If you are trying to lose or gain weight then your weighing scale has likely become a central item in your bathroom. However, do you know the best time to weigh yourself or how to do it correctly? There are a number of things to get right to ensure you are taking the right approach.
The first thing is to have a set time to weigh yourself. If you weigh yourself in the morning and the next day at night, you will get very inconsistent readings. Make weighing yourself a set part of your routine so that you can ensure consistency in your results. The morning is the best time. If you can, weigh yourself after you have been to the bathroom each morning. This ensures you are at your lightest.
Always weigh yourself totally naked as well. While you might think that it is all relative and weighing yourself with clothes on each day will still allow you to understand the difference, different clothes can weigh surprisingly different amounts. Naked is best.
Make sure your scales are placed on a hard surface. Any soft or wobbly surface can provide meaningless results. Speaking of meaningless results, when purchasing your scale, go for the basic instrument. It will be the most accurate. While there are many high tech digital scales available, the majority of them are prone to inaccuracies. A basic weighing scale may not have the bells and whistles but it will do the one thing that you really need from it. If you do want to have the bells and whistles then, by all means, do what makes sense for you and motivates you properly. If you have a step counter there are many companies that offer weighing scales that can sync with your smartwatch and ensure you are on track.
Before you commit to a schedule of weighing yourself each day, ask yourself why you are doing it. Weighing scales have proven to cause increased anxiety in many people and often result in depression and stress. If you have a goal to achieve, if you need to lose weight for your health, then scales are a great tool to help. However, if you are happy and healthy than leave the scales on the shop shelf and continue to practice your healthy lifestyle without constant monitoring.
In the end, scales provide just one number. While your weight is a key factor in your health it doesn’t tell the full story and there are many other things to consider. A better option is to continue seeing your doctor for check-ups semi-regularly to ensure you are living a healthy lifestyle. After that, simply enjoy yourself.
