Why The Scale Fluctuates
Picture this.
It's Monday, it’s early in the morning and you feel ready to take on the day…. but it’s also check in day, which means, scale weight day.
You’ve been on point all week. Training sessions, done. Steps, check. Nutrition,100%.
You step on those scales and you feel mentally ready to see the perfect 1% drop.
But nothing changed.
By this point you’re likely ready to throw in the towel. Something should have dropped but it didn’t. Look, we’ve all been there.
So hear this.
This is NORMAL.
Scales are a measure of how heavier you are in that very moment, they are not a measure of how much body fat you have or what kind of personality you have. Scale weight fluctuations will happen on a daily basis (legitimately if you weighed yourself in the morning and in the evening you will see a completely different number).
Water retention will play one of the biggest roles in what number we see on the scale. This happens for a number of reasons.
Carbohydrates - Consuming a meal (or several) high in carbohydrates can lead to a temporary increase on the scale, because the body stores two to three grams of water with every one gram of carbohydrates stored as glycogen. You might not notice much weight fluctuation if you consume a steady amount of carbs on a regular basis, but a sudden increase on the scale after a high-carb meal is possible.
Sodium content - Sodium causes cells to hold extra fluid, and you can expect to see that extra fluid on the scale. Drinking water helps flush out the extra sodium, allowing your body return to its normal state
Stress - stress increases the body's production of cortisol, which directly influences fluid retention and water weight. Stress, and in turn cortisol can release a hormone in the body known as ADH (antidiuretic hormone) that controls water balance. This means your body may retain more water, making that number on the scale higher than usual
Sleep - Just like stress, sleep will increase the bodies production of cortisol. One two nights of poor sleep may cause temporary water retention, chronic sleep deprivation can result in problems on the scales
Your workout - During challenging exercise, microtears occur in muscle fibers, and the body has to repair those tears to rebuild muscle and make you stronger. As part of the rebuilding process, the body produces an inflammatory response that sends fluid to areas under repair. This fluid obviously weighs something, and that's what may be reflected on the scale.
Other reasons that may cause this to go up or stand still include, food volume (how much did you eat the night before), bathroom timings ( when did you last take a poop) and your cycle (if you’re female).
Pardon the pun but - don't put the weight of your journey on what the scales say. Things like progress photos, girth measurements, training performance and daily energy levels that all play a role in making sure we are getting you from point A to point B.
Author: Ed Pimley