Why is the Scale Fluctuating?

00:00Real quick, the only ask I could ever have of you guys is to help spread the word so we can help more women lose body fat, build muscle, reach their goals, and feel insanely confident. And the only way we can do that is if you rate, review, and share this podcast. So the single thing I ask for you to do is if you could leave a review. It will take you 10 seconds, and it will mean the absolute world to me and may change the world of someone else. The scale can't dictate exactly what it is it's measuring. It's just your body against gravity, basically, and that's all the number is telling you.

00:32It's a number, but it doesn't tell you how much is your skeletal muscle mass, how much is water weight, how much is your bone density, all of these things. So keep that in the back of your mind the next time you step on that sucker. What is going on, you guys? Welcome back to The WarriorBabe Show with Nikkie Stott, co-founder of WarriorBabe. And on this podcast, we talk about mindset, methodologies, and tactics that will help you lose body fat, build muscle, be strong, and feel insanely confident.

01:05I am your host, Nikkie Stott. And welcome to today's episode, episode 135, guys, where we are going to chat about and answer two common questions that I get all of the time. So this was actually inspired by a recent story that I posted on my Instagram. If you guys don't follow me, go follow me at Nikkie Stott, N-I-K-K-I-E-Y-S-T-O-T-T. But a couple weeks ago, I put up on my story a questions box.

01:37And this question was popping up a couple times. It's popped up a couple times in the past, too, as well. Actually, there's two specific questions. So it was inspired by that. And I love to drop questions on my story. Wanted to just engage with you guys there on the platform, but also take those questions that you guys have and bring them to this podcast. Like I always say, if there's any questions that are worthy of long answers that can make up a full podcast length of me talking and sharing the answers, then I'm going to do it. And so that's what I'm going to do with you guys today.

02:08And hopefully, you know, you want to either share this podcast if it resonates with you and you know it could resonate with somebody else that has these similar questions. I would ask that you do that would mean so much from the bottom of my heart that you guys should share this episode. And then second, that you leave this podcast feeling a little bit lighter and easier about your progress wherever you're at along your journey. But if you're basing it solely, you know, the progress, if it's good or bad or if it's, you know, what you want to see or if you're frustrated because it's not what you not what you want to see.

02:42If that's how you're feeling, I'm hoping that these answers to these questions that commonly get asked will make you feel different about, you know, the light of which you look at your progress. If you're solely focusing on progress based on the scale, that's what we're going to talk about today. The first question we're going to dive into that I'm going to answer is, is it normal for scale weight to fluctuate between two to three pounds on a daily basis? So actually, let's just dive into that one. And then the second one I'm going to get into has to deal with the same concept.

03:13However, it has to do with, you know, the amount of food that you do or don't eat on a daily basis. OK, so let's first talk about, though, is it normal if you step on the scale? First and foremost, you guys, if you have a relationship with the scale, like what we say to our clients inside of Warrior Babe is let's bring the reality of your relationship to the scale. Let's bring the awareness of it, first and foremost, into the light so we can understand how you feel with it. And based off of where you are at in levels with the scale and the relationship to the scale, like one level may be that you look at the scale on a regular basis.

03:50And if it and you have like an emotional response to it, right, like if the scale goes up, then, you know, you're emotionally triggered of defeat and you go on the rest of your day, either maybe making choices with food that aren't necessary in alignment with what you would normally have. Or you're emotionally upset and now the rest of your day is kind of like in a negative light or your mood is altered by what that number is saying on the scale. And maybe or the reverse is still like level one that you are super excited if the scale goes down.

04:27So in those two scenarios, it's like the scale has a control over your emotional state. And if that's the case and you're coming in and you're working with a coach, what's normally recommended is like, hey, okay, we're not going to pay attention to the scale on a regular basis. We're probably not going to pay attention on a weekly basis. We're just going to use this as a biweekly measurement and resource and tool to just like use as a checkpoint along your journey. Maybe there's a next level, right? The next level is like, okay, you've kind of graduated from that.

05:00You are learning and you're understanding and like you're educating yourself on all of the other amazing tools and resources that can be a part of your story in terms of progress. And so you then graduate to maybe level two, which is like, you know, making these levels up literally as I speak. But level two is like maybe now you're on a weekly cadence with your coach. You're measuring every single week and you're checking in on like a set of Thursdays. Or a Saturday or a Monday. And like you're seeing the progression of that there through that tool.

