Does Your Weight Fluctuate?

Every so often, you get the urge to hop on the scale and see where you're at, wondering where your relationship with gravity lies.  Maybe its up, maybe its down.  Who knows how gravity is going to affect you today. Quick physics lesson- The pull of gravity is different at different latitudes, so if you want to weigh a little less, move closer to the equator, or weight a little more go towards the poles.
9 times out of 10 I'd be willing to bet that your mood the rest of the day is going to be a result of what that scale tells you.  The problem is, it doesn't tell you the full story of what's going on in your body.
  
Before we get to what's going on in your body, lets first take a look at what makes up your scale weight?

• Muscle
• Bone
• Waste
• Fat
• Glycogen Storage
• Water

and let's take a look at what it's not measuring 

• Sleep Quality
• Stress
• Health
• Strength

Still think it's a good way to measure your progress?  Those are some variables that'll play with the number on the scale.  Yea, to a degree it can show you if you're trending towards your goals, but the mirror, pictures, how you feel and how your clothes fit are better indicators of success and progress.

Weight is going to fluctuate.  It's just how the body works.  It's going to change depending on what time of day it is, what you ate, what you drank, what you wear, what the weather is among many other reasons.  

Here's a little run down of how much your weight could fluctuate in a day.
from Dr. Melina Jampolis, who wrote The No-Time-To-Lose Diet:



For every 16 oz of fluid you consumed, that's an immediate gain of
1 pound

Need to poop?  Being backed up can cause a weight retention of as much as
2 pounds

Air pressure changes in flights that take 4 hours or longer will actually increase fluid retention typically to the tune of
2 to 3 pounds

Have a high sodium dinner and you'll likely find yourself waking up heavier by
2 to 3 pounds (Maybe more)

That time of a month?
Hormone fluctuations for up to a week leading into your period, or for the guys truly connected to their wife's pregnancy, expect a water weight gain of up to
5 pounds

So, if you're a thirsty, constipated, frequent flier, with a penchant for pizza and heading to that time of month, expect a quick shift in the scale of up to:
19 pounds !!

What if you worked out?  Doing any sort of strength training is going to lead to some water gain, not necessarily water retention associated with bloating, but water gain within muscle cells. Sometimes that water retention can last for 4-52 hours.

That's some intense weight gain right there!  Not necessarily fat gain and most likely completely temporary. But the stress and freak out over the tiniest increment will still happen without a thought as to why it might have happened. 

So don't freak out over every little half pound or pound(s) gain or loss.  If you're doing your work, which means eating well, exercising, and adding in daily movement, then you should have nothing to worry about. 

Remember its not about weight loss.  It's about changing your body composition and about fat loss.  

What's Your Story?

"When you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then you'll be successful." -Eric Thomas
 
What's your story? 

What's the story you're telling yourself? What kind of things are you telling yourself?

When someone has the capability, strategy, plan and tools to succeed...but still doesn't...the problem often lies in the story they're telling themselves.  

They can't succeed because of _____.
It comes down to excuses.  What kind of excuses do you use for why you're not where you want to be?  

Time, Energy, Money?
We're all going to spend time, energy and money on our health.  It is inevitable.  But we all have a choice as to WHEN we spend that time, energy and money.  Are you going to be proactive about your health?  Are you going to start exercising and following a sound nutrition plan (both available at AMP)?
Or are you going to be reactive?  Staying on the same path of inactivity, making poor nutritional choices, and ending up sick.   

Change Your Story
There is no good reason as to why you can't succeed.  So stop believing and telling yourself that!  You CAN succeed! You CAN reach your goals!  
All it takes is changing your self-talk and start believing in yourself.  

Take responsibility for your thoughts, words, belief system, and mindset just like you do with anything else you want to be successful with.  This is the heart of what determines who you are going to be, who you are shaping yourself to be.  

Cleanses

It's the beginning of 2015 and inevitably its time to see all the "I'm doing ___ cleanse or ___ detox to rid myself of toxins."  Or even worse, I see ads for people trying to sell this cleanse or this detox, promising instant results, instant gratification.  But you know what else will give you instant weight loss?  

Chopping your arm off!

So whenever I read about this stuff, it gets me really agitated because it seems that these people prey on peoples emotional attachment to weight loss.  And if you know me and my sarcastic nature, my immediate response to cleanses is "What is it? Drain-O? And my response to any detox is "What kind of drug are you getting off of?

Looking to clean out your pipes, get rid of that built up grime? Drain-o seems to work to clear plumbing in your bathroom, why not your internal plumbing(clearly I'm being sarcastic, please don't go and drink Drain-o)

First things first, there is no need to do a cleanse if you are eating a healthy diet. That healthy eating will, itself, make your body healthier and remove all of the “toxins."  If you want to replace all the processed garbage you are eating with fruits and vegetables, go for it.  Most likely you'll lose some amount of weight just doing that.  Remember though that there is no quick weight loss solution. If you want to lose weight, eat clean whole, natural foods. Eat a well-balanced diet of fruits, vegetables and meat. (Shoot I would even say a well-balanced diet of vegetables and meat, which is completely the opposite of some of those fruit and sugar-laden cleanses!)

Second, the whole premise of these cleanses stems from the fact that they try to convince you that your body is like an air filter in a car that builds up junk.  This however ignores basic physiology in that the liver & kidneys are quite efficient in eliminating anything harmful to your body on a daily basis.  That's one of their main roles in the body.  If you don't believe me, you can pick up a biology book in the library(do those exist) or just Google "Function of the Liver"

There are many, but my favorite seems to be the juice cleanse and you have to ask the question of "Why a juice cleanse?"
What about them makes them so appealing?  Is it the celebrity endorsements or the exaggerated promised weight loss, weight being 100% arbitrary because you don't really care if its from water, fat(doubtful), or muscle mass.
Why is it so easy to convince people that all you need are 6 juices a day, all mushed up in a bottle, but convincing anyone to take those fruits and vegetables in the bottle, keep them whole and just freaking eat them is so hard?
It's really that simple.  Next time you think about a juice cleanse, ask yourself "Why am i doing this?"

Is it really that much healthier for me, or would I get more nutrition and more benefit out of eating all this produce? 

Lastly, if there is no physiological reason for results, if there is nothing credible behind it, then maybe its just a load of phooey.