Comments

"What gets measured gets acted on."

This holds for customer service, quality, # of women hired.

And for weight.

Most effective metrics are a) easy to make b) hard to work around c) make us uncomfortable when they are out of whack.

And what more crucial than a person's weight? The easiest and most effective look at health.

Good for you, Tom.

Posted by Joe Ely at October 11, 2006 12:48 PM

Whatever works. For me, I decided at the ripe old age of 49 to become a gym rat. No idea why. I don't weigh every day, but I do workout every day - sometimes twice a day. It's a different kind of measurement, but my simple mind can calculate it quickly. Did I work out today? YES or NO. YES is better. Nuff said.

Posted by Leonard Klaatu at October 11, 2006 12:52 PM

So, yes where do you get off offering weight reduction advice?

I work in weight management and offer management advice routinely so all's fair.

You are right, conventional wisdom is that weighing daily is not a good thing and, at the maximum, weighing-in should only be weekly. Unfortunately, it is not advice based on substantive data. Instead, if you look at successful weight losers you will find that the majority weigh themselves at least daily. Many of these successful losers have a range that they are willing to tolerate (e.g. +/- 5 pounds)and if they go outside of that self-imposed range they are "triggered" to use their weight-losing behaviors that have helped them in the past. The key is probably to understand the factors which can impact your weight, e.g. water retention, constipation, new drug regimen etc. in addition to the factors that cause actual fat tissue increase (i.e. overconsumption of high energy foods and decreases in physical activity which leads to energy imbalance and fat storage). Understanding your weight change patterns over time will lead to better and more focused weight loss attempts.

Posted by Helen at October 11, 2006 1:17 PM

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Posted by sean at October 11, 2006 1:21 PM

I've been amazed at what Seth Robert's "Shangri-La Diet" has done for me. Not a diet, but a way to adjust set point and bring the weight down.

http://www.sethroberts.net

Posted by David at October 11, 2006 1:33 PM

It's all about trends. It doesn't matter if you're up a pound on Monday because of water or not, because over time, it all averages out.

People think about many measurements as something to game every day, instead of leaving things be and looking at it over the long haul. Losing weight is no different than building your investements. Market might be up or down, but over time, you want to be going in a obviously visible direction.

Posted by Andy Lester at October 11, 2006 4:34 PM

Dear Tom:

One more time you hit where it hurts.

For some years I have heard from a lot of different people: from Doctors, family and friends a lot of theories to lose weight.

And considering this I have made a little synthesis about all of this comments and found some things that are useful:

I believe that the main problem in a simple way is:

-The body needs energy during the day.
-People eats much more energy that needs in one day.

If somebody gain more weight in 5 or 10 years, don't hope to loose them in months.

People need to learn how to eat. Nobody teach this in our days.

And over everything, this is related with habits.

Eating well is a good habit. Very hard. But when you practice it, you can be better at it.

With best regards

Juan Miguel Robles Vargas
Deisa
Guadalajara, Mexico

P.S. Mexico population is the second place in fat people in the world. Big problem?

Posted by Juan Miguel Robles Vargas at October 11, 2006 5:25 PM

I disagree with weighing every morning, and it has nothing to do with whether there is some kind of conventional (or unconventional) evidence as to whether it works better or not. Its all mental.

When I choose to lose weight (lost 25 this summer between June 10 and August 23) I weigh once a week. I know water, how much you ate last night, what time of day you weigh, etc etc makes a difference. But if you weigh in at the same time of the same day of the week, every week, you should be able to pick up on the "trend" of where your weight is going.

I like this better than every day because I avoid the psychological stress of wondering "how the hell did I gain two pounds overnight?" when all I ate the day before was chicken breast, salad and egg whites.

Its the difference between being a buy-and-hold investor or a frazzled day trader interpreting every socio-political event as a reason to buy or sell.

Posted by Paul at October 11, 2006 5:53 PM

As David Maister said in Strategy & the Fat Smoker (http://changethis.com/24.StrategyFatSmoker) “Debating which goals to pursue …is a nonsensical process if you lack the discipline to stick with the (different) diet and exercise programs that each of these requires. The only meaningful debate is which diet you are really ready to get on."

I have been away from a working scale the last 8 weeks and knew I had put on some weight. When I saw my doctor today the 1st thing she said to me was "5 pounds...".

It is time to get a new scale.

Posted by Jeff at October 11, 2006 7:51 PM

I'm a fan of the every-day approach myself, for the simple reason that I need the feedback. Even though there's a lot of "noise" (the weird two-pound swings due to water or odd digestive cycles, etc.), you can spot the trend in a week to a week and a half. The demoralizing days where it goes backwards are worth the days where there's a drop, or I've held on to previous gains (losses).

Plus, like everything, I thrive on constant feedback. If I don't have a scoreboard to watch like a hawk, I rationalize like mad and get distracted by every glittering (sugary) bauble.

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Posted by matthew at October 12, 2006 12:06 AM

Re-Tox it's the only way to go!

