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How Do You Track Weight Loss With Progress Photos? And are Progress Photos useful to use?
The infamous “Progress” Picture. Some of this Article will sound damn obvious. Some of this article will shock you to your core.
But the overall aim of this Article is, like so much of my content, designed to change your perspective on two things:
How you feel about your own “Progress” photos
How you feel when you look at other people’s “Progress” photos.
One of my favorite progress photos is the following:
“I finally had the courage to upload my Progress Photo…it wasn’t easy but I managed it”
The reason I love this Meme so much is that it sums up the entire point of this Article.
Table of contents for: How Do You Track Weight Loss With Progress Photos? And are Progress Photos useful to use?
How Do You Track Weight Loss With Progress Photos? And are Progress Photos useful to use?
What is a “Progress” Photo?
I’m sure you have heard about them…or seen them. Even if you are ever so slightly interested in fitness or have ever logged into Facebook or Instagram I am almost certain you will have come across a Progress Photo.
A “Progress” Photo is a picture of someone on one day in time, typically when they started a new program placed right next to the same person a few months on when the program has finished.
And you are “expected” to see a difference between Photo A and Photo B.
They are also sometimes called “Before and After” photos.
I dislike this term more because it gives a finite beginning and end, which I don’t think is helpful for you.
Now it's great for the Personal Trainer that made you do it in your 12-week program and wants to exploit you and your pictures to try and get more clients…because as far as they are concerned it is Before and After.
Before you ever knew them.
After you are finished with them.
They now don’t give a fuck about you because they have their marketing photo. Its a classic, use, and abuse. In and Out. Kick to the curb.
And it disgusts me.
Disclaimer: I have been known to use my client's photos for marketing purposes. But none of them has ever done a 12-week shred with me. None of them have been with me as a client for less than a year. And they all understand that its a part of the sad world I exist in. I have also never edited a progress photo in order to create a better image of the result. But I am definitely in the minority.
I wish I could sell Personal Training without them. I really do. And I try to use them as little as possible. I very rarely use my own photos to sell how good I am as a Trainer because just because I can get a ripped body for myself doesn’t mean I know how to coach someone else to that end.
And that is a very important point. If you are choosing a Trainer based on how they look…then you are falling for a very easy trap. Anyone can follow a plan and get results themselves…the art of coaching is to be able to get someone else to do that, someone who isn’t you, who has a very different life and who needs very different guidance not just from who the trainer is, but also from all of their other clients too.
You are an individual.
And this is part of the problem. The market decides what sells…and you…yes…you…I know you have judged someone’s training experience based on a “Progress” photo you have seen of them. You have made a snap judgment on their trainer…and a snap judgment on the person based simply on a once in a moment photo.
And that is what sells.
I also think we all have a responsibility when posting them. Whether it is myself to try and garner business or yourself to demonstrate your hard work and to show how you have changed.
I always think…whenever I chose to use a “Progress” photo…I always think what effect will this have on someone somewhere?
Will one of my clients who is struggling right now see it and feel worthless?
Could someone see it at the wrong time of day and it means that they sink further into darkness?
Could it inspire someone to make a change?
I generally do not give a flying hoot about what I post and if someone is offended by what I say…I know they can move on, and I certainly can.
But a “Progress” photo has slightly different energy…and I have a responsibility to make sure that they are used in a more progressive way…and if you are reading this…I would like to think I have stopped and made you think about that too.
And this is based in reality. A trainer I used to work with created an online program that was based around a 6 Week Fat Loss shred. The image they used of their “client” (personally I had never seen them work with them and there was no Social proof for this either over the 5 years I had known said person) was of “this client” looking “large” and then “small”.
The tag line was “6 Week Transformation”
The advertising for this was huge. This woman was almost life-like in size on the website and the online ads and Social Media pictures were in your very in your face. But what really got to me about them was the following: It was all a lie.
This “client” did not do this program.
This “client” did not change her body that much in 6 weeks.
The people who did do this program never got results like that in 6 weeks — so imagine how they must have felt when all was said and done?
Luckily, I never worked with the trainer personally…we were just both in the same industry in the same town. But this is what really hurt most about it.
I was in a session with a client. A client who has struggled with weight her entire life. The issues with her weight have permeated through into her Mental Health and for the first time in her life she felt like she was learning and beginning to get to where she wanted to get to.
She was targeted by this advert online and the posts…she sent them to me…feeling very lonely late one night and asked me:
“Is that true?”
