Summary

Vishal Mehta shares his insights from a 30-day experiment of daily self-weighing, revealing the impact of lifestyle choices on body weight and promoting a sustainable approach to achieving "happy weight."

Abstract

Vishal Mehta embarked on a fitness journey that involved daily weigh-ins, which led to a deeper understanding of his body's reactions to diet, exercise, stress, and sleep. He discovered that daily weight fluctuations are common and can be influenced by factors such as food intake, alcohol consumption, and sleep patterns. This practice improved his motivation and self-control, allowing him to make informed lifestyle changes. He emphasizes the importance of recognizing water weight and its temporary nature, and he encourages others to adopt a similar routine to gain control over their health and achieve their own "happy weight."

Opinions

Daily self-weighing is valuable for understanding the body's response to lifestyle habits.
Numbers on the scale don't always reflect true weight changes and can be misleading without context.
Consistent daily weigh-ins can enhance motivation and self-control, leading to healthier habits.
Achieving "happy weight" is about feeling energetic and looking beautiful, rather than focusing solely on the number on the scale.
Monitoring the four pillars of health—food, exercise, stress, and sleep—is crucial for sustainable weight management.
Drinking plenty of water is counter-intuitively beneficial for weight loss, as it helps the body release excess water.
Daily weighing can reduce anxiety around body weight and empower individuals to take control of their health journey.

HEALTH

I Weighed Myself Everyday for 30 Days and This Is What Happened

I learnt some fascinating truths about my body.

How often do you weigh yourself?

If you are anything like I was a year ago, your frequency is probably once a month. What can you learn from the number you see on scale?

Let’s say you weighed 161 lbs on Jan 1st and the number on the scale dropped to 159 lbs on Feb 1st. Do you celebrate the weight loss? Or is there more truth than what the number is revealing?

The previous version of me would have definitely danced with joy and even partied on this milestone :) But I have learnt that numbers don’t tell the complete story (you can read my recent post).

In the above scenario, what if I told you that the Feb 1st reading of 159 lbs was in fact a weight gain!

Maybe your actual weight on Jan 1st was only 156 lbs, but the 5 lb gain was a temporary fluctuation after the new years eve!

Wait.. what!?

But can you gain 5 lbs over a weekend? Absolutely yes! I mean, the scale would show that number, but what is the truth?

Water weight! Bloating! (I’ll uncover this shortly..)

You might have heard of people carrying vacation weight or water weight after letting themselves go. I never understood that even after reading hundreds of articles online.

Until I started weighing myself every day.

When I started my fitness journey, little did I know that it is a lifestyle change. More on that later — I’m writing a personal story on my journey, which I will release soon, hopefully (stop procrastinating!).

What Did I Gain After Weighing Myself Everyday?

Sorry I couldn’t resist that.. being a huge fan of puns — check my post on bad puns for a chuckle.

Here’s what I gained (knowledge and benefits, not pounds).

1. Understanding of Daily Fluctuations

I became aware of the fluctuations and the cause of it. In effect, I learnt the relationship my body has with my lifestyle. The food, drinks, exercise, stress, and sleep — all contributed to my next reading.

If I had a bowl of peanuts at night while watching Netflix, it would show up on the scale. If I had a stressful work day, it would show up on the scale. Scotch — same thing. Less sleep — ditto!

Everything became clearer about how my body was reacting by retaining water to counter the poor lifestyle. Yes, water weight can actually cause the scale to go up by 5 lbs, after a wild night of drinks, snacks, and less sleep.

2. Improved Motivation and Self Control

As I started noticing patterns in weight fluctuations, I found motivation in trying out some self control.

For instance, I would try and keep the diet and work routine the same, while consciously catching more sleep — to see the results.

Next, I would change another variable — go without drinks for a week — and measure the outcome. As I realized what my actual weight was (after days of seeing a fixed number), I got even more motivated to make incremental changes to my lifestyle.

I felt more in control (who doesn’t like that, right?)

3. Happy Weight

I could predict how my body would behave on the scale, based on the day before. Indulging in a birthday cake while knowing that the fluctuation is a temporary side effect is a great feeling in itself.

With the new found hobby of weighing myself (along with another one — weighing food — will write about this soon), I was on a path towards my happy weight.

A weight that would make me feel energetic and look beautiful :)

The goal became actionable, as I could “design” my days and weeks by listening to the scale. The four pillars of health — food, exercise, stress, and sleep — were more clearer to me than ever.

Btw, I did lose weight (fat essentially), and am very close to my happy weight.

One trigger of weighing myself daily, resulted into a cascading effect of a lifestyle change — that is sustainable and rewarding. (Knock on wood!)

Closing thoughts and some tips..

Weigh yourself everyday (seriously!) but before you eat anything and almost at a similar time.
Record your daily weight, in an app or journal, but with notes on how your previous day was.
Keep a tab on the four pillars — food, exercise, stress, and sleep — and make incremental changes.
Drink lots of water for the body to lose water — haha, this is counter-intuitive, but true.
Enjoy the ride, soon you will lose scale anxiety, and it will all be in your control — feel the power :)

Thanks for reading!

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