“To weigh daily...or not to weigh daily?”

There seems to be as many views on what is the best way to achieve weight loss as there are people who offer their opinions. I respect anyone who has achieved notable success  but sometimes it seems that people who have either never had to consciously control their weight or have not succeeded in their efforts have the strongest views. The theory is fine but successful results are all that really matter.

One of the debates that I have enjoyed recently is with friends who shake their heads in dismay at the thought of taking weigh-ins so seriously. In their opinion daily weight recording is overdoing it. Daily weight measurement is a key element in my weight-loss project simply because I have found that it really is possible to make measureable progress on a daily basis. It seems quite pointless to be committed to any weight-loss programme that moves forward so slowly that you can’t measure it. “Significant weight-loss” is my primary goal so success has to occur within a real, measurable time-frame.

14-day weight-loss pattern (Jan 16, 2012)

A second reason for continuing with daily weight recording is so  that I can monitor my occasional “failures.” I want to learn how dietary changes alter my rate of weight-loss. Since I keep a daily food-log of everything I eat I also record any departures from my basic routine. In the first 14 days of this project I have experienced two small “blow-outs” when the presence of dinner guests has tempted me with delicious desserts (in small amounts!) and the occasional wine or fruit juice. 


On both occasions I have recorded a daily weight gain the following morning and it has taken me two days to recover my forward momentum (see the above extract of my weight-loss chart). Does this temporary set-back matter? Not really!  Certainly, it pushes my timeframes out by a few days but I now know what to expect next  time I deviate from my regular eating pattern. I know it will take two days of careful eating to get back on track. I am learning all the time how my body deals with food and, in the longer term, that is very important. Without the benefit of my daily weight chart I would not be able to detect these changes. “If you don’t measure it, you cannot change it.”

Next blog: How to avoid starvation but still lose weight.”