By Katie Welborn, Nutritional Therapy Practitioner

Raise your hand if you have ever felt personally victimized by your bathroom scale.

The scale is kind of like your pessimistic friend Karen — she doesn’t exactly outright lie, but she only tells half of the story, thereby painting a distorted view of reality.

The number on the scale is DATA. Those numbers do not hold moral value, nor do they tell a complete story of your health.

The number on the scale can be influenced by so many things, like:

How much did you sleep last night?
Are you pooping regularly?
Did you recently change your exercise program?
Where are you in your monthly cycle?
Did you consume alcohol recently?
Have you eaten already today?

Again, the number on the scale is just one small piece of the puzzle. If weight loss is a goal for you, I would encourage you monitor your scale weight, in addition to some other measurements, like:

waist circumference
body fat percentage
before / after pictures
how clothes fit & feel
performance in the gym
quality of sleep
appetite
energy
mood

Don’t focus too much on the scale - it’s only one piece of the puzzle.