Why Do I Weigh Myself Every Day?
The scale is the best ally to stop being obese, period. I have no doubt about it!
It shows us the truth, naked and raw, in good times and bad. Regardless of our state of mind, willpower, and level of hope, a number is just a number, and we can't change it.
The immediate daily feedback it provides allows us to assess the progress we're making in "real time."
Morning weight is the reflection of the previous day, for better or for worse. Having this information is crucial so that we can customize the plan much more quickly than would otherwise be possible. The more information we have, the better! We'll be able to understand and refine the program more effectively.
The most important information isn't exactly the number of kilograms we have, but rather their daily variation.
Have you noticed that weight fluctuates from one day to the next? The variation can be more than 1% of our weight!
If you weigh yourself every morning, before eating or drinking anything, you'll notice that your weight oscillates. In my case, the variation between two consecutive days can be over 1 kg!
When I started recording my weight and saw the fluctuations, I thought the scale might be broken... but it wasn't!
The fluctuation in morning weight shows the impact of something that might have happened the previous day in a crucial process for overcoming obesity: inflammation.
Chronic inflammatory state is unmistakably linked to obesity, and there's a direct relationship between the two: as obesity increases, inflammation also increases, and when inflammation increases, obesity increases in turn.
Fortunately, the relationship works the other way around as well: when one decreases, the other does too.
When there's an inflammatory peak, our body responds with the activation of various mechanisms that result in weight gain, both through greater fluid retention and increased adipose tissue.
Whether due to increased vascular permeability that "shifts water from vessels to the extracellular space," the effect that inflammatory markers can have on salt reabsorption by the kidneys, or the increase in macrophages within fat, the end result is the same: weight gain.
Similarly, if inflammation decreases, these mechanisms normalize, and weight decreases.
The major advantage of monitoring weight daily is that we can evaluate whether we had an inflammatory peak the previous day or not.
Ceasing to be obese involves identifying and eliminating sources of inflammation that could promote weight gain, hindering our success.
The body's different reactions to inflammatory spikes are immediate enough that the measurement of morning weight reflects whether there were any of these spikes the previous day.
The problem is that these increases in inflammation can have numerous origins:
What we eat;
When we eat;
The type of physical activity;
The quantity and quality of sleep;
Levels of stress;
…an so on.
There are some obvious causes that have a widespread impact on all obese individuals, such as consuming refined carbohydrates or poor-quality fats.
It's more than obvious that their consumption will cause an increase in weight for more than a handful of reasons. Daily monitoring wouldn't be necessary to evaluate this effect.
The issue is that not all causes are as obvious and common as carbohydrates. Most factors that can lead to an acute increase in inflammation are highly individual and vary greatly from person to person:
The types of foods we eat;
Meal timings;
Sleep hours, or the time we go to bed;
The specific type of physical activity we engage in.
Weighing ourselves every morning allows us to look at what happened differently the previous day that might have caused this impact, whether positive or negative.
Over time, we begin to see patterns and responses.
When I started recording weight, I found it strange that weight could increase by 1 kg from one day to the next, only to drop that kilo after 2 days.
I was certain it wasn't my diet; I was following the plan to the letter. But I couldn't understand what was happening.
On a particular weekend, coincidentally and by chance, I ate exactly the same thing on both days: the same meals at the same times, with no variation. Despite this, I gained 1 kg on one day and lost weight on the other.
The explanation had to be something that had been different from one day to the next.
The only thing I could identify was the time I went to bed!
Realizing that sleep had such a direct and pronounced impact on my weight was an important moment in my journey.
The weight hadn't increased due to a difference in the hours of sleep I had gotten, which had been comparable, but rather due to when I had gone to bed:
On the day I gained weight, I went to bed at midnight.
On the day I lost weight, I went to bed at 10 PM.
This is how I discovered the missing piece to complete the puzzle!
Reviewing my weight records, I noticed that weight spikes occurred approximately every 7 days, following weekends or weekdays when I had gone to bed later.
After delving into the science that could underlie this effect, I came across various possibly associated mechanisms:
Cortisol produced at night due to not adhering to our biological rhythm can lead to increased fat cell production, resulting in weight gain;
Another effect of cortisol is the increased reabsorption of salt in the kidneys, leading to greater water retention;
Yet another effect is the impact on blood glucose and insulin levels, which can contribute to increased fat tissue.
Knowing this had practical implications in my daily life and weight loss process:
On one hand, I stopped worrying about gaining weight after going to bed later. I knew the reason, and that reason wasn't negligence or non-compliance on my part;
On the other hand, I started paying more attention to my sleep, particularly the time I go to bed.
The great advantage of weighing ourselves every day is being able to adjust the plan to our reality, understand what we're doing right and wrong, and correct course to achieve the results we want and deserve.
Once we start doing it, we come to love the daily feedback the scale provides!
After nearly 5 years, I still do it every day, and when I don't, I feel uncertain, unsure if I'm acting as I should to continue on the path I want to pursue.
25/07/2023
Posted originally - 27/03/2021(https://www.cristinasales.pt/blog)