Worried On Weigh In Day?

by Kris Pitcher

Stripped down, I take my glasses off before stepping on the scale on Saturday mornings. The house is quiet, I'm the first one up. I feel a mix of anxiety and excitement...of trepidation and at the same time wanting to know. It's body composition day.

Since this isn't something I can do alone, I take my weight measurement...and wait for my husband to wake up, and have his coffee so he can do my body comp. Worried? Well, definitely mixed feelings. This is a routine we go through each week to measure progress.

Progress is a slow process. And each week, especially on weigh in day, I wonder, "Have I done enough this week?" "Did I do enough cardio?" "Is there anything more I could have done?" But each week I have to rest assured, I've given my all. I've done the work.

The challenge is progress is not linear. If I do everything just right I'm not guaranteed to lose a percentage of body fat. I can't count on losing a certain amount of fat each week. The body is much more sophisticated than that. Which is why we measure. We measure so we can adjust. One week might be great, and the next is a "stall" week where your numbers stay the same.

Things are either right on track. Or we can make some adjustments based on my body's response to my plan. My trainer can adjust my nutrition, or my cardio - or both to elicit the response we want.

Keeping that straight in your head is part of the game. Stepping on the scale...in itself is not enough to show me I've done the work. I don't want to lose weight. I want to lose fat. There's a big difference. See?

So, I'll be patient while he has his coffee. After all, we want accuracy in measurements. Then we'll see how my week went. Now I've got just 13 weeks to go until contest time! I know I've done the work, so I have no worries on this weigh in day!