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Kim:
That’s great Kim! I’m glad to hear that my advice is working for you. It’s important to remember that checking your body weight is only one way to see if you are making progress. However it is important and must be done correctly.

Here are the tips we discussed. Hopefully your friends will find it as useful as you did.

Check your body weight once a week. You body goes through a lot of changes in a seven day period. It’s totally normal for your weight to fluctuate based on many different factors such as your activity levels, fluid intake, diet and female issues. Weighing yourself several times a day will only drive you crazy and give you inaccurate results. Therefore I believe you should check your bodyweight once a week unless otherwise prescribed by a doctor.

Weigh yourself on the same day every week. If my clients are on a weight loss program they are assigned one day a week in which they are allowed to check their body weight. This day remains the same every week regardless of their schedules. Since most people are creatures of habit they generally do the same amount of activity on a daily basis. Checking your body weight once week on the same day is much more consistent.

Weigh yourself first thing in the morning. Jump out of bed, use the bathroom and step on the scale. There is no better time to check you weight than as soon as you roll out of bed. You haven’t had a meal in 8 hours and your body has been burning calories all night. You are truly at you’re most accurate body weight. Be sure not to eat breakfast until after you’ve finished or you will obviously be heavier.

Remove all clothing before stepping on the scale. You would be surprised how much clothing can add to your body weight. Therefore I believe it is important to step on the scale the same way you entered this world; wearing nothing but your birthday suit. Need I give any more reasons why you should check your weight at home instead of the gym?

Use the same scale every time. All scales are different. Some will weigh you heavier while others will weigh you lighter. It depends how many times they get used a day. The ones at the local gym see more action than a slot machine in Atlantic City and are rarely accurate. Therefore it’s important to get your own. At least this way you will know that the scale is not being readjusted by people who don’t like the results. Also it is makes it much easier to check your weight first thing in the morning if you have a scale nearby.

Remember bodyweight should only be one of several ways to measure the success of your workouts. However it is important. You wouldn’t want your doctor to use inaccurate information to decide how to treat an illness would you? Than why would you use inaccurate information to decide if your program is working?