Should You Weigh Every Day?

Should You Weigh Every Day?

“Don’t step on it! It will make you cry!”

This was the caption below a cartoon I saw of two little girls staring at a scale.

It made me both laugh and cringe all at once.

Weighing ourselves…

Some of us do it daily. It’s part of our “morning routine.” But it can also sometimes be a number that decides how we feel about ourselves that day…for better or for worse.

And for others of us…

Well…others of us won’t even walk close to one for fear of the dreaded number that may glare back at us.

But should you be weighing yourself? And, more importantly, should you be doing it daily?

I’ll tell you the answer right now and you’re not going to like it…

IT DEPENDS!

Isn’t that an infuriating answer?!

The thing is…that is 100% true.

Weighing yourself can be a HUGE accountability tool when used correctly, even doing it daily.

It can have a huge positive impact and help increase your dedication and consistency

HOWEVER…

There is a dark side to the scale…

One in which that number begins to dictate how you feel about yourself. One in which you start to obsess over the number you see there.

One in which your feelings of confidence and self-worth are dependent on what that stupid little piece of technology that sits on your bathroom floor says…

Then weighing every day is for sure not a good thing.

The only thing is…

That number on the scale can have that same impact even if you never weigh.

Having to AVOID the scale out of fear of what it would say is no better than weighing obsessively.

 

The point is…our WEIGHT can’t rule how we feel about our bodies.

It is simply another measuring tool we can use to keep track of progress or even use to guide us when we find a point we feel comfortable with.

But we have to remember our weight is just a NUMBER and doesn’t determine our worth.

And that goal number can, and even should, change over time. And it shouldn’t be our only determination of success.

However, all too often it doesn’t change and it becomes the most important measure of success.

Heck, some of us get so freaking stuck on a specific number we don’t appreciate when we have huge body composition shifts.

I’ve literally had clients tell me, “Well I lost inches but the scale didn’t budge!”

And they’ve said this as if they were UNHAPPY with this fact! (This is usually where I sit there looking dumbfounded, confused and shocked.)

But losing inches means they lost fat. Heck, it’s probably a BIGGER victory than weight lost on the scale.

Because that number on the scale can fluctuate for so many reasons.

I mean crap…that number can fluctuate from hour to hour based on eating food…or how much salt we eat or water we drink…or even if our workout broke down more muscle tissue the day before or we ate more carbs or heck, depleted our glycogen stores by NOT eating carbs…

The point is that number can fluctuate so easily. And it is just a NUMBER. It should just be another guide to help you track and see if something is working OR if changes need to be made.

It can be an accountability tool, but it can’t be something that is the be all and end all.

And I think it has become one for all too many of us as dieting has become know as deprivation…

STARVING yourself to hit a number on a scale….A number that really has been arbitrarily assigned by ourselves or something we read in a magazine….

Doesn’t lead to long-term results or long-term health.

And I don’t think this will change by weighing or not weighing. I think that is just a symptom of a bigger problem. Because as I mentioned we can be as obsessed with that number whether we obsessively weigh or obsessively AVOID weighing.

I think the real answer to changing our obsession with our weight and having to be a specific number to be happy comes from changing our relationship to how we view dieting – aka our relationship with FOOD.

It’s about changing our view of our diet from one of purely slashing calories and starving ourselves to hit a number on the scale, to one focused on FUELING OUR BODIES.

It’s why I put an emphasis on Macros over Caloric Intake. Dial in your macros. Think about getting your body the right foods and everything else will start to fall into place.

Stop dieting and depriving. Focus on giving your body what it needs and creating a balance so you can enjoy life!

To help you get started, find out what macros you need with the Macro Cycling Quiz.

–> Take the Quiz And Start FUELING Your Body!

How Many Calories Do I Need?

How Many Calories Do I Need?

“How many calories do I need to eat?”

This is a question I get numerous times a day.

And it’s an interesting question with an answer that is based on, not only your goals, but a few basic things…

These three things are…

1. To lose weight, you have to be in a calorie deficit.

2. To gain weight, you’ve got to eat to support muscle growth.

3. Calories are not created equal. Quality and type matter.

These three things are KEY when figuring out how many calories you need.

They are often also why we get into trouble with our diets.

Too many people know #1 and therefore cut their calories way too low.

They end up starving themselves, which not only can slow their metabolism and cause them to store fat BUT also leaves them so hungry and angry they end up binging.

