​When you’re trying to get healthy, the scale can be your biggest enemy or the scariest monster under your bed – literally, if you keep yours there like I did. The numbers on that display can dictate whether you’ll feel good or bad about yourself on Weigh-in Day. I used to step on my scale once a week with a shiver of trepidation. Would it bring good or bad news? Could I have a piece of toast for dinner or was it going to be plain chicken and broccoli again?

​Fortunately, this doesn’t have to be your life just because you want to get a bit more in shape. When you get to know the science behind the numbers on the scale, you’ll start to see it as no more than one of many helpful tools in your fitness toolbox.

We all know what a fad diet is. It promises quick results for [insert health benefit of choice, usually weight loss], but it proves impractical for any human being to follow in the long-term. We try it, we crash and burn, we give up. That’s why you’ll never hear anyone say, “This cabbage soup diet is ace, innit?”

In recent years, experts have conducted more and more research studies to prove that fad diets don’t work. Many fitness professionals today look back in horror at their early years, when they were obsessed with the likes of Paleo or the Atkins diet.

What we don’t hear about as often is a less obvious craze, which affects our lives just as much. I call this phenomenon “fad fitness”.