When you are working out and eating healthy, weight loss should occur regularly. However, it is not necessary to obsess over the scale and weigh yourself every day. In fact, the number on the scale is not the only thing that matters when you are on your weight-loss journey. The way your clothes feel is also a good measure of your weight loss.
A Healthy Weight Loss
A healthy weight loss is 1 to 2 lbs. per week. A slow steady weight loss is a lasting weight loss because you need to make lifestyle changes in order to keep up your progress. Fast weight loss is usually the result of extreme measures that can be difficult to maintain. A weekly weight-loss goal will help you stay on track to reaching your ideal weight.
Self-Monitoring
Weighing yourself once a week creates a self-monitoring progress system. During your weekly weigh-in, you will be able to celebrate your achievements or re-evaluate your week's efforts. Self-monitoring your weight loss, once a week, will allow you to see many small changes, which will keep you motivated. Also, a weekly weigh-in may reveal to you that you need to put in a little more effort. For example, if you gained 1 lb. one week, you may reduce your caloric intake for the next week and bump up your exercise routine.
Discouragement
Weighing yourself every day may lead to discouragement because your weight is likely to go up and down. Throughout the day, your body weighs different amounts based on the foods you eat and your water intake. To lose a pound on the scale, you must burn 3,500 calories, which breaks down to 500 calories a day to lose 1 lb. during the week. Each day you are burning a different amount of calories, and it may take a few days to show weight loss on the scale.
Considerations
When you are keeping track of your weight loss, use the same scale. Measuring yourself at the same time each week and on the same scale will help with accurately measuring your progress. If you are exercising and the scale is not changing, but you feel firmer, you are likely gaining muscle. Assess your body fat at the beginning of your weight-loss journey and check again periodically to see how much fat you are losing and how much muscle you are gaining.
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