I told her the truth that the whole thing is a lie and the transformation took a good four or five years, and her response was this:
“That makes me feel really sad. That makes me feel so small and so unworthy. I’m so glad it isn’t true, but that picture makes me feel so angry because for a while I thought it was true…and it made me feel horrible”
We have a responsibility. We need to do better. We need to stop putting finances above people’s mental health in an industry that is about Health. We must stop selling lies and impossible truths just because we have egos. It's not helping you, and it's not helping your clients.
The worst bit…the program did really well in terms of sales. The results? Well, I’ve never seen a “client” who actually went through the system on any campaign from this trainer since….nor have I seen any of their progress photos on social media.
This brings us quite nicely to…
How Do You Track Weight Loss With Progress Photos? And are Progress Photos useful to use?
How Should You View “Progress” Photos?
Let me be clear. As much as I think they can be bad for the majority of people to see…they do have a place and can be effective for you in tracking your goals. I think they are a terrible way to draw clients in due to how untrustworthy they really can be.
It's more like the “Progress” photo itself isn’t the problem…but like with all things it's the way we personally view them.
When I was at Drama School we would be constantly working on a play. And every so often different people would come into rehearsals and critique the play. Whether that was a Movement Director, a fellow student, a Fight Director, a Voice Coach, a Casting Director, a Producer, the productions Composer and the Lighting Designer. You also had the Set Designer, Costume Designer, Script Writer (if they were still alive…alas I never met Shakespeare). Oh, then there's the whole Stage Management Team as well.
All in all about 30 people.
That wasn’t involved in all of the rehearsals They just had to show up and go away again. But every time they would show up an interesting phrase kept creeping into the rehearsal room:
“It’s a work in progress”
I used to view this as an excuse in case the people watching thought it was totally rubbish…and we would have time to make it better.
Then I was in Twelfth Night…and our Director, James Kemp, spoke to us about how a play is never finished. How a Production is never finished. How every night you must keep digging and digging, you must keep finding new things to discover because that is how you keep a play alive.
And no one wants to sit through a very stagnant three hours of Shakespeare.
You see, this is what your “Progress” Photo is.
It's not a beginning and an end.
Your fitness, if you have taken it on, and want to improve it should never exist with the concept of a beginning and an end. You must always be searching, always be digging, always be developing and letting your experience reveal new truths to you as you go.
There is no end. Just exploration.
A “Progress” photo doesn’t do that. A “Before and After” photo doesn’t do that.
Therefore I think it is a lot more healthy for you to view these photos as
“Work In Process”
Not just your photos, but those of others you see on the internet as well. They are just Work In Process.
I take a photo of myself after every single training session.
And yes…I do have narcissistic tendencies, but that is not why.
Its a lot like my article on “Your Scale Strategy”
Read my article that has helped 100s of women improve their relationship with the scale right here: Your Scale Strategy
The more you expose yourself to a picture like this then the less pressure you will feel first when you see it of yourself, and secondly when you see others. Yes, you might not notice progress as much…but who cares? Like with everything in Fitness…there is no end game. There is no finite; just exploration.
All Work In Process photos must be taken with a huge pinch of salt because they are quite literally just an image of someone frozen in time.
The drawbacks of what you see in a Progress photo are huge.
How Do You Track Weight Loss With Progress Photos? And Are Progress Photos Useful To Use?
What are the Pros and Cons of “Progress” photos?
Well…as we are here…let's start with the Cons:
Some of the biggest cons are that you have no idea about these elements of the subject's health:
Their relationship with food
Their mental health
Their hydration levels
Their physical health
Their relationship with exercise
All of these things could be very much affected…and the more “drastic” a “progress” photo is…and the more professional the photos look the more extreme we can assume the pendulum swings.
I know of BodyBuilders that get to a point where they can only drink what they pass when getting ready for a photoshoot — they also can’t get health insurance…due to the state of their livers.
Yes…that is the extreme side of the equation. But it all counts. Because every time you flick through Instagram and see a very shredded person…it still makes you feel like crap. Even a little. It makes you say “I’d never be able to achieve that” and that isn’t good enough.
Some more cons:
It is well known that people have had their own “progress” photos stolen to sell products and programs they never participated in.
The use of lighting can affect a huge amount of the way you look when they are taken (there is actually a thing called “anabolic lighting”)
They can easily be edited to make the subject look a lot better than they are.
Here are two photos…one on the right I edited on my phone…and the other is the original.
Please excuse the towel…
You can see my Pecs look a lot bigger in the edited photo due to the enhanced shadow, and the coloring looks a little off…but you are comparing like for like. How many “Progress” photos do you see where the subject is comparing all things the same?
I used a specialist app to edit this photo and these are some of its features:
Reshape — including Detail and Bloat (this might sound defunct but it makes your muscles look so much bigger if used well)
Retouch — teeth whitening, smoothing.
