Transcript

Kylie: [00:00:00] Hello everyone and welcome to the Hormone Hub and today’s episode I’m gonna talk about why the scales lie. Alright. Now we have been conditioned by the diet industry that, you know, we need to be a certain number or we should be a certain number. And I know the frustration of, you know, when we’re working hard, we’re being good, we’re doing all the right things, only to get on their scales and see the numbers either going in the wrong direction or not quickly enough in the right direction. So today I just sort of wanna give you some truths about those annoying weight fluctuations, and you know why the scales is not a good measure for us to use, think of it as a tool. You know, it’s a measuring stick, and honestly, ladies, the scales need to go either in the garage or in the bin because they’re a terrible measure [00:01:00] of what’s really going on.

Alright, so, you know, when we lose weight it doesn’t necessarily mean that we are losing body fat because the average, you know, bathroom scale’s got no way of telling us, you know, what our body tissues are doing. You know, and weighing skinny on the scale doesn’t always translate into healthy off the scale.

So I’m gonna go into why. So number one, scales can create an unhealthy fixation on numbers. Okay? So when we are just looking at the number, you know, it can lead to some pretty unhealthy behaviors and obsessions, you know, with weight loss. That, you know, it might not be necessary. It might not be healthy and it might not be realistic, okay?

And it takes up a lot of headspace ladies, and I know this. I’ve been there. And you know, to be able to let go of the scales and let go of that number is very liberating, okay? I promise you. [00:02:00] Now, number two, scales, don’t measure your overall health. Now, you know, it’s not a true measurement of your health and what’s going on.

It’s just one of many variables that we should be taking into account to determine if we are approaching or maintaining an optimal body weight. It’s just a tool, so being healthy involves much more than a number. Okay, so including factors like, you know, your nutrition, your exercise, your sleep, your stress, you know, the amount of inflammation in your body, your mental health, you know, can be guided by the scales.

And I have these conversations all the time. You know, women get on the scales and it’s not what they wanna see and it’s a kilo more, or it’s a kilo over, or it’s, you know, we’re talking tiny numbers and you know, this is when you’ve been good and you’ve been doing all the right things, you know, it’s just such a blow to your self worth, [00:03:00] you know?

So don’t let that number measure your self worth. You are more than a number. Okay? Number three, scales can be a source of stress. So when we’re regularly jumping on the scales and when you are seeing a number that isn’t what you want it to be, it does create stress and anxiety, which is, you know, counterproductive to good health, which makes sense, right?

Because cortisol, which is one of our stress hormones, you know, promotes fat storage. And you know, when we are constantly getting on the scales and we’re becoming obsessed about that number on the scales, you know, it really isn’t doing our, our mental health any good. It’s not doing our stress response any good.

So number four, like is your ideal number that you want to see, is it actually realistic? So things to consider, like how long has it been since you were actually at that ideal weight and when you were at that, you know, perfect [00:04:00] number, was it easy to maintain? Next thing to consider, have you been there recently or are we talking a weight that you were 20 years ago?

Okay. So trying to aim for a number on the scales that was, you know, it was hard to maintain or it was back in your twenties or thirties, or it was before you had kids. It may not actually be realistic. Okay. So we, we kind of have these numbers in our head. Because we’ve been conditioned to, to, you know, weigh ourselves and, and remember the numbers.

And I’ve got women who can rattle off their high school weight, their wedding weight, their pre-baby weight, their, you know, all of the things. And you know, it’s just, Not necessarily realistic for them, or they dieted and got down to a certain weight and they think that’s the weight that they should be, whereas in fact, they could never maintain that weight.

You know, realistically, they sat, you know, maybe five kilos heavier or whatever it was. [00:05:00] Now, with this, like, I’m not saying that we need to, you know, let go totally. And I’m not saying that we need to totally disregard the number. We do want to be a healthy weight and we want to be able to maintain a healthy weight, but I just want you to sort of think about, you know, is it actually realistic?

You know that number that you’re aiming for in your head? Now, number five, scales don’t reflect our body shape or our clothing size. So we can have two women with the same weight and body composition, but have two totally different body shapes and clothing. You know, and this depends on their distribution of fat and muscle.

