How Often Should We Weight Ourselves When We Are On A Diet?
Answering this question is not entirely easy: some experts recommend Weighting yourself once a week, while others are committed to throwing the scale in the trash to eliminate the pressure that dieters are subjected to.
Dr. Lina Robles Salmerón , a nutritionist at the Hospital Universitario la Zarzuela de Sanitas, recommends that her patients Weight themselves once a week, on the same day, at the same time and on the same scale.
Also, there are those who believe that Weighting once a day can serve as motivation. In fact, a study by the Brown Medical School (Providence, United States) carried out on people who followed a slimming plan, concluded that those who lost the most Weight were those who Weight themselves every day.
Weighting Once A Week Can Motivate Us To Follow The Diet
Weighting more or less times a week does not seem to have a direct impact on Weight loss, but it can positively or negatively influence our emotional state and degree of motivation when it comes to following the diet.
However, the main problem with Weight yourself too often is that, in addition to not being a reliable reflection of your progress, it can be a source of stress and obsession.
We Do Not Weight The Same Throughout The Day
For starters, our Weight fluctuates throughout the day that have much more to do with fluid retention than calorie intake and fat loss.
Seeing that one day we have lost Weight, the next we have recovered something, then we have lost it again and so on, in addition to going crazy, it can undermine our motivation.
The Danger of Weighting Yourself Several Times A Day
And on the other hand, the obsession with the scale can endanger our physical and mental health. Some people are so addicted that they weight themselves every time they eat or drink something to see what impact it has had on their Weight.
This obsession is dangerous because it can push us to take drastic measures to avoid Weight fluctuations, such as extreme dieting, eating less than is healthy, skipping meals or even, in very extreme cases, developing eating disorders, such as bulimia.
How Often Do You Have To Weight Yourself? Once A Week?
Weighting every three days or once a week is more than enough to see the evolution of a Weighting loss diet. Now, choosing that day of the week also has its complications.
What Day of The Week To Weight?
Throughout the week we go through a cyclical process: from Monday to Friday we lead a more or less organized life, with a greater planning of activities, so it is much easier to follow the diet. For this reason, from Monday we begin to experience Weight loss that is usually interrupted at the weekend, when unplanned leisure activities appear and we skip the diet. This is when we regain a little of the Weight lost during the week.
At the beginning of the new week the cycle repeats itself: on Monday we lose the Weight gained over the weekend and continue to lose it until the following weekend, when there is a new upward fluctuation, and so on.
Therefore, Monday is the worst day of the week to Weight yourself, as we will have some Weight accumulated from the weekend. Friday is also not a very realistic day, because that is when we lose the most Weight, although we are aware that the situation will change over the weekend. Perhaps the most sensible thing is to choose an intermediate day, for example Wednesday.
Tips Before Weighting Yourself
When Weighting yourself, you can also follow these recommendations:
- Weight yourself in the morning, the same day of the week, at the same time, fasting, with an empty bladder.
- Get on the scale naked / or, or always with the same clothes.
- Do not Weight yourself after exercising because the scale will give you a misleading Weight. With sport you lose a lot of fluids, but you will recover them right away, so the Weight loss that the scale shows will not be realistic.
- If you are a woman, it is also not advisable to Weight yourself before or during menstruation because many liquids are retained.