Brighten / Darken (very useful for anabolic lighting)
Tall — yes, you can actually make yourself taller
But my favorite feature is the following:
Stickers — Male Ab Stickers, Male Chest Stickers, Female Ab Stickers, Collarbone Stickers, Cleavage Stickers (yes, you can actually put someone else's breasts on your photos — I use this feature personally a lot)
I was going to put a funny photo in here of myself with that feature…but some things just can't be unseen.
In the photo above, I have managed to increase my arm size, my pectoral size, and I was able to darken my Abs so they looked so much more defined, and so that I look a lot more muscly and ripped than I actually am.
It took 5 minutes. Maybe less.
And…this app…is totally free.
Other Cons?
They build pressure on you
They can de-motivate you when you don’t see any progress
They can feel like a much bigger deal than they actually are
They can be very exposing and scary if you have never done them before
If you don’t know how to look at them, and what to look for you may never see the progress in them. I have had a number of clients submit photos to me and despite huge differences, they just don’t see them. Being subjective towards them can be very diminishing. I’ve had full-blown discussions with clients to try and show them what I can see in a photo…they just never believe it.
And this is why I don’t think they are an effective way to draw clients into programs either…
Let’s say I took on 100 clients into a 12 week program and made them all eat 1000 calories or less each day. I would get some amazing before and after photos…trust me. Especially if I only took on clients who had a BMI of 25+ for this program.
Now only about 10% of that number would actually get to the end. I now have 10 clients.
Of these 10 clients, lets say…maybe 5 or 6 of them remembered to do their photos at the beginning, and maybe 2 or 3 remembered to do them at the end.
I had 100 clients. I now have 2 or 3 that I have amazing photos of…to then use to sell the advocacy of the program to you.
You are buying into a program that has revealed 3% of its truth.
If I gave you a 3% chance of success in any program would you want to spend £100s on that?
Hardly seems honest, does it?
97 people, who failed. 97 people who you have no idea about and 97 people who the trainer can’t even remember their names.
On the internet also…there are many accounts that produce these comparison photos…and I kid you not…they don’t even use the same person in both photos. This is no joke. I promise you.
When I saw this it got me thinking of a checklist you should probably ask yourself every time you see a “Before and After” photo. It's really important you protect yourself from stuff like this. So always use the following filter when you are looking at photos of this nature:
Are there any Pros?
Well, yes. There are.
Photos can be and should be used as another way to track your Work In Process. They can reveal a lot. They can reveal things that the scale might not reveal.
They can build huge confidence in people, as they can be challenging, and overcoming a challenge can move you into growth.
And when they reveal development…it is a great feeling.
It really is a nice feeling. But that is chased with trepidation because I’m sure in the past you haven’t seen progress from one photo to another…and it has stopped you in your tracks.
How Do You Track Weight Loss With Progress Photos? And Are Progress Photos Useful To Use?
How Should You Take A “Work In Process” Photo?
There are rules on how it should be done…and in all honesty mine are a terrible example for a number of reasons — which when I explain below you will understand more.
I would also like to take this moment to TELL YOU TO DO IT.
But only if you agree to the following:
1. Its a Work In Process photo and you remember that at all times — there is no end to the process.
2. You understand that its only one method of tracking your work in process — the scale, measurements, the way your clothes fit, and what other people say to you are all huge indicators of progress too.
3. You will only compare every two to three months (you can and should take them much more regularly so you get to practice and used to taking the photos)
4. You follow the best practice as laid out below…
If I had a dollar for every client that said to me…
“I wish I took photos at the beginning”
In fact just this week one of my clients in The Fitness Collective said just this. Word for word.
Get my enitre library of resources and learn how to Build Confidence, Burn Fat and Build Muscle by Joining the Fitness Collective right here: https://www.thegymstarter.com/the-fitness-collective-sign-up
And I understand why you don’t want to when you start.
You feel scared of failing, and you definitely don’t want a photo to remind you of another moment where you failed. Plus…you’re in this to lose weight…because deep down there are parts of your body you hate…and a “reveal all” photo to send to your trainer when you can’t even make love with the lights on just isn’t happening. Full Stop.
It is a challenge. And a photo isn’t mandatory. But if you have someone who believes in you, as much as I do. If you have someone who is your number one cheerleader then of course you aren’t going to fail and that photo could be something you are immensely proud of and giving yourself that opportunity could be life-changing.
So this is how you do it:
1. Always take your progress photos at the same time of day. Mornings are preferred…as much fewer variables are in play ie: how much food you have eaten that day and therefore how bloated you are.
2. Try and use natural lighting as much as possible. Go outside and get the photo as it is going to be a much truer reflection.
