‘Why does my weight always go up and down?” This is a question we get asked a lot from our clients.

My answer is always “If your weight doesn’t fluctuate you’re not from this planet”. I’d actually be more worried or sceptical if you’re weight didn’t up and down all the time.

Now there are many reasons to why your weight will fluctuate, so let me explain a few;

DID YOU WEIGH YOURSELF AT THE SAME TIME IN THE SAME SPOT?

Now this is a common mistake that is made by many – as an example if you weigh yourself on Monday at 7am in the bathroom but then Tuesday you weigh yourself at 12pm in the kitchen there is a lot of room for error.

First of all you are fasted on the Monday plus you have just been to the toilet – but on the Tuesday you have already had breakfast and a litre of water (1 litre of water = 1kg on the scales) and have moved the scales to a different location (could mess the calibration up). This means you may potentially weigh in 1/2kg heavier, but if you have not had the education you will compare these 2 and wonder where you’re going wrong.

The key things to remember is that you weigh at the same time everyday (if possible), keep the scales in the same position every time you weigh and finally go to the toilet before you weigh in (makes a surprisingly big difference).

{These photos were taken just 2 minutes apart. Yes I drank a lot of water that day}

HOW MANY CARBOHYDRATES WERE CONSUMED THE DAY BEFORE?

Now this is something that most will not know, but were here to provide you with some education.

Did you know for every 1 gram of carbohydrates consumed 3-4g of water is retained? So as an example on Monday you consume 100 grams of carbs (300-400 grams of water retained) but on the Tuesday you consume 300g of carbs (900-1200 grams of water retained).

This means that you could be carrying anything from 0.5-1kg extra of retained water on the Wednesday from your carbohydrate intake alone, so another reason why you shouldn’t worry.

THE MENSTRUAL CYCLE

Now this is a very important topic to discuss for the ladies reading this, your monthly cycle can most definitely have an impact on the scales fluctuating.

First of all you are seeing a lot of hormonal changes which means more water will be retained (not going to bore you with the specifics) and more often than not around this time of the month food cravings and overeating occurs which is ultimately going to have an effect on the scales.

I’m going to share a tip on how to track your scale weight a bit more accurately during your menstrual cycle. First of all you are best comparing weeks out of each cycle; for example work out your week 3 average scale weight for cycle 1 and then compare that with week 3 average scale weight for cycle 2.

This will allow you to make the necessary adjustments to your calorie intake and activity levels.

OTHER REASONS FOR WEIGHT FLUCTUATIONS!

• SODIUM INTAKE
• STRESS LEVELS
• SLEEP
• THE TIME YOU ATE YOUR LAST MEAL OF THE DAY
• ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION (DEHYDRATION)
• USING DIFFERENT SCALES

TAKE HOMES

The main thing I want people to ultimately take away from this is that scale weight actually doesn’t really matter!

You have just seen all of the reasons why it can change and its a hell of a lot. So lets start using scale weight as a data point and try to take all emotion away from it (this will take time but can be done!).

Measure your progress in these ways;

• Progress Pictures
• Circumference Measurements
• How confident you are
• How happy you’re feeling
• How much you are enjoying training
• Your relationship with food

I could keep on going but you get the point, don’t just rely on the scale weight to be happy!

I really hope this is going to be beneficial to a lot of people and I really really hope this can kickstart your healthy relationship with the scales. If you have any questions in the meantime don’t hesitate to contact me!

Contact:

Ben Mannion

benmannion1@hotmail.com

www.instagram.com/ben_rikfitdc