HOWEVER, on the flip side, so may people today use Fitbits and other fitness trackers and see they burned 300-500 calories and think that entitles them to eat even more.

I mean if you burn more, you get to eat more, right?

Yes BUT overtime our bodies become more efficient as we workout. They adapt to the stresses placed on them.

Are you accounting for that?

Are you sure your fitness tracker is accurate?

Also, what is your baseline based off of that you are ADDING IN extra calories you burned?

And on top of that, you then have to cycle UNDER on days off. If you’re cycling up on workouts, how often are you cycling UNDER on days you don’t move much?

All that cycling just makes for madness. And it’s freaking hard to track which leaves us guessing at what is working.

Ok so probably right now, all I’ve done is confuse you more.

I’ve said you can’t cut your calories too low. But then I’ve said too much is bad too and that adding in the calories you burned during workouts is a more challenging and complicated process than we account for.

So what do you do?

This right here is why #3 is so important. Quality and type of calories MATTER.

200 calories of meat, veggies and rice is way more filling than 200 calories of M&Ms. It also helps our body function correctly, sleep better and fuels our workouts more effectively.

This is why a 1,200 calorie diet with proper macros may be enough while 2,000 calories of crap may leave you hangry and starved. That doesn’t mean you can’t still enjoy the foods you love, it just means that getting quality foods will help you stay full, energized and get the results you want FASTER!

And I’m not saying everyone should be at 1,200.

I’m just saying there is a HUGE difference in how you’ll feel and how your body will operate eating the same number of quality vs. crap calories.

If you can dial in these ratios, you’ll be giving your body what it needs vs. empty calories that leave you hungry even when you’ve technically consumed enough calories.

Quality calories will make you feel fuller even on a calorie deficit and one of the benefits of high protein is that it is hard to gain weight even if you “eat too much.”

Eating these ratios, you can change your body composition WHILE fueling your muscle growth by giving it the building blocks it needs EVEN if in a slight calorie deficit.

And then instead of cycling, just set one calorie goal.

That way on recovery days you get your body what it needs and you fuel your workouts. You won’t have to cycle down or up.

So you’re probably still wondering…How many calories do I need?

But my point is the quality and type is even more key to determining that.

It’s why I’ll get people saying “Holy crap I thought 1,300 calories would be too little but I’m stuffed.”

But it’s also why people say “Holy crap I thought I’d gain weight eating 1,800 calories, but I’ve lost inches when I used to eat 800 and still not lose all of the time.”

All of this is why I recommend if you want to lose weight, you start with 11x goal bodyweight (in pounds) and if you want to change body composition or maintain your weight while looking leaner you start with 13x goal bodyweight (again in pounds).

Of course it still always DEPENDS and each of our metabolic rates are different, but I always tell people…

START HERE. There has to be a starting point. If you don’t give something a shot, you’ll never know if it works.

Focus on the ratios and from there you can add or reduce calories as you hit those ratios. But hitting those ratios and getting QUALITY CALORIES is key!

For more tips to help you calculate calories and macros as well as amazing recipes and even sample meal plans, whether you want to lose weight, gain muscle, train for a marathon or deal with the dreaded weight gain often associated with menopause, check out my Macro Hacks!

Learn more about my Macro Hacks Challenge –>

5 Reasons You May Be Struggling To Lose Weight

5 Reasons You May Be Struggling To Lose Weight

There are a bazillion things pulling at us every day, demanding our attention and creating stress. We all seem to be doing a million things at once.

And we all seem to be stressed to the max.

So the last thing we need to do is add more stress into our lives – stress over eating well and working out.

Now that doesn’t mean you should simply skip working out and eating well (because both can also REDUCE STRESS, make you FEEL BETTER and INCREASE PRODUCTIVITY), but it does mean you want to make some changes to your diet and exercise program so that you can stress less and get better results!

Below are 5 Reasons You May Be Struggling To Lose Weight. These things can not only hinder your progress but even add to your stress so that you eventually fall off your program and re-enter that horrible yo-yo dieting and exercising cycle!

1. You’re too focused on working out longer and doing MORE.

People think they need to go do an hour of steady state cardio to lose weight. But guess what!?! Your body adapts to that. So to keep losing weight, that means you either have to go for longer or go faster. And often both of those aren’t really an option…Or if we do manage to one or both, we end up injured, burnt out or even stressed out because it becomes hard to fit in the workouts.

But what if you didn’t need that whole hour to get even better results than you could doing cardio for an hour? What if you could get results even just occasionally squeezing in 5 minute intense bouts?

