Today at the gym, I was approached by a guy, whom I’d originally classed as a “doughnut” (a gym rat that gives unsolicited advice without existing request) I’d discovered otherwise about three months into my workouts, turns out he’s a super nice guy. He came up today and said, “How much weight have you lost?” I smiled pulled my earbud out and responded “one-hundred and twenty-four pounds.”

His eyes bulged a bit and he smiled wide “That’s some real stick-to-it!” he exclaimed.

“How much do you weight now?”

“Three-hundred, eighteen.” with a smile.

“Wow, you don’t look it, at all.” Was his response. We smiled again and went back to our prospective workouts.

Why am I telling you this? To make a point. Weight in numbers is the last thing in the world that you should be paying attention to when in process.

I’m six foot seven inches tall, so I can carry a bit more weight without looking huge, but I still feel uncomfortable in snug clothing and my body composition is a ways from being where I expect it to get. But, the idea is; no matter what that number on the scale is, my perception is going to be more critical then the perceptions of others around me. So even though I don’t feel “thin” yet, or feel that the number 318 is low enough, what I look like outwardly is much better than that number or my brain will let me believe.

Weighing yourself is, unfortunately, going to be a necessary evil overall, but it should be done less and given less “weight” in terms of a measure of progress.

You should understand that weight fluctuates daily, for everyone. It’s a difficult thing to maintain a steady weight for any length of time, it’s easier to shoot for a weight range, and do your best to stick within that range.

If you weigh yourself daily, or even weekly you’re setting yourself up for a tiny mental failure and possible morale deterioration.

I see a lot of “dieters” getting obsessed with their weight, and not paying enough attention to the other, more important facets of loss and maintenance. Weighing themselves daily or weekly, and having much disappointment when the numbers they put up are gains or smaller losses then they were prepared for. Disappointment leads to lowered morale which leads to—in some cases—depression or failure all over a simple, mostly insignificant number.

However if you ignore the numbers game, and weigh yourself at four week intervals (every thing in moderation, right?) you’ll have a better chance of putting up losses each weigh-in and also avoid the inevitable disappointment in your progress forward.

You can and should pay more attention to other measurements, like your clothing sizes falling into the abyss or the number of days in a row that you got up on time and went to the gym or how many times someone says, “Hey you’re looking good!” or how about you forget numbers altogether and just concentrate on moving forward, doing this because it’s healthy and fun to be in shape and packed with energy.

The bottom line is your weight as a number means very little in the universal scheme of things, how you feel and the way you look should be more important measures of your progress.

I hope this helps motivate and encourage those of you who’ve been downhearted after a weigh-in, as it’s not a good indicator of progress when overused.

Keep on trucking, your goals are within sight and no one can get you there except you, so take the wheel and put the pedal to the metal.