3. Use the same clothing — never change your clothing. It's ok to have a progress photo in a T-shirt, but remember that won’t tell you the whole story…but if you need that comfort that’s ok. But always where the same one!
4. Use the same phone, and put it in the same position! Do not change lenses, do not change angles and do not do it like a selfie. In fact the phone should always be lower than you think. Usually, the best position for the phone in relation to you is about in line with your belt buckle.
5. Put the phone about 6 feet away from you so you can capture your whole body from toe to head on the screen.
6. Keep the phone completely parallel to your body. Do not angle it upwards or downward as it is a variable you will not be able to repeat.
6. Stand naturally…no flexing, no tensing, and no worry. Just be you. Because you are all that matters.
7. Try to put the gridlines evenly across your body, and make sure you stand in the center three boxes. Like this:
And that’s it.
Nearly.
Now the photo is taken…
You then have to wait a minimum of 8 weeks and then repeat the process.
Then…and this is probably the most important part of Work In Process photo.
Send the photos to a professional who can look at them objectively.
I promise you…you won’t see what they see…and what they see is what is really going on. You will be hell-bent on seeing a reduction in your belly, but you will ignore all the differences in your posture, your muscular development, the difference in confidence and so much more.
It takes practice and work to really see what is going on in photos…and that is something you do not have experience in.
I tell you what…if you got this far in this article…email me and I will look at them myself for you…to help you…just email me on adam@thegymstarter.com
How Do You Track Weight Loss With Progress Photos? And Are Progress Photos Useful To Use?
Conclusion
I really hope your biggest take away from this article is the following:
Stop viewing these photos as “Progress” photos or “Before and After” photos. Looking at them in that mindset is helping people manipulate you into buying into very large untruths about their work and the effectiveness of losing weight.
I want you to start realizing they are a “Work In Process” photo.
There is no end. It's just where you are at over this last two to three month period.
A Work In Process photo is useful, but it only reveals one very small and slim side of someone's story. It doesn’t tell you their relationship with food, what drastic measures they have had to go through to get the photo in the first place.
Its just two photos…two or three months apart. You have no idea how happy that person is…and I bet even though they lost some weight…they still aren’t happy.
Because this is the kicker: Losing Weight doesn’t make you happy.
The work and focus on the process of looking after yourself might. But reducing the size of your body will not make you happy…so stop thinking that it will…and above all stop thinking that the people you see in these photos are happy.
If they look happier on one photo compared to another its because they have manipulated it that way…they have slouched and sunken in the first one and stood up straight in the second one.
There’s more to this than you think.
So let's get you focussed on the Process. On the work. On the toil.
And let's get you viewing these photos with a more critical eye when you see them….
And let's get you viewing your own ones as quite simply…
A Work In Process.
Because that is beautiful. Just like you.
Did you find this useful?
You can Join The Fitness Collective which is my Membership Group. In there I give Monthly Updates, Live Q and A’s, I provide you with new workouts each and every month, and write guidance on your fitness journey.
To find out more about The Fitness Collective you can click here: The Fitness Collective
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And above all remember this…for as long as you are trying your best no one can ask for more from you.
Coach Adam
Do You Have Scale Anxiety? Improve Your Relationship With The Scale
We all hate that view, right? Well hopefully not anymore.
This week I spent a long time writing a book called Your Scale Strategy for my Online Clients on The Strong and Confident Program, and it got me to thinking that this information needs to be more “out there”.
Too many people are losing their desire, goals, and success because of two massive issues with the Scale.
They do not know how it works
They do not know how to make it work
My book is called Your Scale Strategy, and I wanted to share my strategy from it, to hopefully help you understand how to make the Scale work in a much better way for you.
Table of Contents for: Do You Have Scale Anxiety? Improve Your Relationship With The Scale
My aim is to give you a strategy for the Scale. This is what we will cover:
We will discuss your perspective of the scale
We will discuss the science of the scale
We will discuss A Workable Plan for you to move forward
Do You Have Scale Anxiety? Improve Your Relationship With The Scale
Before we get into it though let show you what effect this Strategy has had on my client. Case Studies are great because they demonstrate to you that this works for people like you. People who are struggling, people who need real answers to real results, and people who are figuring it out. Slowly by surely.
Let’s take my client, Beverley. Beverley has had limiting beliefs about her weight all her life. She is aware it makes her feel very unhappy, and actively avoids being in photos or videos with friends and family. Bev made a commitment to me to implement this Strategy as it is laid out in my book for at least 30 days. She went from not knowing what her weight was for over 2 years to adopt this plan and is now being consistent in both her behaviors and her fitness regime.
She's incredible. I’m so damn proud of her. But more importantly, she is proud of herself.
