00:14
Hey team, welcome to this mini Mikkipedia episode. This week on the podcast, I just wanna chat a little bit about using the scales to measure progress. And we tend to have a love-hate relationship with them. We love the scales when they're going in the right direction, whatever that looks like to you. And we absolutely hate them when they are showing us numbers that we don't wanna be seeing.

00:42
One of the most frequent questions I get asked is, you know, how often should I weigh myself in order to determine progress? I think one of the first important things to do is actually consider things that affect the scales that have nothing to do with fat gain. And interestingly, this time last year, actually, I must have been like super humid or something like that. And because of the weather.

01:10
I literally weigh 2 kilos heavier. I woke up one morning and then just jumped on the scales and I weigh myself quite frequently now. I always used to avoid it. And I was like 2 kilos up. And intuitively, of course, as you would, I'm sure, expect, I knew it wasn't fat gain, but I found it super interesting. And I actually felt really like I was retaining a lot of fluid. And I think actually, looking back.

01:40
that it was something to do with the change in the humidity or the pressure in the atmosphere or something like that because that can actually impact on your scale weight and I do see that time and again and this actually lasted for like about a week and then I went to the bathroom quite a bit and actually that I ended up weighing what I would normally weigh. That was just a great illustration.

02:07
for me actually to see what impact the environment, but other things can have on that scale weight. So let's walk through these things now. And I think it's super important to be aware of them, particularly if you use scales as a measure of progress. So anything that elevates your cortisol can cause a jump in scales. And this is because when cortisol is elevated,

02:37
sort of water retention. So this would be if you are feeling highly stressed, if you are lacking in sleep, which will obviously increase cortisol, anxiety again increases cortisol. All of these things can change how your body retains fluid and thus can change what you see on the scales. And usually it is actually all boils down to that change in water retention and

03:05
You know, we are 70% water. So it makes sense that anything that affects our water balance is going to affect that pool of gravity on the scales. So carbohydrate. If you've eaten a ton of carbohydrate or more carbohydrate than usual the night before, we store carbs in our muscles and for every gram of carbohydrate we store, we store an additional three grams of water.

03:34
We tend to weigh more after that meal, which is great if you're an athlete and it's a good way to ensure hydration if you like, or help hydration status during training, but not so good if you are reliant on this scale weight to determine your mood for the day and you see that it has increased. And I have this conversation a lot with my clients because obviously as a person who advocates for a lower carb,

04:03
diet approach generally speaking, and of course with Monday's matter and with my flow plan, these are both lower carb plans. Whenever anyone has like a metabolic reset meal, which is what I would determine a quote unquote free meal or treat meal, they generally weigh more in the morning from the night before. In addition to the carbohydrate, a higher sodium meal, which will pull water into our cells, allowing us to hold more water.

04:33
will also result in a higher scale weight. So soy sauce or restaurant based food, a lot of cheese, it's not necessarily the fat in the cheese, but cheese is high sodium. So anything that's gonna increase that sodium, sauces particularly, can result in an increase in that scale weight the next morning. Something I see a lot with my athletes, particularly my endurance athletes, is they do a ton of training during the weekend, as you do.

05:02
During the week you might sort of have some double days, but generally speaking you train less and then it's in the weekend when you might go out for four or five hours or have a couple of back to back sessions. Now, if you don't take care of your hydration status, of course you may weigh less, but actually a lot of people weigh more on Monday morning, which can be demoralizing for the athlete who is in addition to training for an event,

05:31
Also trying to lean up a little bit. Obviously these are two sort of separate goals and that would be like chasing two rabbits at once. Might not necessarily be successful with both of them. However, I know many athletes are in that situation and it's that inflammation that is caused by micro tears from the training that means that our body can hold more water and thus we weigh more. So

05:58
Interestingly, when I was chatting to Dan Plews, he was saying that during his tape a week for Ironman back in the day, he would weigh about 5 kilos less, which seems a significant amount, but as his body rested and as he was temporary going into his event, he was feeling

06:25
it allowed the tissue to settle down. So inflammation can definitely impact on what you see on the scales. And that would be the same for anyone with any inflammatory condition as well, or an injury, for example, that will also could potentially bump up that scale weight. The timing of your food. Obviously this makes sense, but if we eat later than normal,

06:51
We have less time for the food to digest and we can weigh more in the morning. So if you have like a training session that runs late into the evening and you're eating your dinner at eight o'clock as opposed to six o'clock, if you're out at a barbecue and you don't eat till later or you continue to eat through, you know, until nine or 10 o'clock, that's not uncommon. These things are gonna impact on what you see on the scale.

07:16
the next morning. So it's not necessarily the food that you eat, it's the timing of that food. And also of course, fiber. So when I have, so in my Monday's matter program and in flow in the man plan, it's based around my foundation diet approach, but we do have those different techniques in it to help with effective fat loss. In Monday's matter, we have the protein-sparing modified fast, which is just protein, so you have no vegetables.

07:46
on that day and no carbs and also in flow and in the man plan you have a very low calorie day because it's based on that 5-2 approach. On both of these plans when you weigh yourself the next morning you're going to weigh less and it isn't just because you've created a calorie deficit and you're burning fat, it's because you have less food going in and you've got less fiber taking up space needing to be digested in your stomach.

08:16
So when you have less fiber, you're going to weigh less on the scales actually. And some people can also experience it if they, you know, generally have a higher fiber diet, and then you're out of your usual environment, and you're eating stuff on the run, and you're not responsible, or you can't control your food as much, and you're not getting as many vegetables or salads and that kind of thing in, then you can actually weigh less even if the food quality you're eating isn't necessarily as good.

