner out, having a few drinks, or getting ice cream at the corner shop. While these calorie-centered... - Losing Weight – The Power of Practicing No
As a species, we are naturally inclined to say ‘yes’ to others. Unfortunately, sometimes we find ourselves saying yes even if it sets us back on our own goals and efforts to build good, healthy habits. For better or worse, saying yes and no have become complex matters. We don’t... - Losing Weight – Take Control of Late Night Snacking
First of all let’s get something straight: We have all been there. It gets late at night, we’ve had a long day and we feel those hunger pangs hit us. We don’t want to make a big meal, so we reach for that snack instead. Of course when it’s late... - Losing Weight – Taming Your Trigger Foods
There are certain things we just cannot stop eating once we’ve begun. A bag of chips, bread, a favorite chocolate or candy, whatever it is that sets us off makes us keep eating until we feel over-full or finish the bag. These are what we call trigger foods, and they... - Losing Weight – Share the Health with Family-Friendly Habits
Whether we know it or not, we’re our kids’ most important teachers. They’ll likely spend far more time with us in their formative years than anyone else, and everything we do is an opportunity for them to learn. Unfortunately, sometimes they learn from our mistakes just as readily as our... - Losing Weight – The Addiction of Comfort Food
Its very name is appealing – comfort food. What could be more wonderful than a food that helps us feel better? Almost everyone can name something that they eat when they’re just feeling sour or sad. Chinese take-out, chocolate cake, raspberry ice cream, banana pancakes and many others make the... - Did You Lose Water Weight or Fat?
Many diets make you lose water weight! It’s a dirty secret that the weight loss industry would rather keep under wraps. You’ve seen it thousands of times – a brand new weight loss product comes on the market promising to help you lose huge amounts of weight in a very...