05:31And then using that in alignment with like other tools that you may be using to track your progress, right? So it's like level two. And then level three is like the graduation phase of which I would say that a lot of people can get to once they embark further along their journey. And this is where a majority of my clients I still teach and coach to this day, which I don't take on new one-on-one clients. But I still have clients I've been coaching for at least four years now. And we get to the point where we can, they understand the concept of the scale. They understand it is just a tool.

06:02They have a relationship with it that way. And they control it. They control their emotions. And they can step off the scale and they're not easily weighed by how it like is affecting them. And so we can normally, those clients at level three, you understand the tool. And you understand how it's used. And you can grasp what I'm going to kind of dive into today with answer number one. So you know that kind of measuring on a daily basis gives you a little bit more of data, I should say.

06:34And you use it as just that, as data. You know that, okay, today I weighed in this. Maybe tomorrow I'm going to fluctuate two to three pounds. Maybe the next day I'm going to go down a pound. That is totally normal. And so to answer that question, yes, it is completely normal to fluctuate two to three pounds daily due to so many different factors, which I'm going to dive into in a second. But that level three, right, then you're able to use the data across seven days and you're able to grab an average of what your weight looked like that week.

07:06And then you can use that average on weeks to come moving forward as just a tool to measure your progress along the way. So a lot of clients that I still teach to this day do that. A lot of I know the warrior babes that are working with our elite and senior coaches inside the program are doing it that way. So just something to keep in the back of your mind as I go through this podcast today to kind of like, you know, assess where you may be at, honestly, with yourself and your journey and your relationship to the scale. And reassess how you may be needing to gather that data for yourself along your journey.

07:38Is it every other week? Is it weekly? Is it on average gaining a daily average in a week span? Wherever it may be. OK, but no. So to pull into the answer, know that it is completely freaking normal for your weight to fluctuate two to three pounds daily due to various, various factors, which I'm going to dive into talking about five specifically, because I feel these five are the most prominent to this answer. So number one could be water retention.

08:09It could be that your body has retained more water due to, let's say, yesterday you had a higher sodium intake. Or let's say yesterday you may be more dehydrated than you are normally because you didn't drink enough water. Or let's say you are experiencing hormonal changes because it is that time of the month, ladies, that's so menstruate. The week before you get your period is where you start to feel some of those PMS symptoms. That's where you start to feel a little bit more bloat coming on.

08:39And so if you step on the scale, you may fluctuate up a pound, two pounds, three pounds due to how severe those hormonal shifts may be happening internally, which is completely different for everybody. But those are completely normal. A higher intake of sodium can cause your cells to kind of have just absorb water. Same if you're a little bit dehydrated where you didn't drink as much water the day before. All of these things, all of these things factor into your body retaining more water.

09:11That doesn't necessarily mean that you are gaining fat. That doesn't mean that the number on the scale is reflective of you gaining body fat or gaining weight. It's just a relation that, okay, today or yesterday, you know, my body retained more water because of these things that may have happened. And so that relation to the scale number, again, it's the scale can't dictate exactly what it is it's measuring. It's just your body against gravity, basically. And that's all the number is telling you. It's a number. But it doesn't tell you how much is your skeletal muscle mass, how much is water weight, how much is, you know, your bone density, all of these things.

09:48So keep that in the back of your mind the next time you step on that sucker. All right? Another reason, another factor of which your daily weight could fluctuate is due to your food intake, right? It could be the amount of food that or the weight of food that you had or the weight of beverages you consumed that isn't instantly processed by your body, right? So, for example, heavier meals or high fiber intakes can temporarily increase your scale rating, especially, too, if you had, and this will be a little bit later on in these factors, but think about the time of the day.

10:23Actually, I'm going to marry these two together because it's really important that these two are married together. So food intake and time of the day. Your weight can also vary throughout the time of the day based on the food and fluid intake that you've had on that day, right? So let's say for this specific one, the food intake, that you ate a heavier meal late at night. Your body didn't have the time, enough time to process that heavy, heavy meal. So by the time you step on the scale in the morning, your weight is probably going to fluctuate a little bit.

10:54Another one. Okay, so keep that in the back of your mind, too, because a lot of you guys go out to dinner, right? Or you have a big dinner with your family, and maybe it's happening at 8 p.m. at night, and then you step on the scale at 6 o'clock in the morning. Your body hasn't had enough time to process that meal yet. So take that into consideration. That could totally be a reason why you could see a temporary increase. Another factor could be your exercise and your physical activity that you've done the day before.