Here is what she found in 14 days in terms of her scale weight:
DAY 1 (15 stone 6lbs) and DAY 14 (15 stone 4lbs)
Beverley said the following two weeks in:
“To go from never knowing my weight because of what I thought it meant to me, the judgement that was wrapped up in the number and the ideas of self-disappointment, lack of confidence and constantly feeling like a failure…to now not caring what the scale says. Literally accepting it is just a number, and one that will mess with your head if you let it has been such a huge weight off my shoulders. For years knowing there was something about me I couldn’t confront because of the shame attached to it, meant I wasn’t willing to admit I was ashamed of myself. The scale represented that. But now…after implementing this strategy, it's all gone. All the worry and the angst. The number is just that, a number. Of course, I have goals I want to reach, but knowing I am doing the work each day to ensure that one day in the future it will take care of itself and that I have to be patient, respectful and understand truly how it works is life-changing. I’m no longer scared of the scale. I’m no longer ashamed”
I also made a video all about Beverly’s journey. There are two parts, and in it I discuss the ups and downs of this strategy and what she went through when trying to heal her relationship with the scale.
You can watch that here:
Do You Have Scale Anxiety? Improve Your Relationship With The Scale
Your Perspective of the Scale
I love this meme. Perspective is everything. Is the cup half-full or half-empty? I’m sure you know the “correct” answer to that but this can be so hard to implement in terms of weight loss.
Let's look at your previous unsuccessful journey in terms of weight loss.
You decided to take action — gym, slimming club, eating “clean”
You lost a few lbs
You had a social event you couldn’t avoid
Stepped on the scale again
Gained a few lbs
Thought this will never work
Gave up
Felt awful
Realized this “healthy” ‘thing was never for you
You might do this a few times over…in the course of a month or two…but eventually steps 7, 8, and 9 are the winners. Sound familiar?
Before you shoot me just hear me out. Please.
I am not stalking you. I promise. I’m not a fortune teller (although I did used to be a Magician at the biggest Toy Store in the World — Hamleys) but I promise you I am not reading your mind.
Want to know how I know you have done this time and time again?
Because you are normal. Because I have seen it happen with 99.99999% of the population.
But you think its just you. You think you are the slightly broken one…when you are not. When you are just perfectly normal. Its all about perspective. When you realise that everyone is going through the same struggle as you, when everyone is not actually losing 60lbs every three months, and they are in truth trading lbs day in and day out, up and down every day until over a long period of time they reach a goal (a much smaller goal than they initially thought) then you realise that you aren’t the problem.
The system might be.
Here is a thought:
Maybe the Diet failed you, you didn’t fail at the diet.
Know how I know this? Traditional restrictive diets fail everyone.
And see that shift in perspective, when you start seeing it change thus…you can begin to see that actually what you want is out there. Your goals are achievable.
SUMMARY: Perspective is really important when it comes to the scale. You need perspective with what is relaistic with yourself compared to what you see on Social Media, and you need perspective with the journey as well.
Do You Have Scale Anxiety? Improve Your Relationship With The Scale
The Self Perspective: Empathy
In terms of your perspective, you also need to embrace this word. You need to give yourself a hug a lot more often. In your story of previous unsuccessful attempts, between 6 and 7
6. Thought this will never work
7. Gave up
You need a 6.5: Empathy.
In your 10 point story, you never gave yourself a moment to reflect. The 10 point story happens over a period of time. A one-off example might not be the straw that breaks the camel’s back, but this is a big picture example.
However, I am willing to bet you are doing the same thing not only every time a new diet fails you…but:
Every time you have “bad” food.
Every time you drink some wine.
Every time you chose to go out as opposed to the Gym.
Every time you step on and off the scale.
And over time it all accumulates to you stopping, losing motivation and just wishing it was all a hell of a lot easier.
That number you see, without empathy and love, is a judgement. It's your High School bully laughing at you, it's your greatest fears about how you look and how sexy you feel. It’s a reminder of you being a “loser”, not a winner. It’s a judgement on the food you ate, the wine you had, and the fact you slept in as oppose to work out.
It’s a judgement of your own self-talk saying: “You are useless. Why are you even trying”
And that is all you hear in yourself. You don’t take into account all the other factors that are at play in your ability to adhere to a Calorie Deficit. Things like:
How much sleep you are able to get?
Your personal Finances?
The support of your friends and family?
Your accessibility to be able to exercise?
How stressed you are?
How your mood is?
These few factors alone will have a huge impact on your Calorie Deficit and therefore the number you see staring back at you.
Your whole perspective on the scale is imaginative. And that's not your fault. It’s the fault of the Fitness Industry, The Media, I’m sure you are even thinking that it could be your Mum’s fault or your Partners.