08:45
for that week. I mean, it all balances out over time. But certainly that fiber can really impact on what you see on the scales. Alcohol is an interesting one because in one way it can, for some people, ramp up those inflammatory processes, creating water retention so you wake up and you feel heavier and sluggish and thus that inflammation can increase the scale weight.

09:13
but alcohol can dehydrate you and thus it can impact the other way and you can actually end up weighing less. In some way, it may depend on what else you're having along with the alcohol. It can go one of both ways with alcohol. It can impact on your scale weight. Obviously consuming too many fluids before bed, that's gonna impact on your scale weight. During the menstrual cycle, that is gonna impact on scale weight and I probably don't need to tell you that, but

09:42
A lot of people can experience upwards of two or three kilos gained within that week with our higher progesterone and estrogen levels increasing that water retention. And I mentioned my experience with climate changes, changes in atmospheric pressure, changes in the humidity level that can impact on what you see on the scales.

10:12
then you're going to lose a lot more fluid that can impact on the scales as well. So there are many things which impact on what you see on the scales that have nothing to do with your fat gain. You know, whether or not you use the scales, it's entirely up to you, but they can be so helpful. However, if you view it as just a data collection exercise and

10:38
One of the tips that I suggest people do is instead of avoiding the scales and only weighing like once a month, turn that on its head, weigh yourself daily at the same time every day, immediately after waking, after you've been to the bathroom, and view it as a data collection exercise and then take the average across the week.

11:01
The important thing is that average number across the week, and it's trending in the direction that you expect it to be, not the day-to-day numbers, because as I've just talked you through, they can vary wildly depending on the situation. You also wanna use a digital scale that works and the same scale as well, because it's pretty meaningless if you weigh yourself on five different scales across five different days of the week.

11:29
because they are all calibrated differently and they will give you a different response or a different number. So you don't wanna have any food or drink, you don't want any of that on board, where you're self naked, after you use the bathroom, using the same scale. And of course, if you get to the point where you dread weighing in daily and the number that you see ultimately impacts negatively on your mood and your self-worth

11:59
it then dictates what kind of day you're going to have and what kind of person you're going to be during that day. You don't really want to use the scale as your only measure, obviously. But if you can get past that and see it, as I said, as a data collection method, then this is only going to be a useful tool in your toolbox. However, the way that your clothes fit, what you see in the mirror,

12:29
of your limbs and importantly how you feel about what you're doing. These are all super important kind of aspects of it as well. A lot of people I know rely too much on the scales and they're feeling amazing. Their clothes are fitting great. Then they jump on the scales and it's not the number that they expected. And they feel really disheartened and disappointed. And you do not want to be in that situation. So if you really can't get past the.

12:57
emotional turmoil of weighing yourself, then don't. You do not have to. However, if you can and you do it daily and you view it with curiosity and you have it in your head the things that have gone on before, like the hard training session or the sleepless nights or the stress at work or the lack of fiber in your day and how this impacts, then you are able to understand far more

13:26
what that scale is sort of telling you. And then you just look at a trend, week on week, month on month. And if it's trending in the direction you want it, then that's great. A final thing, well not maybe a final thing about scales, is that I wouldn't read too much into the body fat percentage that you get from those body percentage numbers that they can spit out. And we've got one as well here at home, but it is fairly meaningless. So you really do just want to use

13:55
what that actual number is when you use it. And if you're following an approach that you expect should be moving you in a particular direction and it's not, then a plateau isn't necessarily like, you know, two days or three days or four days or even a week, but week on week, if things aren't changing, then you do wanna change it up. However, you can get...

14:20
stools on that sort of what you're seeing on the scales that can last for a few weeks before things move again. So you need sort of time as well and that's another reason why using the scales can be really helpful in terms of looking at that trend but also for anyone that is like trying to improve their body composition and is following a calorie deficit approach like one of my plans it's important

14:49
the fact that you're doing the things that are leading to the outcome you want. So you're enjoying the process and you're getting wins from those non-scale victories as much as you might be the scale victories. So there's so many things that need to come together in order for you to be successful and it's very good practice to be mindful of that stuff as you're going along. So the scales do matter but they're not the only thing. This weight on the scales is an outcome.

15:18
of your success doing all of the things that you're putting into place that will lead to your desired weight outcome. And actually the final thing that I will say is that a lot of people I speak to when they come to me, they have a number in mind that equates to success with fat loss. Because generally speaking, that's 80% of what I do is talk to people about fat loss. However, that number might be 15 years old, might be pre-children, might be...

15:45
you know, a number that you were in, you know, your university of your college years. So one, is that realistic? Do you really wanna be in that same sort of body that you were 15 years ago? And two, that doesn't necessarily match up with the body that you think you want either. So some people can feel really good about the way their clothes are fitting in general, you know, after they've gone through a fat loss phase and how they feel.

16:13
But they might still be like, oh, but I haven't reached 70 kilos, which is what I was, you know, 10 years ago before I had my children. Really doesn't matter. Actually, what matters is how you feel, of course, how you look for a lot of people that is important. And I think it's important to recognize that, hey, that's actually fine to have as a goal. How strong you are, how capable you feel, how fit you are, all of these things matter. And I also to come into this body composition piece. Anyway, so.

16:42
Scales. They're not gospel, they can be helpful, and if you can remove the emotion out of them, they can be super interesting as well. So these are just my thoughts. Have a great week!