Health Fitness

Weight loss: weighing yourself properly is important

If you are trying to lose weight, you will likely spend a lot of time on the scale. While it’s definitely a good way to keep track of your progress, it’s definitely not the only way. I talk about several other non-scale related ways to keep track of your progress on Today is Still the Day. However, stepping on the scale is one of the easiest ways to immediately see whether or not you are making progress. How it is weighed makes a difference, so let me give you a few tips to get the most accurate information.

First of all, how often should you weigh? It depends on why you are weighing yourself. If you keep track of your hydration level, you’ll want to weigh yourself before a workout and again after a workout, and then drink 16 ounces of water for every pound lost.

I know people who weigh daily and get discouraged if the number fluctuates in the wrong direction. Then there are others who do not approach a scale and have a real love-hate relationship with it. As I recommend on Today is Still the Day, if you are tracking your weight loss progress, I recommend once a week at the most. Once every two weeks is fine too.

So first make sure your scale is properly calibrated and accurate. You want the most accurate reading possible. Otherwise why bother? Then you will want to weigh at the same time, on the same day of the week. Your weight can fluctuate between 2 and 10 pounds over the course of a day, and should not be confused with weight gain or loss.

I think the best time is first thing in the morning after going to the bathroom and without clothes. While they don’t add a great deal of weight, you’re not trying to see how much your jeans and T-shirt or sneakers weigh. You want to know your body weight, so this is the most accurate way to get that number.

I do not recommend weighing after exercising because either you have hydrated while exercising and you may have water weight or you sweat and are dehydrated. Either way, it will not be an accurate reading. Getting on the same scale first thing in the morning on the same day each week will give you the best picture of how your plan is working. And that’s the point of using the scale. It is not like this?

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