11:26After an intense leg day or an intense back day or an intense just overall training session, your muscles will retain water to aid in the recovery process, which will lead to temporary scale fluctuations. Hey, hey, just want to drop a huge appreciation to you guys listening to the show. It means a lot. I hope you guys are enjoying it, and there's so much more to come with it. If you are enjoying it, hit the subscribe button. I'd appreciate that tons, and also it would help this podcast reach others who need to hear these messages, too.

11:59Thanks so much, guys. Let's get back to the show. If you just did leg day the day before, your body is starting its recovery process, and it's going to pull in as much water as possible to help aid in that muscle and recover that muscle and grow and repair that muscle. So if you step on the scale the next day, you better be expecting a little bit of fluctuation in weight. It could go up or it could go down. So it could go either way there. But keep that in the back of your mind, too, as well as to why it could be a fluctuation that you see on the scale.

12:29My favorite one that I need to touch on that is a factor that could be a reason why the scale is increasing. And I was trying to not plug this into the other factors, and it's hard to do. But I'm glad that, you know, here we are. Here we are. Carbohydrate intake, you guys. And I talked about this in previous podcasts. I talk about this all the time because hashtag I want to make carbs great again. But carbohydrates get a really bad rep because a lot of people in the industry that don't have a lot of knowledge or a lot of women, hey, you guys, just calling it for what it is.

13:02You know, this isn't your occupation. This isn't like, this isn't something that you've, well, you haven't gone to school for. You haven't educated yourself on. You haven't gotten certified in, right? You have your life and your responsibilities doing what you are doing in your own job and all the things, right? That's why you hire people to give you these skills and help you get educated on this world of things. But people immediately assume that carbs make you fat because if you eat carbs, it leads to glycogen storage.

13:35And I've talked about this before. It leads to glycogen storage in your muscles and in your liver, which it binds to water. So a higher carb intake and increased water retention reflecting in a fluctuation that you could see on the scale. Ladies, are you feeling frustrated with body changes you're experiencing during menopause? It's time to take control. If you're between 45 and 65 years old and tired of struggling with body fat and muscle loss, Warrior Babe is here for you.

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14:42That's WarriorBabe.com forward slash apply. All right, let's get back to the show. I've actually dove into way deeper into things like when you go and strength train, your body absorbs all this glycogen because it's like, oh, yeah, I get to do this fun activity. I get to go perform this. I need to hold on to this so I can exert it when I'm going into doing the strength training exercise. At the same time, every time you eat them, it leads to that storage and in your muscles and in your livers and your liver.

15:16You have multiple livers. And it holds on to water. Okay, so it's the same thing that when I touched on water retention, it's another factor like sodium intake, dehydration, the amount of carbs that you eat, especially if you eat a carb late at night or you have a big carb meal late at night. It's binding and holding on to water. It causes water retention. It increases water retention. So when you go and step on that scale, it's not that you gained fat like I said earlier. It's just an increase in water retention to your body. And water retention doesn't equal fat.

15:47It doesn't mean you gained a pound or two of fat. It's just that your body is holding on to a little bit of excess water because of all the things that are going on internally for all these different reasons of which I'm sharing. Okay? And then one last thing I want to touch on to answer this question is, please, ladies, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please. In addition to everything that I just shared with you there, do not eat throughout the day and then step on the scale at the end of the day.

16:20Because typically, you are going to see the scale fluctuate even probably five to six pounds due to the meals that you've ate, the beverages that you've had, the strength training activity that you did, the carbohydrates that you had. It's all holding on to your body. Your body is trying to process it and hasn't fully processed it yet. So, boom, you're stepping on the scale and it's going to increase if you're weighing yourself at the end of the day. Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever do that along your journey.

16:51Because that is just setting yourself up for doomsday of feeling like you failed. If you're weighing or stepping on the scale at the end of the day. Think about everything your body just went through that day. The best time to do it, the best time to step on the scale is in the morning when your body has had a full night's sleep. It's processed everything from the day before. It's in the most relaxed state possible. You could possibly be stressed. Maybe some of you are. But majority of you probably aren't. A highly likelihood of people are not.

