Accurate Weigh-Ins Along the Journey
Many people, when they weigh throughout the day, find they weight more in the morning than at night. Another problem is the challenge of measuring fat loss accurately.
Accurate Weigh-Ins Along the Journey
Accurate Weigh-Ins Along the Journey
Many people, when they weigh throughout the day, find they weight more in the morning than at night. Another problem is the challenge of measuring fat loss accurately.
Many people, when they weigh throughout the day, find they weight more in the morning than at night. Another problem is the challenge of measuring fat loss accurately.

Tracking weight and fat loss can be a challenge, but it can be done without a crazy amount of effort. Tracking body weight doesn’t necessarily indicate progress due to several factors. A chief challenge is fluctuation. Body weight can fluctuate throughout the day. The fluctuation may be just a few pounds or into the double digits. It all depends on body type, food and water intake and how active a person is.

Gaining weight can even indicate positive progress if it is gained in muscle mass. If the goal is weight reduction, daily monitoring is useful — just make sure to account for fluctuations.





Fat Loss

For many, tracking fat loss is more effective than tracking weight loss to get an idea of progress. After all, fat is what most persons want to lose. While some scales measure body fat, muscle mass and more, they do come with a few challenges.

First, the scales try to give an overall assessment of total body fat instead of measurements based on specific body areas. The scales also have a high margin of error — often above 5% — often resulting in incorrect information.



Track Body Weight Accurately

Although scales may give different readings throughout the day, that doesn’t always point to inaccuracy. Since body weight fluctuates throughout the day, a person could go crazy if they attempted to account for continual changes in weight. Instead, focus on averages.

Weigh at least twice a day, and ideally weigh naked. Clothing may add a few pounds and the weight of the clothing can vary. Odds are you won’t weigh naked in the middle of the day, so weigh before and after getting dressed to see how much — roughly — your weight changes. Then:

Average each weight measure for the day, and
Take those averages and average them each week.

While this won’t account for fluctuations, average measurements will make you aware of how your body weight changes during the course of a day. Seeing the fluctuations in weight each day, although trending downward, will keep you motivated and a five pound gain in the morning won’t be as upsetting.