1 Answer

When you’re dieting it is very important to regularly weigh yourself so that you can keep track of your progress.

As for what time of day should you weigh yourself, well for most people it is best to get on the scales first thing in the morning, before you’ve eaten or drunk anything and after you’ve been to the toilet.

But why should you weigh yourself first thing in the morning? Because:

1 This is when we are at our lightest. During the night we may have exhaled around a pound in moisture in our breath, and we probably won’t have eaten anything for up to 12 hours. After we’ve urinated or been to the toilet then we will be even lighter.

2 This is when our weight will be least prone to natural variations that occur through the day as we typically won’t have eaten or drank anything for several hours.

3 It is a consistent time to weigh yourself. By weighing yourself first thing in the morning, at the same time, at the same cycle of your daily routine, means that you will be comparing like with like when you look at your results.

4 It is a convenient time to weigh yourself. You should be naked when you get on the scales so by getting on the scales soon after you’ve got up you will have the minimum of undressing and inconvenience.

When weighing yourself first thing in the morning is not such a good idea:

* If you’re a night worker or if you don’t go to bed at night. Your body clock will be wired differently, and a better time to weigh yourself maybe in the afternoon after you’ve just got up after sleeping through the day.

* If you’ve been drinking heavily the night before. Alcohol dehydrates you and can lead to a false weight several pounds lighter than you really are. Note this is temporary and alcohol contains calories that over time can lead to weight gain.

* If you’ve had breakfast and/or tea/coffee. Too late, you should have weighed yourself before!

* If you’ve eaten in the middle of the night. Skip the scales today, they may disappoint.

The main thing is that the time of day you should weigh yourself provides a meaningful comparison, so that you can accurately see over time how much weight you are losing.

For most of us, weighing ourselves first thing in the morning provides the best opportunity for this.

In other posts I’ll cover how often we should weigh ourselves, and the most accurate bathroom scales we can choose.

By David Hart