Workouts like that would not only fit into your busy life better, but it would help you workout more consistently.

AND THEY WOULD HELP YOU GET RESULTS!

So instead of thinking about working out longer and doing more, focus on efficiency and going hard when you are working out.

If you up your intensity and pick compound exercises, you can get better fat burning and weight loss results from 15 minutes of interval and strength training than you can out of an hour doing steady state cardio!

Steady state cardio really only burns calories DURING the workout while interval work and strength training can help raise your metabolic rate and increase your calorie and fat burning for up to 48 hours after your workout!

2. You’re not focusing on PROTEIN.

People all too often get stuck worrying about how many carbs or how much fat. They argue over low carb or low fat.

But they never focus on the macronutrient that really makes the biggest difference – PROTEIN!

Focus on protein and you are going to see great results.

You don’t have to cut out carbs…Heck if you workout intensely you NEED some carbs. And you don’t have to deprive yourself of fat. FAT ISN’T EVIL! Actually, if you cut your fat too low, you are going to mess with your hormone levels and really slow down or even completely stall and prevent yourself from getting results!

But if you make protein your focus, you’re not only going to build lean muscle mass, but actually burn more fat and feel FULLER. If you want to grow stronger and look leaner, you need to get enough protein to build, repair and even MAINTAIN your muscle tissue!

Plus, protein has a higher thermogenic effect than the other Macros, meaning you actually burn more calories to process protein, making it harder to gain fat when your diet is high in protein (studies have even shown it to have a thermogenic effect 5 times greater than carbs or fat!).

Studies of thermogenesis have also shown that one of the most important roles protein plays in body weight regulation is due to the fact that it increases feelings of satiety or feeling full!

So if you aren’t getting enough protein that may be why you aren’t losing weight!

3. You’re not tracking what you’re doing.

We all hate tracking.  But this may be the single most important thing because if you don’t really know what you are eating, if you aren’t holding yourself ACCOUNTABLE, if you aren’t tracking what is working, you’re not going to see results!

Track what you eat and stick with a program. Then you can make changes as you go!

But if you don’t track, you don’t truly know. You can forget about things that are going on. You may not realize how low your protein is even when you feel like you are getting it at every meal.

Heck, you may even be surprised by the hidden calories and macro ratios in certain foods you eat…foods you can easily tweak if only you KNEW what was in them.

That is why you track. Try a fitness tracker like My Fitness Pal and log what you are eating. It will show you what is truly going on so you can make small changes and swaps instead of simply jumping from diet to diet!

4. You’re randomly adjusting your calories.

Often we think that losing weight means eating less. And yes…A calorie deficit is important.

But continuing to cut calories may not be the answer. If you cut out too many calories, your energy will drop. You can stall your metabolism. And your workouts will suffer, which will not only hinder your fitness progress, but potentially even your weight loss progress.

And on top of that, you may fall into HANGRY territory. Feeling hungry all the time doesn’t make anyone happier or less stressed.

Plus, if you constantly feel hungry at some point you’re going to run out of self control and end up binging. And binging leads to guilt. Which leads to more binging. Which leads to you ending up potentially worse off than where you started…And back in the yo-yo dieting cycle!

So while you need a calorie deficit, you don’t want to cut your calories too low! Stay energized. Stay feeling ready to tackle the day!

Because eating well should make you feel better NOT like you’re starving and constantly angry and tired!

5. You’re depriving yourself of the foods you enjoy.

I NEED dessert. Yes…I know this is an “excuse.” I will not literally die if I don’t have it.

But after dinner, if I don’t get a sweet treat, I just sit there thinking about how I want something. And I get bitter if I can’t have it.

And I end up binging on desserts the next chance I get.

So to avoid this, I have something sweet every night. I’ve found healthy swaps that fit my macros when I want. And other times, I indulge in that ice cream or those peanut butter cookies.

But I don’t DEPRIVE myself. Because that just isn’t realistic.

I was sick of “sprints.” And my clients were too. We were sick of going strict to only fall off and gain back some of what we’d lost. Only to have to “sprint” and go super clean again.

That is why I found macro cycling to be beneficial. You have ratios to hit, but you could still make room for the foods you love. You never had to cut out the things you love, which prevents binging.

And not feeling deprived helps make this a realistic lifestyle. You aren’t simply waiting for it to be over!

Take control of your diet without cutting out all of the foods you love! Get the lean, strong body you’ve always wanted with my Macro Hacks!

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