Do You Have a Love/Hate Relationship with The Scales? Part 1

Weighing yourself at home is not a good idea if you are getting help on your weight loss journey. Different scales can give different readings, leading to confusion as to what you actually weigh. It’s not unusual for your weight to fluctuate between .5lbs – 1llb on a daily basis due to water retention, what you ate and drank the day before, the time of month for women and if you exercised etc.

For this reason, weighing yourself once a week on the same scales provides the most accurate account.

Scales are only a tool

A weighing scales only indicates how much the body weighs including, fat, muscle, tissue, organs etc. It does not determine the individual weight of these aspects, for example, the scales do not take into consideration that muscle weighs twice as much as fat.  When people tell me that they want to lose weight, what they really mean is they wish to lose body fat. The scales will never tell you how much of your weight loss is down to fat loss. This is why using a weighing scales every day is not helpful and instead can make you feel disheartened.

In the clinic I focus more on healthy balanced eating, increasing energy and overall wellbeing. By improving your eating habits, the weight loss will come as a welcomed side effect.

Carbohydrates can influence your weight

Carbohydrates are vital in the body and need to be consumed in the correct portions if you are on a weight loss journey. I despair when I hear that individuals are on a “low carb diet” as it just screams unhealthy. When you are on a low carbohydrate diet, normally fewer than 20g (100 Kcals) of carbohydrates are consumed daily. On a calorie restricted diet of 1,200Kcals this would mean 8% of calories are coming from carbohydrates. In contrast we are recommended to consume 45% - 65% of our calories from carbohydrate containing foods. When carbohydrate intake is fewer than 100g in a day the body will respond by burning muscle for glycogen (stored glucose). When the glycogen stores run out the body then resorts to burning fat; it is a complex way to the produce the blood sugar the body needs.  The body will resort to producing energy this way when you go into starvation protective mechanism (as discussed previously). By making blood sugar this way it can lead to feeling lightheaded, nauseous and fatigued etc. Reducing your carbohydrate intake to shed pounds is not advisable especially when the brain needs a minimum 130g of carbohydrates daily to function. 

Whelehans Nutrition Service

Whelehans nutritional service is a private one to one advice service with our nutritionist Aisling Murray. Aisling’s areas of interest include weight loss management, nutrition education and food intolerance. Our nutrition service offers you the chance to change your life in a positive way by focusing on your overall wellbeing as well as the chance to follow up on your progress.

Aisling Murray has a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition and offers a one to one specialist nutrition service at Whelehans Pharmacy. Call Whelehans at 044 93 34591 for an appointment. Aisling’s Nutrition Clinic costs only €10 per week.