But looking for fault isn’t going to help anyone. You need to change your entire outlook. And when you do, you will be able to treat yourself with the empathy you deserve.
SUMMARY: Empathy is your number one priority when it comes to healing your relationship with the scale. You need to realsie your factors in your life that will impact how adherent to a Calorie Deficit you can actually be, and allow the results you track from that Calorie Deficit to allow for these factors.
Do You Have Scale Anxiety? Improve Your Relationship With The Scale
The Outside Perspective: Comparison
One of my favourite quotes is:
“Comparison is the death of joy”
And it is quite simply because we can’t compare evenly. You spend your life comparing people instantly on Social Media, but the issue with these platforms is they pander to your confirmation bias.
You only see people who have:
Been Succesful
You don’t notice all the people struggling, all the other people not making it…all your brain sees is the successful ones.
My best example of this from my life is what I call “London Underground is Ruining My Life”.
It’s storytime.
Now when I was a young buck at Drama School I got my own flat in London in my third year. Until that point, I didn’t need to spread my wings and fly. But in Third Year enough was enough. And my parents and I managed to afford a flatshare for myself. Of course, this came with the usual expectation of a 21-year-old living in London wanting to live the high life as an “up and coming actor” So obviously I wanted to seduce the women. Luckily I had one who actually said “Yes”.
We had an enjoyable evening. And then I had to spend the next two weeks riding on the tube. And the tube had changed. I promise you. For those not familiar with the London Underground…there is a LOT and I mean a LOT of billboard adverts on the tube.
And I promise you, hand on heart, every single advert, that evening henceforth, was for some sort of Pregnancy thing.
Whether it was Well Woman Vitabiotics, Clear Blue Pregnancy Testing, or even an advert for a West End Show…every advert was about pregnancy.
All 16,000+ of them.
This is a prime example of Confirmation Bias. My world ie: my brain was showing me my fear. All I was looking for was things to back up my own silly hypothesis that I was about to become a Dad.
…
And when you are on Social Media this is what your brain is doing. It is only finding things you want it to find…to confirm your preexisting thoughts about yourself.
To conquer the scale, you must realize that you are normal. You are like 99.9% of the world out there. That is why you have got this far into this article because it resonates with you…and you are not alone.
For example, we are in the midst of an “obesity crisis”. This literally tells you that more people in the world are struggling with this than are succeeding.
So embrace your normality. Understand everyone is in the same boat and the minority is what you believe to be the majority. From there…you can begin to see the wins you are achieving, as opposed to only Stop comparing your Chapter 1 to someone else’s Chapter 14.
Just focus on your journey, your progress, and how far you are coming.
SUMMARY: When we look at ourselves through the prism of comparison we will only ever compare to someone who is doing better than us. We never look down, only up. The more you compare the more your brain will be conditioned to only seeing who is doing better than you, not the reality of society at large.
Do You Have Scale Anxiety? Improve Your Relationship With The Scale
The Science of the Scale
So you have spent the majority of your life being all consumed by this little square block on your bathroom floor, and in truth…you know very very little about what makes up that number.
Which when you think about it…it's crazy.
You don’t really know what it represents, you don’t know what makes up that number and you don’t know all the factors involved in what it says and why it says it.
So let me break it down for you:
The human body as weight is made up of Bone, Organs, Muscle and Fat, and averagely this is split thus:
Bone: Men: 15%; Women: 10%
Muscle: Men: 45%; Women: 37%
Organs: Men and Women: 25%
Fat: Men 15%; Women 28%
These are estimates as its really hard to know the true figures, and we will never know our actual Body Fat Percentage unless we have an Autopsy…which is really inconvenient. Your Body Fat Percentage may well be higher than the average…but its never 100% of what you are.
That's really important to remember.
This is what should strike you the most from those figures:
Your body really isn't made up of much Fat at all…With the Body Fat Percentage figure, you must remember you cannot get to 0% Body Fat as you will die, and it is extremely unlikely you will ever get to >8% Body Fat (Men) and >21% Body Fat (Women) unless you become an Athlete. So what we can realistically effect in terms of Body Fat Percentage is about 8% Body Fat (Female) and 7% Body Fat (Male) based on the above averages. If you carry more Body Fat, this figure will be increased but can be affected more easily.
Your Muscle is Heavy…you have more muscle than you think you do. And Muscle is really hard to lose and really hard to gain. We lose about 3–5% of our Muscle Mass per decade over the age of 30 unless we train to keep it. We can gain muscle at a rate of 0.5lb per week. But even that is rare and takes extreme dedication.
Your weight gain over time isn't likely to be muscle gain. You might have heard that muscle weighs less than fat, which isn’t true.