Posted by PaulH at October 12, 2006 2:34 AM

Visiting the scales hourly, daily, weekly, monthly or yearly isn’t really the issue for me. I beleive that is merely a mixture of ‘mindset’ and a reflection of the personality trait of the individual to some degree. The frequency in my case always reflects my own state of mind about the success of my current weight control programme. When I am motivated and focused about weight control or weight loss I visit the scales very regularly, if truth be told, for positive re-enforcement. If my exercise and dieting focus slips (like right now!) then I avoid the scales as I just KNOW the bad news that waits. Leadership and management lessons here methinks - the only time I am EFFECTIVE in my weight loss or weight control is through hard work, focus and most important looking in the mirror and saying to myself – Did you try hard enough today? Sticks and carrots I guess - hey better to eat carrots than sticks of course :-)

Posted by Trevor Gay at October 12, 2006 3:24 AM

I think that the debate over whether you weigh yourself daily, weekly or whenever is largely irrelevant: ultimately what matters is that you weigh yourself as frequently as you feel comfortable with as part of your weight management strategy. What really matters – as some of the contributors above have mentioned – is that you get into the good habit of eating well, exercising and taking care of your body, i.e. taking responsibility for and managing your health and your fitness. Moderation may be boring (and 100% antithetical to Tom’s approach to many business matters!) but this is one situation where the steady tortoise nearly always beats the erratic hare.

Posted by Mark JF at October 12, 2006 4:03 AM

I don't think moderation is boring the key to me is mixing moderation with some retox occasionally

Someone told me recently (I can't remember the source so it must be true!) that the occasional bender actually stimulates the body's natural detox.

To take a Life Coaching perspective - take a look at what worked for you in the past (even if it was temporary) and look at this success to help move forward.

Posted by PaulH at October 12, 2006 6:28 AM

After hovering around the 193lbs mark, I decided to make some small changes this year. Stop drinking that Southern delicacy Sweet Tea was the first thing my health conscious better half indicated that needed to be done. I increased my workout sessions and added lifting weights. In addition, the weekends were filled with clearing my property by hand since the burn bans have been lifted. After 2 months of this… drum role please… Yep, I gained 3lbs. Arrrggggghhhhhh….

Posted by RTodd at October 12, 2006 6:48 AM

I appear to be "weighing in" on this issue a bit late but will offer my own opinion--a what-works-for-me personal opinion--nonetheless. After a "false positive" result to a cholesterol screening back in January ("you'd better see your doctor right now because you don't have any reason to be alive") I took my diet (diet, not "dieting") more seriously. Since then I've dropped 35 pounds. I've weighed in each morning and I've come up with a written daily exercise plan. Nothing extreme but the week before, I list what I need to do the following week: climb stairs, walk, lift weights and how many times I'll do each. Day-by-day, I tick mark each activity as I accomplish it. Someone mentioned "what gets measured gets done." Exactly. Paul also mentioned is very successful weight loss regimen this summer. A great thing and honestly, as I embarked upon my program, I didn't NEED to weigh myself daily. I KNEW I was dropping prodigious poundage but I wanted to know what I was celebrating. Today, as I've reached my goal, the weigh-in's important. It keeps me there. Swinging up 5 pounds would be unacceptable. It would indicate my plan's not working and it would indicate the need for at least some moderate binge dieting to recover lost ground and that's not what this is about. It's about tweaking a new lifestyle and recalibrating--in my case, daily--how I live to maintain it. how to get viagra sydney

As a final note, I'd suggest going back to the Cool Friends interview with Ray Kurzweil that was posted late last year. Whenever there's a question as to the reward for eating a piece of fruit instead of a half-pint of Ben and Jerry's (actually, I can't recall ever stopping at just a half-pint), I reread it. Better yet, get Fantastic Journey and read it (carefully, twice). Ed

Posted by Ed Di Gangi at October 12, 2006 6:55 AM

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TP - consult ONLY radically always LEAN - been @ 7% forever - BUT always talk to LEAN people for latest tips. Lift HEAVY weights 1 time 30 mins. per week [not 2] ... must add muscle to boost metabolism ... dine high protein & low to moderate glycemic load.

Posted by sean at October 12, 2006 8:29 AM

Different Strokes for different folks, right? I don't even own a scale, so daily measurement isn't my thing. Instead, I take a look in the mirror and think, "Time to start going to the gym again." Then I do, until I feel decent, and inevitably get lazy. :) Thus, the cycle repeats. (Now if I could only get down this "healthy eating" habit that people keep talking about...I'm trying though!) viagra 100 mg prices

And RTodd, if you put on 3 lbs after all that work, its probably muscle. Muscle weighs more than fat, and by lifting weights you most likely did burn fat, but increased muscle mass as well. Well done!

Posted by Nick Adams at October 12, 2006 10:57 AM

At the moment i am on a 10 week challenge to lost 10 kilos in 10 weeks. I find i need to weigh myself everyday to keep focused. By weighing myself at the start of each day, i know exactly where I am and where I am headed.

I only do it at the beginning of each day as soon as i have woken up. I want to be able to be honest with myself.

It works for me, no matter what health professionals say.

Posted by Evielyn at October 12, 2006 4:39 PM

viagra for sale in texas Tom, try holy basil (Indian basil preferred) leaf tea: 7-10 leaves boiled with a cup of water. It's also a relaxant of sorts so I warn thy exuberant self.

But boy, does it deal with the water retention thing! An excellent memory enhancer too!

Posted by Ramla A. at October 19, 2006 10:10 AM