When Is the Perfect Time to Weigh Yourself and Why?
Consistency is key to accurately monitoring your weight
If you want to know whether you are gaining, losing, or maintaining weight, the best period to weigh yourself is the same time you weighed yourself the previous time.
Consider that over the course of a day your weight fluctuates. You do not want to compare how much you weigh first thing in the morning with your weight in the afternoon directly following eating lunch, it is not the correct way to track your weight.
In order to learn best practices for keeping track of your weight, keep reading this article.
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Morning is good, but steadiness is key
If you want to choose a concrete time of day to steadily weigh yourself, consider the morning, after you empty your bladder.
Morning is normally the end of the longest period of your day in which you have not eaten food or participated in vigorous exercise.
Factors such as exercise or what you ate the day before don’t have a meaningful impact if you weigh yourself when you first get up in the morning.
Use a precise weighing device
Consistency in weighing yourself is not restricted to the period of day you weigh yourself.
Consider the equipment you’re using and what else you’re weighing [such as clothing] for better measurement of your weight and its fluctuations.
Some scales are more precise than others.
Request for a recommendation from:
- your healthcare provider
- personal trainer
- a knowledgeable friend
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Trusted Source suggests getting a digital scale as opposed to a spring-loaded scale. You can also research sites that include ratings and buyer feedback.
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Use your equipment accurately
Avoiding carpeting or uneven flooring, put your scale on a hard, flat, level surface. The easiest way to calibrate it, after setting it in place, is to adjust the weight to precisely 0.0 pounds with nothing on it.
When weighing yourself in the morning, for consistent measurement, weigh yourself after using the restroom and while standing motionless, which identically distributes your weight on both feet.
Do not weigh yourself elsewhere
Now that you have an adequate scale that is appropriately set up, use it. More significantly, only use this scale, do not weigh yourself elsewhere.
Your scale will be consistent even if it is slightly off. Any changes will display a factual alteration from the same source.
To put it in another way, any difference will be a reflection of a true change in weight, not a change in the weighing device.
It is necessary to remember that equipment may not always be correct in presenting weight measurements.
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Try to always weigh the same thing
After choosing a scale you are sure about, try to always weigh the same thing when you weigh yourself.
Presumably, the most easiest and consistent approach to weighing yourself is getting on the scale unclothed.
If that is not an alternative, try to be consistent in your clothes. For instance, try to wear the same shoes every time you weigh yourself if you must wear shoes.
You must also take into consideration that the scale will measure the liquid and food you have recently consumed.
Generally, you weigh more after dining. You will typically weigh less after strenuous physical activity because of the water you have lost through sweating. Therefore, the best time to weigh yourself is in the morning before you have eaten or exercised.
For the majority of people, doing their weight measurement in the morning makes it convenient to undress and step onto the scale.
The key takeaway:
In order to get the best results consistency is key to accurate weight measurement.
- Weigh yourself at the same time every day [morning is best, after using the bathroom].
- Use a quality weighing device that is set up adequately.
- Use only one scale.
- Weigh yourself unclothed or wear the same thing for every weight measurement.