When The Scale Weight Doesn’t Change! And You Feel You’ve Tried Really Hard

by | Aug 15, 2022 | Scale Weight

Red apple on blue weighing scale

It can make you feel so despondent. There you are congratulating yourself at being so good, step on the scales and bam!! The scale weight hasn’t budged, or worse, may have even gone up! 

Your plans ruined, because you have now decided you are fat and not good enough and you won’t ever be. If you do go out (reluctantly), you’ll be comparing yourself to everyone else and they’ll all be “thinner” than you. 

No photos taken.

THOSE PESKY SCALES

Scales are not the best indicators of total weight per se, especially fat distribution, but I get it. If you struggle with weight fluctuations, I know it feels good to look down and see yourself as “lighter.” 

Stepping on those scales for a bit of security can be a big draw. A powerful magnate. Especially for events. It takes a while to change a habit and behaviour such as daily or weekly weighing. You have to build confidence first.

For example, during the summer months, what with holidays at home and away, being lighter for the holidays has always been a thing. So many people are on horrendously named diets like “no carbs before Marbs,” ridiculous I know, but this is what we are up against. This type of behaviour is what will always keep your weight yo-yo ing back and forth.

ALTERNATIVE WAYS TO TRACK YOUR WEIGHT

Most of the time (90%) I use my own bio individuality to mind my weight.

Sleep
Hunger
Mood
Energy
Cravings

I know that these markers are the main indicators of how my metabolism is adapting to life as it is happening at any moment in time. When I am tuned in here and something feels out of kilter, I can adapt my nutrition, exercise and recovery to mindfully tweak my own metabolism. 

We all have very different personalities, psychology, physiology, personal and practical circumstances. That is why cookie cutter approaches like big diet brands provide have terrible track records. Especially in keep the weight off for good. 

I have had to practice moderation. All food overindulgences start because of deprivation. I’ve been there. Starve yourself all day for a meal out at night and you end up stuffed and uncomfortable. The waistline of your clothing undone! 

PRACTICING MODERATION

At the start I was not very trusting of myself and still overdid the cardio and had the scales out. My energy was low, and I did not have the drive for all the other stuff I wanted to do with my life. I was not listening to my body telling me it was exhausted. 

Before you start changing your habits, building confidence in your own ability to mind your weight, here is some reasons why those scales have not moved:

What Influences Weight Change? 

One of the most effective ways to reduce the fear or apprehension toward weight change is to highlight the factors, outside of actual fat loss/gain that can influence it.

Water & Waste Retention 

This is definitely one of the main culprits. You will weigh yourself on Monday morning after a busy and indulgent weekend, only to find you’ve have added 1-2 lbs. (or more) of weight. However, if you did not adequately hydrate, consumed a little more salt than usual, these can both lead to the retention of water. You may be constipated. This will increase weight, but it is not permanent weight. 

Let’s look at some additional progress markers! 

How are you feeling? 

Energy and fatigue reduction are a common sign that your nutrition is improving. How do you feel in the morning getting out of bed? Do you have energy throughout the day? How do you feel at work? 

How are your fitness levels? 

Cardiorespiratory fitness is a very common indicator of an effective nutrition regimen. Is that five-kilometre run/walk getting easier? Are you squeezing out a couple more repetitions with the same weight you struggled with last month? 

Do you feel more recovered after a day of working out? 

How do your clothes fit? 

If you do feel that you’ve lost weight, but the scales aren’t reflecting this, this might be due to the reasons mentioned above. If you have gained muscle, then you’ll notice it in the mirror. But, if you’ve had a difficult week and your weight has increased, skip the mirror view, relax and remember tomorrow is a new opportunity!

Why You Should Start Listening In To Your Own Internal Bio Feedback

by | Aug 15, 2022 | Bio Feedback

Your metabolism is your chief operating officer (COO) let it take the place of your EGO and do its magic.

Paying attention to your own internal COO!

I’ve been thinking about the best ways I can share a message about your unique metabolism. And yes, it is totally unique to you, like mine is to me.

Naturally you’ll eat to whatever “moderation” looks like for you, based on your:

  1. PHYSIOLOGY (e.g. reproductive years or post)
  1. PYSCOLOGY ( e.g. identical twins who have the same DNA don’t come out identical. You have your own randomness.
  2. PERSONALITY (e.g. your openness, conscientiousness, agreeableness)
  3. PREFERNCE (e.g. carnivore, vegetarian, vegan)
  4. PERSONAL CIRCUMSTANCES (e.g. single, in a relationship, kids, no kids)

 At this point, I could ramble on about the science of metabolism and the family of hormones that control hunger, appetite, cravings and satisfaction but it’s not really the point of this item.

See, for years I never paid attention to those 5 key P’s above. My favourite P was PERFECTIONISM! If my weight was stuck, I would max out the burn and diet until the weight was back down to ‘ideal thin” (not my unique physiology but that of an advertisers ideal). 

 There is no room for this P in the above weight minders list.

INTERNAL METABOLIC COO METAPHOR

 I want to present a metaphor to describe an aspect of metabolism. Think of it a bit like the Chief Operating Officer of a company, a majority shareholder, who is a wise leader. Like all good leaders this COO can help you progress and understand yourself better. Therefore, living as fabulous as you are. If you ignore it, you will lose. That’s because it will do anything just so as you can survive long enough to reproduce. Even beyond those years!


When you are paying attention to this internal COO, you will be acting on internal unique bio feedback and adjusting as a result of the feedback.

Here’s a couple of tips for you:
.
PRO TIP 1

Hungry? – Eat until you are 80% full. What does this feel like? What is your COO messaging to you?
It feels like you are getting full but not until the point you are undoing the top button of your trousers and pulling down your zip 4 inches. Yes, you could eat more but you are not going to.

PRO TIP 2

No Energy? – You’ve got a foggy brain, you cannot recover from one workout to the next, instead you come back and do mind numbing things and put other projects on hold. Your COO is forcing you to sit down because you are not recovering. You are most likely not eating enough for your energy expenditure aka classic diet deprivation mentality. The COO will force feed you by increasing your hunger and cravings.

Just think of the times you have done a lot of crazy exercise! Then you might fight back by going on yet another fruitless diet without any due consideration and respect to what the COO is alerting you to. 


Think about how you are working out and the energy you have to do other activities in your life.
Is it balanced?

Let’s say you start listening in to your own bio feedback, you ate moderately yesterday. You were able to feel satisfied and not stuffed (ate to 80% fullness), if you were able to take bites of things and not beat yourself up, amazing. Congrats, you’re on the journey to getting to know your intelligent boss a bit better.

The elementary version, listening to the “gurus” is a 1.0 version can be an okay place to start, but learning to work alongside your own metabolic COO is real self trust. Simple but never easy. Easy has to be earned.

I practice listening to my metabolism and really diving in these past years. I have not turned out like a marshmallow, and I am full of energy these days. It is truly quite remarkable what can come up for you when you get to know your body’s metabolic COO.

TDEE
I say the majority shareholder because 70% of your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure is BMR (basal metabolic rate) is purely down to every reaction needed to keep you alive day to day. The rest is made up of NEAT, non exercise activity thermogenesis 15% thermic effect of food 10% exercise activity thermogenesis 5%.

Download your FREE "7 Days to Remade" Guide

Download
X
Weight Minders Club
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.