When you start a diet, the scale can become your worst enemy. In addition, with technological advances, there are smart scales that connect to the mobile so that weight control is even greater, this can encourage you to weigh yourself on a daily basis. But the question is, do you have to weigh yourself every day and keep track of your weight daily? Or is it better to weigh yourself once a week ? The scale can be a double-edged sword and you have to know how to use it very well so that it is an ally instead of an enemy.
The problems of weighing yourself every day
Obsession with weight
When a person sets out to lose or gain weight and weighs himself on a daily basis, a state of anxiety and obsession is created . This causes the diet to be doubted, can make it more difficult to achieve the goal and can even cause the person to give up.
Although it seems that weighing yourself every day helps to have a more accurate view of the real weight, it is not. Throughout the day the body suffers alterations due to whether it has gone to the bathroom or not, food intake, water, fluid retention, sweating … All this can make weight change , so it is not strange that throughout the day there are variations of up to one kilo. For this reason, the evolution of a person’s weight cannot be seen from one day to the next, but rather over the weeks .
Can create false expectations
The first few days of dieting is when you lose the most weight. This is because as the body consumes more energy than it takes in, it begins to use up energy stores. Weighing yourself on a daily basis during this initial process can motivate the person to stick with the diet.
When the body is stabilized and has to lose body mass, things get complicated. However, it is at this point when the real weight loss begins, although everything is more complicated and the results take longer to become visible. Weighing yourself on a daily basis now will not do much good , on the contrary, the lack of results can cause frustration and even abandonment.
How to weigh yourself?
Always use the same scale
You must always use the same scale to avoid errors and discrepancies because each device is different and has a different regulation. Up to two identical scales can mark different weights because there are other variants that can also influence, such as the floor on which it is placed. So it is best to always use the same scale and always place it in the same place in the house . In this way, a much more exact weight control can be done.
Choose the best moment
It is not the same to weigh yourself at night as in the middle of the morning. As we have commented previously, the weight undergoes variations throughout the day, so the ideal is to look for a moment in which these variations are as similar as possible each day. And that time is in the morning, right after waking up and fasting .
Clothing can also influence weight, so it is best to weigh yourself naked or in your underwear .
Conclusions.
It is best not to weigh yourself every day , especially when you are dieting. It is best to weigh yourself every seven or ten days, always in the same conditions and with the same scale.
A weekly weight will give a much more objective view of whether things are being done right or wrong. Of course, it is best not to obsess over weight. A good diet is one in which the weight is lost little by little so that the body does not suffer.