So instead, I want you to focus on how your clothes feel. You know, are they, are they starting to get looser? Are they starting to get tighter? Can you fit into, you know, clothes that you haven’t worn for a while? Are you zipping up your work pants and they’re a bit easier, you know? [00:06:00] So it is, you know, and if we think of, you know, a kilo of muscle is, you know, like a muscles like a compact small brick.

Okay? So if we’ve got a kilo of brick, you know, it’s a solid heavy bit. And then we could have a kilo of fat is like a kilo of a bulky, lumpy pillow. So think about how much room the, the brick takes up and how much room a kilo of pillow takes up. You know, they’re two totally different things, but they weigh the same.

And this is why, you know, when we gain muscle and then shift body fat, this is why we feel, you know, slimmer. This is why we feel sort of firmer. But the scales may not have actually changed. Okay. Number six, the scales may well be inaccurate too. So if we’ve got a pair of bathroom scales in our bathroom and they’ve been there for 20 years, I would probably put money on it that you haven’t had those scales [00:07:00] recalibrated like ever.

And you know, They can vary in accuracy and the calibration can change, you know, the placement on the floor, the surface they’re on, you know, can all affect their reading. So, you know, don’t take those bathroom scales as gospel. Alright. And number seven is, think about where your hormones are at. Okay? So some women can gain up to four kilos right before or during their period.

Okay? And you know that fluctuation of two to three to four kilos across the space of a month is totally normal. And this is because, you know, we get that natural drop in progesterone just before our period. This can cause, you know, digestive issues, it can cause water retention, can cause constipation, and you know, All of these things can influence the scales.

 We also tend to, you know, have a drop in, you know, magnesium, which drives our insulin levels up, you know, which [00:08:00] leads to cravings, you know, especially for those carby foods. If we’ve been eating lots of carbs or lots of sugar or lots of salt, you know, our body can hold onto water weight. Insulin’s a hormone that’s made by our pancreas.

It keeps our blood sugar levels in check, but it’s also considered a fat storage hormone. So if we’re, you know, going through those fluctuations, we’ve got higher levels of insulin, you know, and potentially it can reflect on the scale as well. Now scales can be misleading. So this is number seven.

Now, seeing a change or what are we up to? Number eight or number nine? Lost count You know me, I’ll just keep talking. So the scales can be misleading. So seeing a change in the weight on the scale doesn’t necessarily mean our health has changed because like I said, our weight can fluctuate for many reasons that it’s got nothing to do with body fat or our overall health. Okay, so the scale just doesn’t weigh [00:09:00] fat. It weighs muscle. It weighs bone, it weighs our organs. It weighs water, it weighs, you know, our digestive system. It weighs our poop. So, you know, we can experience daily fluctuations of two to 400 grams of a big poo that’s still sitting, you know, that you haven’t pooped out yet.

Okay. So, You know, there’s a lot. Everything we go that gets put in needs to come out. So, you know, we can have a fluctuation before a big glass of water. We can have a fluctuation, you know, before and after, you know, going to the toilet. So, you know, just on that, make sure you keep your bowels moving. Ladies, plenty of fluids.

Plant-based fibers, veggies, you know? And if necessary, you know, talk to me, message me, talk to your health practitioner about getting some targeted supplementation because it’s important that we are pooping on a regular basis. Okay, so the next one, maybe number eight, number [00:10:00] nine, not really sure.

Scales don’t differentiate between muscle and fat. So if you are, you know, working, if you are exercising, if you are building lean muscle tissue through weights, yoga, Pilates, you know, whatever you are doing, you might not see a change in weight on the scales even though your body is getting healthier, and likewise, the scales can’t tell if you’ve gained muscle.

So building muscle tissue is metabolically better for you because, you know, fat is sort of, it’s just passive tissue. It just sits there. It doesn’t do anything. It’s our lumpy pillow. Whereas, you know, building muscle means we’ve got, you know, metabolically active tissue. And it means, you know, our metabolism’s ramping up.

