A lot of the time, when looking at ideas of “getting healthy” or “staying fit”, plans are centred around losing weight or monitoring one’s weight. Whether it’s through eating healthy or exercising, a measure of progress that’s often used is the scale. And although this is not the only measure, it’s the easiest to go by because all you’d need is a scale. Unfortunately, weighing yourself can be tricky – especially because not many people realise that they’re probably doing it wrong.
What exactly is the right way to weigh yourself?
Morning, night?
The straightforward answer to the question of when you should weight yourself is that it’s best to weigh yourself in the morning.
The reasoning? Weighing yourself at night can give you the wrong number because of the amount of food you’ve consumed in the day as well as the fact that the food you’ve had probably hasn’t been properly digested by then. Not to mention the fact that your water weight would vary according to how much water you’ve consumed and/or lost throughout the day. In the morning, after going to the bathroom, you’re at your most natural weight. Not only is this time ideal because it’s the biggest gap between when you’ve last eaten, it also avoids the false positive (i.e. loss of water weight) that may appear due to having participated in strenuous exercise. According to Lauren O’Connor (a registered dietitian) who spoke to Healthline,
“[Weighing yourself in the morning is most effective] because you’ve had adequate time to digest and process food (your ‘overnight fast’). It won’t be affected by what you’ve eaten or haven’t quite processed yet,”
Keep the variables constant.
By variables we mean things like time, place, and whether or not you’re wearing clothes. This may sound a little odd but if you’re wondering if having clothes on affects the number that’s reflected on the scale – it does. After all, if you’re going to be weight yourself while naked one day and bundled up in a sweatshirt and jeans another, you may end up thinking that you’ve gained weight (or vice versa) when in reality, the number probably has nothing to do with the actual amount of weight you’ve lost/gained.
Be consistent: weight yourself at the same time, before/after a bathroom break/without clothes or in similar clothes throughout.
It matters where you do it too!
Never, ever weigh yourself on anything but a flat surface! However, this doesn’t mean that it’s okay to weight yourself on a carpet. Avoid this! Even the smallest bump can cause unevenness and affect the number on the scale. A flat, hard surface will allow you to ensure that your weight is evenly distributed. This is done by also ensuring that your feet are evenly placed on the centre of the scale.
But remember, the most important bit of all…
Don’t weigh yourself too often.
Again, how ‘healthy’ you are cannot be judged by the scale alone. While it’s a helpful way to gauge your progress, it’s not as accurate as it doesn’t tell the whole story. Your weight may be increasing because you’ve gained muscle, or despite not losing as much weight in numbers, your body fat percentage may have dropped more. Bring out the scale once a week and put it away for the rest of the week.
And if the scale is not helping – especially if it’s starting to cause anxiety and taking a toll on your motivation – then put it away completely. There are other measures of progress, like taking a selfie or setting a short term goal (30-day challenges are good!) and completing it.
*Cover image credit: Photo by i yunmai on Unsplash
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