Weighing In

Weighing yourself seems like a simple task, yet so many people seem to get it wrong.  They weigh in too often, or not often enough, or find some other little way to stress over something that shouldn't be more than a bookmark for where they're currently at.  Hopefully this quick little article will help you to realize that the scale is an extremely helpful dieting tool, but ONLY when used correctly and with the correct mindset.

Weigh yourself in the morning- First thing when you wake up, make sure to jump on that scale before putting anything in your belly.  This will make sure that the weight you're seeing is as close to possible to your actual body weight. Surprisingly, if you were to weigh yourself before bed, then as soon as you wake up, you'd see about a 2-3 lb difference (I've seen as much as 5 lbs) due to water evaporation.  Water is heavy, and can really add a few pounds to that figure you see on the scale face.

Weigh in at the same time each day- This one seems like a no-brainer, but I've had people ask me how they gained 3 lbs in one day, and after getting over my initial bafflement and finally asking when they weighed themselves each day I learned that once was before breakfast and the other time was after dinner.  Of course you're going to weigh more!  FOOD WEIGHS SOMETHING!  Make it only in the morning, and save yourself some worry.


Weigh in naked- OK, this one's truly up to you, but if your scale is in the bathroom it shouldn't be too big a deal.  This will provide consistency to your figure that might be taken away by clothes that are different weight. Before you hop in the shower, just hop on the scale real quick.  Easy enough right?

Weigh in after your business is done- Hopefully I don't have to go into too much detail here.  Wake up, empty yourself, then jump on the scale.  Hey, that stuff weighs something, right?  Do you want it counted in your figure?

Don't weigh in Every Day- This will drive you nuts. If you weigh yourself every day, you're not going to see any real trend due to the natural fluctuations in your body.  This could include things like how much water you're retaining that particular day, or how much food's in your belly (although if you followed my advice prior then that shouldn't be an issue).  Things don't stay the same, especially in your body, and trends take a while to show.  I would suggest once or twice a week, and if you're really looking to track what you hope will be fast progress, then every other day is as often as I'd go for.

Weigh in only once a day- Again, this one doesn't seem too hard to remember, but some people just can't keep away from the scale.  Once a day only please, or else you WILL become neurotic about the scale and freak out about any little weight fluctuation.  Like I said, your body composition changes on an hourly basis.  Weigh in when you wake up, figure out how your diet is working, and go about your business.  Don't burn that number into your head.

Weigh yourself on a hard, even surface- Don't set the scale on the carpet, it's as simple as that.  This will skew the results up to and sometimes greater than 4%.  To give you an idea, that'd be like seeing the scale say 173 lbs when actually you weigh 180 lbs.  Not a surprise you want to figure out later, right?

Weigh in on the same scale- Different scales, while all pretty accurate these days, do have their own characteristics.  If you're hopping from scale to scale, you might see differences that aren't really there, and start to stress.  Keep the benchmark consistent and try to use the same scale every day.

DON'T STRESS!!! I can't say this enough.  The scale, while a great tool to view your progress, can also be a really stressful thing.  Some people avoid it, some people weigh in 4 times a day in obsession.  Listen, while your weight is important, it's not the most critical thing in your life.  There are many factors a scale doesn't take into account, one of them being muscle mass (you can gain muscle, lose a pant size, and GAIN weight all at once), the other is overall health.  If you eat healthy, not only will you tend to weigh less, but you'll be much healthier than a "skinnyfat" person who only weighs 138 but eats burgers, Doritos, and cookies for every meal.  Concern yourself more with health than with weight.  The scale is your friend, don't stress out about it.

Keep recording, keep smiling, and as always, GOOD LUCK!

Eating Clean: Where to start?

Ok, so now you know a little bit about what comprises a clean diet.  And maybe you're thinking that a few of the foods I mentioned don't actually sound so bad.  In fact maybe, just maybe you might be able to incorporate a few of those foods into your daily diet, perhaps substituting some of the processed junk that you always feel guilty about eating.

What you've just stumbled upon is the start to a clean diet.  And it's exactly the first step I suggest you take, if you're looking to get into a more healthy mindset.  Take it slowly at first.  Replace a few foods, incorporate some vegetables here, a fruit there (maybe instead of those oreos), and a bowl of oatmeal instead of that breakfast burrito.  I'll say it again.  TAKE....IT...SLOW.  

Why is this so important?

First of all, if you've been running on microwave dinners and chips-ahoy for a while, it's unlikely that you'll find vegetables too appealing, nor will you be too keen on the idea of replacing your brownie dessert with a banana.  Your body has become somewhat addicted to high sugar, high fat, processed food.  It's not an uncommon thing, so don't feel bad.  Breaking an addiction TAKES TIME.  I used to be that guy, who ate half a pan of brownies for breakfast, a jar of cookies for lunch, and nearly a 1 pound burger for dinner.  Being a growing adolescent boy, miraculously I got away with it.  After realizing my absolutely horrendous diet, I began to make changes over the years, as I became more involved with weightlifting and fitness in general.  It took a lot of trial and error, and a ton of research.  Seriously, I spent hours on the computer learning every little nuance about nutrition.  I'm proud of my diet now, and guess what, I don't crave bad food anymore!  Am I perfect?  Absolutely not.  But I'm fine with skipping dessert, and I actually prefer the taste of most vegetables over any sort of cheese doodles or fig newtons.  

Weaning your body off processed food takes time, unfortunately.  You need to actively teach your body to enjoy the healthy stuff.  There are many tricks to doing this more effectively, and I'll go over those in coming posts.  Healthy food does not ever need to taste bad.  And if you prepare it right, I promise you it never will.  I'm not going to lie though, it won't be quite the same as that greasy burger.  But you learn to appreciate healthy food, and I promise that eventually you will crave the healthy stuff, not the chocolate cake.

Whatever you do, do NOT try to go cold turkey off of processed food.  This is the reason that an enormous amount of diet plans fail outright.  You are not able to kick the cravings for the processed stuff, and after a few weeks and barely any results, you throw that broccoli out the window and go back to your precious Tostitos.  I'll say it again, incorporate your new diet slowly.  This isn't a diet plan, it's a lifestyle change.  Learn to eat healthy now, and enjoy doing it for the rest of your life.

How clean you want your diet to ultimately be is up to you.  Many are content and see great results with a moderate level of clean eating, having a good few servings of fruits, vegetables, lean meats, good fats, good carbs, and other nutrients every day, complimented by a small dessert or a few potato chips.  These people usually try to incorporate a good amount of exercise into their lives as well, which I wholeheartedly suggest with every fiber of my being.  Some people go all out and try to make their diet as organic, natural, and lean as possible.  This is your choice.  See what works for you.  What are your goals?  Why are you deciding to do this?  What do you want to achieve?

And remember, you can always make adjustments.  This isn't a one shot deal.

It's not a hard thing to do.  My advice?  Start with breakfast.  That's easy right?  And I think you'll find a nice healthy morning snack should follow pretty effortlessly, then a chicken breast and some veggies for lunch don't sound too bad, and so on and so forth.  

Get out there and make the change.  Good luck!