If you are watching what you eat and you're exercising, why don't the scales show how hard you are working? The reason is the exercise.

I lifted weights to tone my muscles and build strength. I swam and walked and stretched, and in doing so, I shed fat and gained muscle.

Muscle weighs more than fat and so the scales never clearly detailed my progress.

Most women try to eat well and get some exercise. And to check our progress, we climb aboard the scales. This, is a mistake of epic proportions. Weighing yourself can set you up for disappointment and depression.

If you have been working really hard, exercising and eating well, you expect to see some weight loss. If it isn't there, you feel awful. Sometimes it's enough to make you think, "oh forget it. Nothing I'm doing is having any effect so I might as well give up."

The thing is, you could have made a great difference to your body. You feel better, your clothes feel looser, only the scales aren't showing it. If you have been exercising as well as watching your diet, you've most likely burned some fat and gained some muscle. You may find that, according to the scales, you've even gained some weight.

Also our weight fluctuates a great deal from week to week. The menstrual cycle will affect your weight, as at certain times you will retain more water and therefore weigh more.

Finally, there's the fact that everyone's body is unique and what you weigh on the scales is, for the most part, irrelevant.

Some women become afraid of the scales and of what it may tell them. You can become obsessed. You've worked so hard and then it's really easy to give up if you don't see the magic number on the scales.

If you're addicted to weighing yourself, try cutting down on how frequently you do it. Weigh yourself once a month and preferably just after your period. If you feel compelled to step on the scales daily, make sure you do it at exactly the same time each day, wearing the same clothes.

Write down what you weigh and at the end of the week chart any fluctuations you may experience. Add the daily weight and then divide by seven to get an everage. This figure will give you a better result, but bear in mind it provides information about your own body only. Try not to compare it with your friends' weights or those you read in charts.

Better still, measure yourself and toss your scales away. If you want to chart your progress more accurately, get a tape measure.

Always measure in the same spot, wearing the same bra and underwear and you will soon get an accurate pricture of whether you're losing or gaining weight.

Below is an example: