Most of you have probably heard this at least once before. The scale does not deserve to occupy any room in your house, even your bathroom. That being said, I have two of them. And I weigh almost every day.
With a trip to the Arnold Sports Festival and one or two photo shoots in my very near future, I have had a very (VERY) clean diet for the past couple of weeks. No cheat days, no cheat meals, no samples of my holiday baked goods...nothing. So when I have been weighing each day, I fully expect the scale to move in the downward direction, or at least to stay the same.
Today, it was up two pounds. Up. TWO pounds. I ate 125 calories under my goal yesterday. A few months ago, this would've launched me into a very negative frame of mind. Clearly this eating plan isn't working. I guess I might as well have a cheat meal since the scale isn't moving. I must be doing something wrong. I guess I need to drop to 800 calories a day instead of 1400-1600.
But I know the reality is that things like water retention, bowel movements (or lack thereof), muscle gain, hormones, etc., can all impact that doggone scale. So today, when I saw that the scale was up, I did have that initial disappointment, but it was immediately followed by thoughts of, "It doesn't matter; I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing and it will probably be back down tomorrow. If not, no biggie. Full steam ahead."
If you keep your scale, that's fine. But please understand that it is a tool It should not dictate your thoughts or your actions. Don't give it that much power. I use a variety of tools to measure my progress: the scale, calipers, measuring tape, and most importantly, photos. THOSE tell the real truth.
So keep it in perspective, and if you choose to only use one tool to measure your progress, go with photos, not the scale.