What weighs more? A tonne of feathers? Or a tonne of bricks?
They are exactly the same weight, and the same is true for 1lb of fat and 1lb of muscle. They both weigh one pound.
Muscle takes up less space over a bone and therefore you can fit more of it onto the space you have available.
Muscle is incredibly hard to build - it's a little easier if you are newer to training but the longer you have been strength training, the longer it takes to build.
In the early days, some of your weight gains might be due to the muscle being built, but if your weight is increasing, and you are in a Calorie Deficit, past the three-month mark as a new gym goer, then it will be due to a caloric surplus and is likely to be fat gain, not muscle gain.
Time for a little PSA.
If you have a Trainer that is telling you, past these parameters, that your weight gain is because you are getting stronger and that it's not due to your Caloric Intake, then you need to get rid of your trainer and hire a better Coach.
I'm sure you have heard that scale weight is affected by a number of factors...and it is. These are:
Water retention from Salt in your diet
Water retention from lifting weights
You need to poop
You ate more yesterday than usual
You had more Carbohydrates than normal in your diet yesterday
Your Menstrual Cycle
This means that the Scale will go up and down like a rollercoaster - even if you are in a deficit.
But it is only water - I promise you. For example, if you eat 1g of Carbohydrates your body absorbs 3g of Water. This si why when you go on a “Low Carb” Diet you lose Scale Weight very quickly. You are indeed losing water - not actual Body Fat.
I recently did a 60 Day weight loss challenge. I lost 4.1kgs in about 60 days and I decided to weigh myself every day for the last 30 days so I could show you what it really looks like:
What a rollercoaster!
Looking at that you can see just how much scale weight fluctuates. There are peaks and whooshes everywhere, and in fact, I don’t think it whooshed on repetitive days once.
Added to that, I wasn’t in a deficit every day either, and the peaks were a lot harder to stomach on the days after I knew I wasn’t in a Deficit.
Even though I knew I wasn’t actually gaining weight, I had more than likely eaten more carbohydrates, it still felt incongruent to my goal, to lose weight.
I knew deep down the result would come provided I was in a Calorie Deficit for a consistent (25/30 days) period of time. I also only managed to make this a success, because I gave it enough time to succeed.
Even after consecutive days of the scale going up, I didn’t give up and therefore allowed myself to see the success I deserved from the work I was putting into it.
I also adopted the following mantra, which I highly recommend you follow:
“All you have to do is get back on track, and you haven’t failed”
I have spent the first half of this article educating you on the Scale - so that you can take all of this knowledge into implementing a plan to help you heal your relationship with the scale.
How Does My Menstural Cycle Effect my Fitness and Weight Loss? <<< Read My Article that has already helped over 100 women understand their Cycle and the effect it is having.
Do You Have Scale Anxiety? Improve Your Relationship With The Scale
So What Is Your Plan for the Scale?
This is your plan. Your schedule is really important, and it has to be easy to follow, otherwise, you won’t continue to do it.
You are going to weigh yourself daily. Every single day.
This study tells you why: HOW WEIGHING YOURSELF MORE REGUARLY WILL KEEP YOUR WEIGHT OFF
But allow me to pull out one key conclusion of the study:
“Findings from the registry suggest six key strategies for long-term success at weight loss: 1) engaging in high levels of physical activity; 2) eating a diet that is low in calories and fat; 3) eating breakfast; 4) self-monitoring weight on a regular basis; 5) maintaining a consistent eating pattern; and 6) catching “slips” before they turn into larger regains”
All of these points are really very important. Although it can be argued you do not need to eat breakfast in order to lose weight as all you need is a caloric deficit, although in this study when they refer to breakfast they refer to cereal (which surprised me!), it doesn’t define what kind at all — cereal is a very broad term, and fruit. It would be my suspicion that it’s due to an increase in Fibre in their diet which is helping here.
Added to that this Study took a cohort of people, and got them to weigh themselves over a 51 week period reducing the frequency of weighing as time went on. The three groups were split thus:
High/Consistent equalling 6 days/week of weighing over 51 weeks
Moderate/Declined equalling 4-5 days/week of weighing and then a gradual decline to 2 days/week over time.
Minimal/Declined equalling 5-6 days/week until Week 33 and then 0 days/week thereafter.
The results were:
“The high/consistent group achieved greater weight loss than either the moderate/declined and minimal/declined groups at 6 months and 12 months, respectively. The high/consistent group had a greater mean number days per week of adherence to calorie intake goal or step goal but not higher than the moderate/declined group.”