So you want that muscle. Okay. And it, you know, building muscle ladies doesn’t mean that we’re gonna turn into the incredible Hulk. We need to let that go. Building muscles and, you know, it can be through Pilates, it can be through yoga, weight training, [00:11:00] resistance training, strength training, body weight training, you know, all of this.

It is important to be, you know, developing that lean muscle tissue and, you know, when we are dropping body fat and building muscle tissue, you know, it can be possible to lose centimeters and not see a change in the scales. Okay. I’ve had clients who have dropped up to, you know, 34, 38, 40 centimeters and only seen like two or three kilos move on the scales.

So, but, you know, dropped a dress size. So what would you rather do? Drop a dress size or, you know, see a number? Okay. So the next one is, you know, it doesn’t take body composition into account, so two people with exactly the same weight. So two women with very different body compositions, but they’re the same weight.

So one, it’s same weight, same height, one can have more muscle and less fat, and the other one can have more fat and less muscle. So, like [00:12:00] I said, you know, the more muscle we have, the more energy our body burns, even when we’re just sitting around. So we’ve got that metabolically active tissue. And you know, it’s also a reason why a fit active person is generally able to eat more than, you know, a chronic dieter who is, you know, unknowingly breaking down and losing that muscle tissue and doing that metabolic damage. And the last final one is scales can be affected by water weight. So when we wake up and you know, we are told to weigh yourself first thing in the morning after you go to the toilet, blah, blah, blah. So we’re waking up, we are fasted all night. We’re generally, we’re completely dehydrated and this is our lowest weight of the day.

So, you know, this is why they say have a wee, weigh yourself before you eat, drink, blah, blah, blah. But you know what doesn’t come into consideration is where you’re at in your menstrual cycle. Did you eat salty [00:13:00] foods last night? Did you have, you know, some pasta last night? You know, something that’s, you know, causes you to temporarily hold onto water in your cells.

How much inflammation is going on in your body, you know, our hydration levels. You know, if we have a liter of water that’s a kilo of water we’ve just put into our body. So if we get on the scales dehydrated, you know, first thing in the morning, see the number. If I go off and drink a kilo, uh, liter of water, that’s a kilo of water.

I’m gonna be a kilo heavier on the scale. You know, makes sense. And it’s got, you know, that weight fluctuation has got nothing to do with actual changes in body fat. And likewise, if you get on the scale and you’ve gone up two or three kilos overnight, you have not put on two or three kilos of body fat overnight.

Alright, so the bottom line is these sort of yo-yoing numbers have nothing to do with your long-term progress. [00:14:00] And you know, it’s just one part, it’s one measuring tool and it’s a pretty lousy one. Okay. To be honest. So what we wanna do instead in, you know, this is what I do with all of my clients in the Well-Balanced Woman program, is we have a look at, you know, we have a progress tracker.

And we get you to list all of the things going on. So how are your energy levels? How’s your sleep? How’s your mood? How are your hot flushes? How are your night sweats? How’s your bloating? How’s your, you know, digestion? Are you pooping regularly? How’s your skin, how’s your, you know, like all of these, how’s your mental health?

How’s your body confidence? So measuring these things is when we start to see progress in the right direction. So we start off, you know, measure everything out of 10, you know, and then come back in two or three weeks and measure it again. Oh, my headaches that I was having daily have gone, [00:15:00] you know, my, my work pants zip up.

 I’m not bulging out of my work pants. I’m going to the toilet every day. I’m sleeping. I’m a much nicer wife, you know, so I feel more confident in my own skin. I feel better in my own skin. I’ve got more energy. So I’m now getting up a half an hour earlier and going for a walk or doing that Pilates class online.

You know, these are the things that truly measure the changes in your health. So when we get improvements in your physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing, we are moving in the right direction, you know, and weight loss comes as a side effect of that. It’s when we focus on the number and focus on, you know, the diet or the calories or the obsession about that food.

It takes up so much head space. You know, we are, we’re smarter than this. You know, we don’t need for that to be taking up this real estate in our heads. You are [00:16:00] amazing. You are not a number, okay? I want you to remember that. You are more than a number. Alright, well, I hope you enjoyed this and much love to all of you because yeah, you are worth way more than a number. All right? Thanks everyone. Bye now. I’ll see you in the next episode.