Guest Post: Walling The Scale, by Roy Cohen of Emerge Fit

Today’s post is a guest article from Roy Cohen.  You can read more about Roy over at his site, Emerge Fitness.

Walling The Scales - (an unscientific study)

I speak often of how much I hate the scale for it’s cunning ability to deceive, discourage, and demoralize those who don’t use it correctly. The scale is the true serpent of fitness temptation.

The scale, like weaponry can be a great and powerful tool when used correctly. Also like weaponry, it can penetrate the fitness psyche with such force and abrasive consequences that a would be fitness success story never realizes her or his potential for the damage that is done to the inner fitness self .

I only recently purchased a scale for my studio, and at the request of a good friend and client. I have lived without a scale for the past 6 years because knowing my bodyweight or that of my clients has not been my concern. I can see my abs, I can still wear the same jeans I wore in high school, and I can run faster than my kid – why should my bodyweight matter? Still, the scale can be an effective tool when used correctly so I heeded my friend’s request and made the purchase.

Despite the presence of a scale in my studio, I have asked no student to step on it but one. It gathers dust in the corner and lives a lonely unused scale life — poor thing. I’m okay with that though. Again like weaponry, a forgotten scale is like a forgotten land mine — watch where you step.

With regard to accuracy, it’s a good scale I suppose – I paid nearly $200 for it, so it should be accurate. It’s nice too, my little scale. Aesthetically pleasing – lots of chrome, and an almost 1940s art-deco look to it, though it is digital. Chrome, and circular, the scale caught my eye quite a bit in the beginning. Still, I resisted the temptation to step upon it – I need not know.

After 6 months of passing it by and never being tempted, the metaphoric snake got the better of me, and I took a bite of the chrome apple in my studio – and several weeks ago I gave in to scale temptation; 172 lbs. I thought nothing of it because the last time I had been on a scale nearly a year earlier, I was 172 lbs. See? No need for a scale.

Well, a couple of days had passed and wouldn’t you know, I decided to step on my scale again to confirm my 172 lbs. – oops, 176lbs. Wow, whatta fat tub lard I am, huh? Four pounds in two days? It was on. Since I could think of no significant departures from my systematic eating behavior, a little more cardio would be in order until 172 lbs. was back in my command. I made no eating changes at all, simply wanted to get back to my 172 lb. home by burning extra calories.

Three days later I stepped on the little pedestal of temptation once again, and boom, 169 lbs. Wow again, a little extra cardio served me very well it seemed. Seven pounds down in three days? Very cool, this meant I could eat more to get back to my beloved 172. Carne asada burrito with extra guac, here I come!

And there I went, 175 lbs. Came and went for three or four days in this fashion; more food/less food, more cardio/less cardio, more bodyweight/less bodyweight. Then it hit me and I realized I was caught in the deadly rip-current of scale ebb and flow. To reason my way out of this, and support my commitment to a non-scale way of life for me and my students, yesterday I chose to weigh myself 5 times. Here we go:

6:00am: 171 — 10:00am: 174 — 2:00pm: 173 — 5:00pm: 176 — 9:00pm: 173

In a day, I gained and lost a total of 10 lbs.

Fluids mostly, and digesting foods. Sweat lost from hard cardio = weight lost. Forty-four ounce cup of coffee twice = weight gained. Food in/food released = pounds gained/pounds released. For these reasons, I will always suggest that should you choose to use a scale in your weight loss effort, weigh yourself no more than every 3-4 weeks. Allow enough time between weigh-ins to demonstrate real weight loss – separate and distinct from the 10 pounds which can be gained and lost in a single day.

My experience yesterday, above all other reasons is why I recognize how deceiving the scale can be. This is simply to serve as a non-scientific reminder that even an educated and disciplined fitness enthusiast can fall victim to the scale.

When it comes to the scale, it’s not what’s on the scale display which matters most, it’s who’s standing on the scale — and what they did to ensure improvement. Be well, and be well and clear of the scale.

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Gal’s Note - I completely agree with Roy.  As a little experiment, I have been weighing myself every day for the past few weeks and the information I have seen is pretty much useless.  Weigh in once a month if you must but daily weigh ins do nothing except mislead and demotivate.

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