Weighing myself daily improved my relationship with the scale

• Weighing myself daily and calculating a weekly average of my weight helped me improve my relationship with the scale.
• I learned the number fluctuates based on factors that don't reflect fat loss or gain.
• Now I see the number on the scale as pure data, and it doesn't affect my mood.

Every morning for a few months, I would get up, go to the bathroom and wash my face, then step on the scale and jot down my weight. At the end of the week, I would add up the numbers for the past seven days and calculate an average to more accurately assess my progress.

While this may sound like an unhealthy obsession, it was actually an experiment that led me to develop a much healthier relationship with the scale.

As a teen and young woman, I'd been taught by society that my weight reflects my worth and the number on the scale was to be feared, so I would either weigh myself weekly or avoid it altogether.

But as I learned more about weight and body composition, I decided to try something new in a bid to improve my relationship with the scale. And it worked.

I first heard the idea of daily weighing and weekly averages from personal trainer and fat loss coach, Jordan Syatt.

When working with fat loss clients, Syatt recommends either taking the daily weigh approach, or doing it monthly. He said by comparing your weight month to month, it's easier to assess overall improvements.

After trying out Syatt's approach for myself, I see the number on the scale as nothing more than data, because I'm now armed with understanding.

I know why the scale number fluctuates and can even predict it now - I see spikes before my period (sometimes as much as seven pounds) or the morning after a big, salty meal, for example.

If you're trying to lose weight, using the scale to track your gains or losses can be frustrating. A holistic understanding of why weight may change from day-to-day can be really helpful to stay positive and motivated.

The number on the scale fluctuates a lot, but it doesn't reflect fat loss or gain, experts say

The scale can be one way to measure weight loss progress (most experts prefer measurements and photos though).

However, the number will fluctuate based on many factors, including where a person is in their menstrual cycle, whether you've been eating more carbs, how late in the evening your last meal was, and what you actually ate. (Salty meals can lead to more water retention, which can change the look of your body).

"Scale weight isn't necessarily indicative of changes in fat mass," personal trainer Ben Carpenter explained in a previous Instagram post.

Weighing myself daily, not weekly, was helpful when I wanted to lose fat

When I weighed myself weekly, I ended up feeling really nervous about each weigh-in, thinking all my progress for the week was riding on the number, and I felt annoyed if I wasn't able to use the toilet just before stepping on the scale.

When I started weighing myself daily, the scale barely budged for the first two weeks, which was frustrating.

"If you associate your weight with body fat, when the scale spikes up, you think you must be gaining weight too," Syatt previously told Insider.

But I didn't quit, and as I continued, I started to notice patterns and learned what factors, from the food I was eating to where I was in my cycle, made my body retain water.

Daily weighing isn't for everyone, but it can be a great educational tool

The experience of weighing myself every day opened my eyes.

The process taught me that weight loss isn't linear, and experts like Syatt agree. For most people, the scale will go up and down, so it's important to take a step back, look at the bigger picture, and aim for a downward trajectory in the long-run.

That said, the daily weighing approach may not be right for everyone.

I'm a numbers person: I love data and tracking, so it's not hard for me to step on the scale every morning, jot down the number, then do a quick calculation at the end of the week to determine the average. For some people, that's a lot of hard work and effort which could be better used elsewhere.

This method also might not be the right approach for people with a history of disordered eating and obsessive behavior around food, exercise, and their bodies. For example, a 2011 study of 145 subjects by Boston University found that people who weighed themselves regularly had higher levels of body dissatisfaction.

But for others, taking the weekly average of their daily weigh-ins may be more beneficial than harmful. A 2016 meta-analysis of 29 studies on the psychological impact of self-weighing by the University of Sheffield found that for the most part, frequent weighing was not linked to adverse psychological outcomes. And this small 2020 study of 54 men by the University of Córdoba, suggests regular self-weighing results in greater weight loss.

For me, daily weighing was something I did briefly as an educational tool.

I'm no longer trying to lose weight, but I do weigh myself from time to time - mainly so I can assess my weight-lifting progress and compare my lifts to my bodyweight.

Sometimes I still have to fight the voice in the back of my head telling me that seeing a higher number is bad, but generally, I really do just see my weight as data. I see the number, know what might have changed it, and then get on with my day.