17:23That's hopefully not. Man, my mind's spiraling. Probably like so many people are. I'm stressed as soon as I wake up. As soon as the alarm goes off. But probably the probability is less that you, the moment you wake up and the moment you step on the scale in that short time frame after you go to the bathroom, you're a little bit less stressed out before you take on the day. That is the best time to step on the scale. Your body has processed everything like I just said. Everything I just explained. That is the best time. You haven't had any food. You haven't ate any breakfast. You went to the bathroom. You peed.

17:53Maybe, you know, had number two too as well. That is the best time that you can. You don't have to have number two in order to measure yourself on the scale. I want to say that too as well. But at least you went to the bathroom. You peed. And then you haven't eaten anything. And then you step on the scale. That's the best time to weigh yourself. Okay. So please, like on the rest of your entire journey, if you weigh yourself at night, it stops right now and you start weighing yourself in the morning. Okay. So that answers the first question regarding, is it normal for the scale to fluctuate two to three pounds on a regular basis?

18:26And yes, it is normal. Okay. The second thing is that I want to talk on, elaborate on, is regarding the scale. The question was, on the days that I under eat, the scale goes up. So why on the days that I under eat, does the scale go up? So regarding that, this can attribute to several different things. And I'm going to touch on what I feel like is the most prominent that would be able to answer this question so that you guys could understand that when you do under eat, this is what's happening and why your body could be kind of like, almost like, you know, working against you in a sense.

19:10Because it's trying to maintain its natural homeostasis internally, right? So a couple of things. Water retention. Water retention all the way through. Water retention, like, from what I said in the first answer to this one. But this one plays a little bit different to the way that I said it. So when you under eat, for all of the answers I'm going to say here, it can cause your body stress. Potentially, it could increase cortisol levels, which, when that happens, when your cortisol levels are stressed and when your cortisol levels are elevated and you're stressed out, this causes your body to hold on and to retain more water.

19:51So this cortisol is a fat-storing hormone. So if your cortisol levels are always elevated, I'm not just saying on one day. Like, this could just be one day that you've under ate. And, okay, I'm going to say the other thought process for a different conversation because that could be totally elaborated on. But this is just one day that you under ate. Your body's kind of stressed out. It feels like it may be working a little bit more on demand because you probably were very active the day before and you under ate this day. So it's kind of a little bit stressed out. So it's going to increase cortisol levels, right?

20:23And this is going to help. This may lead. This will lead you to hold on to water retention. If you're stressed out, it's going to hold on to water retention. Second, with this happening, with you under eating, there are some metabolic adaptations that are happening here. And when you under eat, this can slow down your metabolism as your body. This is what I've been trying to stress without saying it until I got to it. But your body has been trying to conserve energy, right? And it's going to affect how your body processes foods, how it processes beverages, how it processes whatever you're going to give it.

20:57So if you're under eating on a day, then your metabolism will kind of slow down to adapt to what you're giving, what it's got and what it's got to work with. And it's going to try and conserve energy so that it can really help you basically perform in anything and everything that you're giving it that day. And so this is going to slow down the processes of food and beverage to kind of like hold on to it so that the body can use it when it needs to. So again, metabolic adaptations are happening here on the days that you under eat.

21:27And when this is happening, if your body, what I said from the first answer, is slowing down and processing the food and the beverages, that's why it's spiking in relation to the first one. That's why the weight is going up even though you under eat. And then the water retention, similar to answer number one, if you've under eight, it's causing body distress. So the body's holding on to water. So that's why you're seeing a spike in the scale on fluctuations happening daily. Another one, let's say, let's kind of touch back on to the glycogen stores.

22:01If you under eat, but you consume a higher ratio of carbohydrates when you do eat. So let's say like, you know, you're lower on your protein, you're lower on your fats, but you consume a heck of a lot of carbohydrates. Your body is still going to store glycogen and water, which is going to affect that scale weight that you're seeing. Okay, so if you're, if you're eating a higher amount of carbohydrates, as I mentioned in answer number one, your body will store, it'll store glycogen and glycogen will bind to more water.

22:34And when you, and when you eat more carbohydrates, that process is, it kind of, it expands. So if you have more carbohydrates, more glycogen is stored, more water is being held on to, and this is going to cause fluctuations, right? So you could under eat in your other macronutrients, but you could overeat in your carbohydrates. And so this may be happening to you causing a scale weight the next day. Think about, think about it like this, like you under eat protein, but you have a piece of, a pie pizza with your family and you have some ice cream afterwards.

