Thursday, May 8, 2008

The Scale Is Not Your Friend

One of the most common mistakes people make when trying to lose weight is hopping on the scale every day to see how they’re doing. Let’s be clear on something. The scale is not your friend. If you want to lose weight, don’t weigh yourself more often than once a week. Here’s why.

A healthy and realistic weight-loss goal is to lose 1-2 pounds per week. If you lose weight faster than that there is a good chance that you’re doing something unhealthy. You could even be doing something to damage your ability to lose weight and keep it off, like burning muscle instead of fat.

If you’re only losing 1-2 pounds per week that translates into .143-.286 pounds per day. That’s not much progress and may be imperceptible thanks to natural fluctuations in body weight. If you weigh yourself every day, especially when just beginning a weight-loss regimen, it’s very easy to become discouraged and give up. Instead just weigh yourself once a week and don’t worry about the days in between.

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