"To Weigh or Not to Weigh"
This is a guest post by my better half and founder of www.First1Fit.com - Jim White has great insight coming from a guy who's body, food and fitness has run the gambit over his 40 years on this planet. He has now settled into a healthier mindset, philosophy and approach.
To weigh or not to weigh... that is the question! So the second most common question I'm asked is how often someone should weigh themselves, if at all. Some feel that they are not interested in losing pounds, but rather inches.. Well the laws of physics state that to lose volume (the space we take up) we have to decrease mass (for this example, our weight). Simply put, unless your fat is made up of magic dust, you will have to lose weight to lose body fat. So this being said, if I were to call someone for directions to somewhere I would expect their first question to be "where are you starting from?" So you have to have a starting weight in order to determine if the things you are doing are having a positive effect or not. Now how often should you weigh? Well I first ask if they are journaling their meals (you are writing down what your eating, aren't you?). If they are then I feel every other day is good, you can compare the changes, either up or down, to the calories and types of food in your journal.. if you aren't writing it down then your guess is as good as mine, again if you don't know where you are in your journey then it is hard, and frustrating trying to get to your goal. While on the subject of weighing, are you weighing and measuring your portions and ingredients of your meals? Because "a little bit", "Mmm.. 'bout that much" and "a drizzle" are not units of measure, and if you feel you are eating "Super clean" and working out harder that ever, and your not seeing the changes you were planning for (you have a plan right?) then you are probably getting more of something than you think you are. My tips: 1. Get an education on nutrition.. you don't know as much as you think you do (myself included, I'm always learning) 2. Have a Plan. 3. Weigh and measure your food. EVERYTHING! 4. Write it down. EVERYTHING! you'll be surprised what sneaks in there. 5. Make feeling better and living better your goal, not eating good for 6 days so you can have a cheat day. Rewards for clean eating should never be food related, go buy an outfit, or treat yourself to a spa day instead. 6. Never settle for half of your goal, you're worth everything you want for yourself.