Tom’s September Update

I’ve been weighing myself lately. And I’m coming to terms with the idea that, through thick and thin (har har), it’s a healthy habit all by itself.

When things are going smoothly — I’m eating right, fasting overnight and through the morning, and getting moving every day — I usually weigh myself on the regular. However, when my habits slip, I start avoiding the scale. Without concrete data, I tell myself, “It can’t be that bad; my jeans still fit.” Without those numbers staring back at me, I can avoid facing reality a little longer.

Since the scale has been on my mind, I asked Dr. Naomi Parrella, our Chief Medical Officer, how she advises her patients to relate to their scales. To my surprise, she said that some of us might benefit from stepping on the scale daily, providing it is done from a place of learning rather than self-judgment.

“The more you normalize the way body weight fluctuates on a day-to-day basis, the more it becomes straightforward information rather than this fraught emotional experience,” said Dr. Parrella. She added that stepping on the scale daily helps you see how ordinary weight fluctuations are. “Daily weight fluctuations are almost always due to water weight,