(Note: All my diet entries are posted at robohara.com, under the “Diet Log” tag (there’s a link on the left hand side of the main page). Occasionally these get cross-posted across all my blogs, but more often than not they just get entered and archived in there. If you want to read more of my diet-related entries, be sure to check the above link for the complete archive.)

In the book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, one of author Stephen R. Covey’s suggestions is to plan your schedule on a weekly basis, versus daily or monthly planning. In explaining why, Covey compares scheduling your time to fighting a war. Looking at your schedule daily is like a foot soldier’s point of view, too close to the action to see the big picture, while looking at it a month at a time is more like the view of people sitting in a war room in a remote location, not close enough to the battles to know what’s going on and how to react properly. Covey says looking at your schedule one week at a time is like looking at the battlefield from a helicopter — you’re close enough to the action to see what’s going on, but far enough away to have a larger view of the entire battle.

Since diets are a battle as well, I think Covey’s advice on planning also applies directly to weight loss. A week is the perfect length of time for managing diets. Here’s why.

If you weigh yourself every day, you will drive yourself crazy. There are too many fluctuating variables for this to be an accurate measure. Depending on whether or not you weigh yourself before or after a meal or before or after you’ve gone to the restroom can make a difference in your weight. It’s too easy to get discouraged (or hopeful) by seeing results that may or may not relate to your diet. More than once I’ve ate right and walked my butt off only to see no weight loss or even a slight weight gain later that evening — likewise, I’ve been bad at a buffet before and then weighed myself later that night without seeing a difference. Rest assured, the results of your efforts (both good and bad) will catch up with you in the end.

Conversely, it almost goes without saying that weighing yourself monthly (especially while actively dieting and trying to lose weight) is too long of a period to deal with. While I’m sure it’s nice to get surprised (or disappointed) by large weight gains/losses after a month has passed, the numbers are too far away from the data to give you any helpful feedback. Unless you have consistant eating and exercise habits (which most of us in this situation don’t), it’ll be hard to match specific actions throughout the month with your end results.

Weighing once a week makes sense. By eating well all week and sticking to your exercise program, you’ll see results regardless of minor fluctuations in body fluids. It also gives you a little break — you can eat “bad” a couple of times without completely derailing your efforts. And if your weight stays the same or even goes up over a week, you’ll know that what you’re doing isn’t working and you can adjust accordingly.

When I started making a conscious effort to lose weight this year I bought a new scale via eBay. Not only was it cheaper there, but much less embarassing when shopping for one with a sticker that reads “accurate enough to weigh a cow”. The scale I bought is digital, reads your weight aloud (that feature can be disabled) and was less than $50, including shipping. When I started dieting I was weighing myself everyday, during which I ran into many of the caveats I mentioned above. I remember one time I ate especially bad at a Chinese Buffet. When I weighed that night, I hadn’t gained any weight. Score! The nest day though, after eating well and exercising, I showed a weight gain of 2lbs. Weighing yourself every day (at least for me) lead to constantly obsessing over calories instead of simply making better choices when they came arose.

So anyway, I’ve decided to go back to weighing myself only once a week. By looking at my schedule a week at a time, I can plan around outings and holidays. For example, knowing that Thanksgiving is coming up this week, I’ll most likely really crunch the days before and after, instead of skipping breakfast and dinner Thanksgiving Day. Dealing with a week-long period of time allows you to manage your diet through averages, instead of on a day by hour by minute by calorie system.

Enough rambling. Last week I lost 8 lbs. That puts me down a total of 16lbs in 20 days. I’m still on track to hit my goal of losing 40 by the end of the year, and so far I feel great!

Keeping healthy food in mind throughout your life, not just when you need to eat the right food when you’re trying to work on your sports nutrition, can be a good way to make your life longer and healthier. With some research eating nutritious won’t necessarily be a big task and overall healthy nutrition can be a realistic goal for many.