Should I wait to check my weight?

For many people, they have a dream weight they would like to get to; prewedding weight, pre-baby weight, high school weight, or even their current weight. Whatever that number may be, pretty much everyone has one. And for many fitness programs these days, how much you weigh and how much weight lost has become the “gold standard” for progress. As important as a number on a scale can be, it is certainly not the only measure for success. And with so many factors influencing your scale weight, it can often be misleading.

Pretty much everything you do and put into your body will affect your body weight on a day to day basis. How much water you drink, how much you slept, how many times you go to the bathroom all play a role in day to day weight change. Even something as simple as having more salt in your diet one day compared to another can change the scale. Salty and carbohydrate filled foods can cause the body to hold a little extra water, causing the scale to go up. For all of these reasons, it is best to weigh yourself on a week to week basis instead of a day to day basis. For more accurate results, weigh first thing in the morning before you have had a chance to eat and drink. The comparison of week to week weigh-ins will be a far better measure of progress compared to day to day weigh-ins.

Another thing to keep in mind; for people just starting a workout routine, the scale will tend to increase not decrease at the end of their first or even second week. This happens because your body starts to hold onto extra water to help your muscles heal. The muscles become inflamed and swollen due to the breakdown of tissue during exercise, which leads to weight gain. Have no fear, this will go away after a few weeks.

Don’t forget about all of the other, sometimes even better, measures of success. Numbers such as inches, body fat percentage, weight increases on your strength exercises, even number of push-ups you can do are all valuable pieces of information and great measures of progress and success.  These numbers are less susceptible to fluctuations and can be a more consistent measure of success of body weight.