My Frenemy the Scale

I got on the scale at the gym on Tuesday morning and I was down two pounds. Two pounds! Psychologically it gave me the mental boost I needed to bang out a good workout. Thursday morning I returned to the gym, got on the scale, and I gained five pounds. Five pounds?? WTF.

I couldn't help but feel deflated. When women get their period (as I had that Thursday) their body doesn't cooperate in more ways than one. According to Weight Watchers, the biggest culprit of weight gain during a menstrual cycle is water retention.  Read "Menstrual Cycle and Weight Gain." But they assure me that it's minor and temporary. I don't really consider five pounds minor when I'm knocking off a mere one to two pounds a week. Two things will help offset the water retention: lower your sodium intake and drink more fluids. I'll keep that in mind for next time.

This actually raises a bigger issue for me though. How often is too often to get on the scale? I struggle to resist the call of the scale when I walk into the gym. I want to know at any given time just how much weight I (hopefully) lost. But our bodies can fluctuate as much as three pounds a day. So, daily weigh-ins are a sure saboteur to any progress. I'm going to try to get on the scale once a week - the same day, the same time. And maybe next month at this time I avoid the scale altogether before it ends up mangled in the locker room trash.