Are your emotions tied to the scale?

Listen to any young fitness professional, hell even some old heads like me, and you’ll often hear them say something about how we need to separate our emotions from a number on the scale. I agree whole heartedly but it’s not that easy, is it?

“In a survey of 157 college-aged women, 53.8 % responded that they did not find it harmful to self-weigh and 65.3 % found it helpful to self-weigh [19]. At the same time, 63.1 % agreed that the number on the scale affected their mood.” -C.R. Pacanowski et al 2016

So even when we find self weighing helpful we still acknowledge that it can affect our mood, both positively and negatively. We probably can’t separate these two things, at least at first. There seems to be evidence that emotional attachment to the scale diminishes over time. So consistency over time will help to regulate the emotions you may feel in conjunction with daily weighing.

For many of us, though, daily weighing might create more problems than it solves. While the evidence does show that more frequent self monitoring leads to better weight loss and weight management results, if it’s at the cost of mental health it’s hardly worth it. So for those who feel this way it may be important to focus on other metrics such as measurements or how clothes fit. There’s no one-size-fits-all approach.

While it does look as if daily self monitoring is the most efficacious approach to weight loss and management, if it comes at too high a cost what does it matter? We need to find a way to approach weight management that is both effective and psychologically sound. It might look differently for each of us. Be your own advocate and utilize what is best for you.