And they concluded:
“This is the first study to reveal distinct temporal patterns of self-weighing behavior. The majority of participants were able to sustain a habit of daily self-weighing with regular self-weighing leading to weight loss and maintenance as well as adherence to energy intake and step goals”
The key takeaway here is that weighing yourself every day leads to better adherence to the behaviors that create weight loss: Calorie Deficit and Step Targets to name a couple.
I need to interject here, also. You can lose weight as well if you only weigh yourself once a day. But you need to think of weighing yourself daily as Data collection - not a judgement on what you are doing each day.
The more data you collect, the more informed a decision you can make about what is happening.
You also need to control the variance that can effect the scale reading as much as possible.
So. in order to do that this is your schedule
Wake Up
Go to the toilet
Weigh yourself
Then eat your breakfast / Drink your Tea or Coffee
Always try and weigh yourself in this manner each and every morning.
Before we go any further please read the following:
Don’t get me wrong, there is a cost to every behavior we partake in as humans, and although I am in favor of weighing ourselves daily, I am not blind to the fact it can have negative repercussions too. If you have ever suffered from an Eating Disorder, and/or Mental Health Issues then using the scale in this way should be discussed with your Doctor and your Medical Team.
Do You Have Scale Anxiety? Improve Your Relationship With The Scale
Stop Playing The Scale Lottery
Weighing yourself once a week, once a month or less than this is like playing the lottery.
You will lose.
You are shooting in the dark. You aren’t collecting enough data.
Blindly hoping you get a down day…as opposed to an up day with your weight fluctuations. Even if you hit a down day 50% of the time…the other 50% will be the percentage you focus on…the percentage you remember and essentially the one that will stop you in your tracks.
You need regularity by weighing yourself daily. Weighing yourself daily does mean that you will have to see the number go up - but that’s okay - because you aren’t gaining body fat.
This study took 29 men and made them eat 40% above their Maintenance Calories, which was about 1200-1500kcals extra a day. Over the 8 week period, they gained 9lbs of fat, equivalent to 0.16lbs a day.
Added to that another study took participants and made them eat 1000kcal/day above their maintenance for one week, which lead to a scale weight gain of 1kg for the whole week. This kilogram was then split up into two sections - half of it was muscle glycogen, and the other half was body fat - which means they gained 71g of body weight a day.
This is why we must be very careful about how you look at and analyse the scale data you collect.
With my clients I implement this:
We compare every two weeks. Not every 2 days. Not every 7 days. Not every 10 days.
14 Days. And it’s a lot longer than you think it is.
There is a reason the studies I have spoken about in this article track people for 51 weeks - because weight loss takes time.
Or if you are overly concerned with your Menstrual Cycle and you know that affects your adherence to a Calorie Deficit you can use this model:
And again, we work on a 14-day schedule of comparison.
If you aren’t seeing the results you are happy with you will then need to analyze what you have been doing and amend one of these factors:
Track your Calories more accurately
Increase your NEAT
Increase your Sleep
Increase your Hydration
Increase your adherence to the Five Awesome Rules For Life:
Increase your Caloric Deficit
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Do You Have Scale Anxiety? Improve Your Relationship With The Scale
Metabolic Adaptation
One last thing we need to be aware of in the plan for your progress is Metabolic Adaptation. As you lose weight your Caloric needs will change.
Smaller bodies need fewer calories.
Therefore make sure you go back to the Calorie Calculator every two months and if you have made progress re-evaluate your numbers and see what it says. The change might not be huge, but it will be good to make sure that you are keeping a check on what your body needs and that changes over time.
You can mitigate the effects of metabolic adaption by making sure when you lose weight you continue to strength train with the goal of preserving muscle mass - and eating enough Protein each day.
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Do You Have Scale Anxiety? Improve Your Relationship With The Scale
And That’s It…
It is my belief that you shouldn’t use scale weight as a determinate of who you are unless you know everything there is to know about the Scale. I hope this book has opened your eyes to what goes into the Scale and why it can be a very flippant and testing thing to use to mark your progress and who you are.
So remember these Take-Aways:
You have to gain a better perspective on what the scale is and how weight works otherwise you will lose motivation really quickly.
99.99999% of people find this really hard and struggle to maintain motivation because of how their perspective is.
Give yourself more time - don’t give up before you see your success from your consistency.
One day of a spike isn’t actually fat gain
Get away from the Prison of Time — allow yourself the time this needs and deserves, so you can empathize with your humanity and the stresses of normal life whilst losing weight
Set a sensible Goal Weight and remember that is based around being active as well - and download my Calorie Calculator to make sure you do that.
Weigh yourself Daily this will keep you accountable.
Stop playing the Scale Lottery.
Track your progress every two weeks and be disciplined in this as it will tell you the real picture.
Do You Have Scale Anxiety? Improve Your Relationship With The Scale
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