The following is an excerpt from Driven to Change: How to Turn a Fat Loss Failure into An Instant Success. Find out more by going here!

It makes no sense to weigh yourself every day (or sometimes every week!). The average woman’s weight can fluctuate 6-8 pounds (for guys 6-12 pounds). Besides the fluctuations its not even the best way to evaluate your progress (body measurements, body fat% and strength numbers are way more important). Heck for physique competitions or competitors in Mixed Martial Arts, they can drop over 20 pounds in two days, but its not fat, its water and other components. Remember weight loss does NOT equal fat loss always.

So before you strangle the Easter Bunny over “not losing weight” keep these factors in mind.
The most common factors that affect your current weight are:

1. The amount of sodium you’ve recently consumed (more salt= more stored water= more weight, more weight= broken mirror, so check your labels and only consume max 2400mg sodium a day)

2. Time of the month (for women can cause bloating and extra weight, for men extra sass)

Put the bathroom scale down and no one gets hurt…

3. Time of the day (when you wake up with an empty stomach, you weigh less than in the evening, much less so always weigh at the same time)

4. Your stomach content (what you’ve eaten so far today, whether there is indigestion in there and/or food intolerances that can cause bloating)

5. Bathroom time (whether you’ve used the bathroom that day or not for both purposes)

6. The amount of carbohydrates recently consumed (every 1 gram of carbohydrate attracts 2.8 grams of water so that pasta could be making you hold an additional 2-3 pounds. This is why people believe low carb diets work, when they drop the carbs they drop radical weight)

This will probably add a pound…or two…or ten

7. Amount of muscle glycogen in your body (are your muscles full and fresh or depleted? Depending upon how much “energy” your muscles have indicates how much your muscles presently weigh).

8. Water consumption- how much you drank prior to the weigh-in and whether it is still in your body or not.

9. Stress levels- the more stressed out you are, the more likely you are to retain your fat and hold water (don’t let this stress you out!)

10. Scale calibration- is the thing EVEN WORKING? Most scales differ by at least a small difference and when you weigh week to week this could prove fatal!

Remember, the scale doesn’t control your emotions, you do. And thats a special thing.

Gosh Darn it People Like Me!

Find out how to speed up your transformation with Driven to Change, your fat loss guide.

Related posts:

1. 12 Keys to a Leaner You (Rapid Fat Loss) Week 7: Persistence
2. Fatass to Badass- Week 3: What to Eat, When to Work Out, How Much Water, Training When Sick
3. Top Ten Reasons For Failed Body Transformations
4. Overtraining vs Under recovery: The truth, the lies, the solution
5. Top Ten Reasons For Failed Body Transformations Part II