by Ciaran Russell

The weighing scales can be a source of a lot of different emotions for people but that doesn’t have to be the case. The purpose of a scales is to measure the weight that is placed and that’s it. It won’t tell you if you have lost body fat, or tell you you have drop a clothes size or even that you can play with your kids without getting out of breath.When looking to lose weight the main aim for using a weighing scales is to track progress over a long period of time. If there has been a change in weight in a short period of time this is unlikely to be a loss of body fat. Weight fluctuations can occur for many reasons. These include; increased salt intake, stress, lack of sleep, water retention, hydration levels and food volume.Giving power to the weighing scales can determine how you feel your progress has gone for any given week. It’s important to have a check in with yourself if you find that your mood changes after checking your weight. You can check in by asking yourself some questions like; how do you feel, how has your sleep been, have you laughed this week, did you hit your daily goals; calorie targets, step count, and protein target. If the number on the scales causes some unwanted distress consider using a different method of tracking your weight loss journey. Other ways to monitor progress can be taking before and after photos, how you feel, energy levels, clothes fitting better, improved fitness or getting stronger, if resistance training. The main thing to know is fat loss and weight loss are not the same thing. If a consistent calorie deficit is in place fat loss will occur but in this period of time body’s eight can fluctuate due to various reasons.If this is something that you are struggling with and would some extra support you can contact me by emailing ciaran@ciaranrussellcoaching.com or find me on Instagram @ciaranrussell_coach.