23:05And you're like, you step on the scale the next day and you're like, how the heck is it going up? When all I had was some pizza and some ice cream, I didn't eat anything else that day. Well, this is what's happening internally to your body. Okay. It's being, the carbs are being stored, glycogen, glycogen is holding onto water. And then what's happening is your body's retaining water. And so that is reflective on the number that you're seeing on the scale. And then the second one kind of relates back into the answer I also, or the second one, the last one that I want to touch on here.

23:38It kind of relates back into the last one that I talked about with the time of the day that you're eating this. But if like, let's say you don't eat, and this is something that actually happened to me at the beginning of my journey. I wouldn't eat all throughout the day. And I would have this big ass freaking dinner because I was starving and I was hungry and I needed to eat something. And so if you're, and I would be smack dab at the end of my day, it'd be late at night. And again, if this is happening, that last meal is, and it's whatever it's made up of, whatever you're consuming can affect what you see on the scale in the morning.

24:12Just because you didn't eat all day long, and then all of a sudden you have this big meal at the end of the day, it's not fully being processed or fully digested overnight. So it's going to affect that number that you see on the scale, you guys. So just because you underate, all in all, like the whole like overall of this entire podcast today is like your body is a machine. Think about it like that. Like literally, our bodies are a machine. There are some incredible processes that are happening down to the cellular level inside of our human body.

24:47It's sometimes very hard to grasp, but the way these things internally work and internally and get in alignment and they internally give you the results that you want is by the energy that it's given on a daily basis. Where do you guys think that energy is coming from? That energy is coming from the food that you give your body, along with many other things. But food, nutrition is king here. And so when you keep your body on a normal cadence with food and the macros and the calories that you're giving it, it's all going to work in synergy of what's going to marry together.

25:25And you're going to start seeing the numbers go down or the progress pictures change or the results happen in your body composition. Your skin's getting tighter. Your skin's getting clearer. Your mood's elevating. All of this stuff is because you're giving your body what it needs and it wants. But if you're throwing it out of regulation, these are what I've touched on today. The glycogen stores, the adjuster timing, the time of the day that you're doing this, the water retention, the metabolic adaptations, the physical activity that you're doing on a regular basis.

25:56If all of these are out of whack or are kind of not happening consistently, you will see fluctuations happen no matter what. Okay. So all in all, to conclude the podcast, I hope this helped you. I know I was talking like one, I know I talk really fast. I'm really passionate about this stuff. But two, I get I get really excited talking about something that I know is going to help you guys see things in a different light.

26:28And so if there's just, you know, my excitement comes through on the podcast because like, I know the scale is such a factor for everybody listening to this podcast. I know this, like, it literally either of those three levels that I shared at the beginning, it affects you guys in some way or another. But like, let's actually get down to the science and what's happening internally to our body. And so that you guys can fully understand what is happening when you see the number, which is just number fluctuate on a daily basis. And to know that it's completely normal.

27:01And it doesn't necessarily reflect changes in your body fat. And to consider weighing yourself whenever it kind of fits best into where you're at in relationship for the scale. And making sure when you do weigh yourself that you're weighing yourself the same time, right, under the same conditions, like in the first thing in the morning. And focus no matter what, you know, on all of the other forms of measurements that you can use to track your progress.

27:33Your body fat, pictures, measurements, how you feel, non-scale victories, your strength, mood, sleep. All of these things are so much more impactful to the story that you are building for yourself than that freaking scale. That number, one number that's attributing. Really, it's everything. It's your body weight. It's your muscle mass. It's the water in your body.

28:03It's the bones. It's your organ size. It's literally that. That's what that one number is telling you. So don't let it be the only thing that you're relying for along your journey, you guys. And I hope that this podcast helped you. I hope those two answers helped you. Those two things that get commonly asked all of the time. So I hope you learned something. I hope some light bulbs went off on this podcast. All right. I love you guys. And I will see you in the next one. Peace out. Hey, guys. Real quick. If you're interested in taking your body to the next level, lose body fat, build more muscle, feel more confident.

28:39Do it alongside one of our 30-plus professional coaches. Work one-on-one with her to eliminate all of the guesswork that you may have. And all you need to do is just do the work that she tells you to do to get to those goals of yours. And to learn more, click the link below this podcast and apply to our VIP program right now. Thank you.

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