#23 Don't Worry about the weight on the scale

Hey Friends,

Weight is commonly talked about in the fitness industry, however I think it’s misunderstood in many situations. This week, I’m going to talk through some of the common misconceptions surrounding weight and why I think it’s not a helpful thing to keep track of.

Weekly Action Point

😀 Do something for someone else this week 😀 

A random act of kindness seemed fitting for the weekly action point in the week of Thanksgiving.

Make it a goal to do two random acts of kindness this week for two different people. They can be small things like a genuine compliment or a bigger thing like tackling a chore you and your spouse have been putting off.

Doesn’t matter what you do, the goal is just to think of anything that will benefit someone else.

Weight Fluctuates (a lot)

The first point I wanted to touch regarding to your weight: It’s always changing, and there are so many factors that play into the number you see on the scale.

I personally have seen my weight swing by over 5 pounds in a day. Some of the factors that influence weight fluctuations include:

• Time of Day

• How much sleep you had the night before

• Sodium intake (Water retention)

• Meal timing

• Menstrual Cycle (or daily testosterone cycles for men)

• Stress

• Time since your last workout

• Alcohol Consumption

• Illness

• Variety of Medications

• How much fiber you eat

• Time since your last bowel movement

This is definitely not an exhaustive list, but hopefully you get my point. There are a ton of things that contribute to your weight.

With so many moving parts, it makes it tough to decipher any meaningful information from jumping on a scale randomly.

Time to Ditch the Scale

Unless you’re a bodybuilder who’s tracking everything you eat down to the gram and being religiously consistent with your workouts, you probably don’t need the scale at all.

Personally, I haven’t weighed myself in around 6 months. I only weigh myself when I go through stages of insane consistency like I mentioned above, about 3-4 months out of every year.

The scale is more mentally discouraging and demotivating for me than anything else.

Sometimes I’ll be feeling great and loving how I look in the mirror, and then I would jump on the scale and be defeated by what the number tells me.

I’d argue that I understand more about weight and what goes into it than most people, and even for me the number can play games with my mental state.

As I just highlighted, there are many factors that contribute to weight fluctuations.

Additionally, muscle weighs more than fat - which I’m sure many of you have heard before.

If I’m doing all the right things with my diet, sleep, and exercise, I hope to be gaining muscle. It’s very possible to gain a good amount of muscle, lose a bunch of fat, and see no change on the scale.

The number on the scale doesn’t tell the full story. So why care about it?

Tracking Your Progress Without a Scale

I’m a strong believer in the importance of tracking your progress. But how do you do that without stepping on a scale?

The biggest thing I think you should use to measure your progress is whether or not you are resistance training and getting stronger.

We hear all the time about rising obesity rates in America. I personally believe that the bigger issue is not people being overweight, but being under-muscled.

Many people don’t care about looking more muscular, which is totally fine. However, increasing your muscle mass has so many health benefits that have nothing to do with how you look. I did a full newsletter talking about 10 benefits of resistance training that aren’t related to appearance. Click this link if you want to refresh your memory.

If you are slowly getting stronger over time, in my opinion you can rest assured that you’re moving in the right direction without ever looking at the scale.

Outside of just getting stronger, there are loads of ways to track your fitness progress without ever looking at a scale.

• More consistent energy levels throughout the day - fewer big peaks and crashes

• Better sleep

• Generally just feeling better

• Measuring performance improvements (can you run or walk farther than you could before?)

• How you feel your clothes are fitting

Sure, these are mostly subjective measurements. But they are all things you can pay attention to for gauging progress on your goals.

If you are someone who absolutely has to weigh yourself, here are a couple ways to make sure you’re using the scale properly:

• Weigh yourself at the same time every morning (naked) before eating anything, and ideally after you took a morning poop.

• Look at weekly averages, not day to day fluctuations. Take your weight from 7 consecutive days and average it, and compare the averages. This gives a better picture for comparison than looking at each day individually.

Ben’s Best

🥦 Food of the week: Asian noodle stir fry

I made this recipe three nights for dinner last week. I didn’t do this one as a meal prep, I actually cooked it throughout the week.

Grilled Chicken
Rice Noodles
Brocolli
Brussel Sprouts
Sauce: 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp oyster sauce, 15 g honey, 1 tsp sesame oil, and as much sriracha as a felt like.

I pre-grilled the chicken in bulk at the beginning of the week. Boil the rice noodles for 4 mins while sautéing the brocolli and brussel sprouts. Once the noodles are cooked, drain then and throw into the frying pan with the chicken. Cover with the sauce and you’re done.

🎙️Podcasts I loved this week:

•  Diary of a CEO: No.1 Toxicologist: Stop Using Scented Candles! These Products Were Making Me Infertile! Using This Product Is Harming Your…

• Mind Pump 2463: Sometimes to Get Leaner You've Got to Eat More (Listener Coaching)