Weighing-In on Weight Loss Goals

Quarantine weight, winter weight, holiday overindulgence, or whatever you want to call it… there’s no doubt that you’re already hearing about weight loss and dieting as 2021 kicks off. 

Resolutions for the new year often include something related to losing weight. Fitness and endurance are not determined by the scale – people of all sizes and shapes train, race and achieve their goals every day. That said, losing weight can be a motivating objective and is on the minds of many after this year filled with quarantine snacks, stress, and other unexpected challenges.

If your baggy work-from-home sweat pants are no longer that baggy and you wish they were fitting like they used to, know that you’re not alone. Even Coach Brady has dealt with this over the past months. Injury prevented him from being on the bike and from doing any other activity. (Not to mention tasty treats and beers along the way.)

If you are embarking on a weight loss journey in 2021, there are a couple of things that we hope you’ll keep in mind:

First, do you weigh yourself every single day? Once a week? Weighing in regularly can help you track towards your goals and create a wonderful data set, but remember that it’s just that: one point of data on the big week, month, and year-long graph. 

Our weight fluctuates and dependent upon many variables including time of day, sodium intake, water intake, hormone fluctuations, and even variability in scale accuracy will cause fairly drastic swings in what you weigh.  This is why it is important to not place as much stock in your daily weight reading.  Instead, take stock of the general trend of your weight.

To that point, here’s the second thing to remember: as you track your progress, don’t expect to see a pretty, perfect downward sloping line on the graph. The graph of your weigh-ins will probably look like a rollercoaster. That’s okay and to be expected.