Freak Fitness

Q. How Often Should You Weigh Yourself When Trying to Lose Fat?

A. It doesn’t matter if  we’re in the off-season or contest season; to keep my clients focused on their objectives, to keep them accountable, and to keep me updated on their progress, I have everyone send me weekly updates that include their weight and change in weight from the previous week’s update.

I ask for weight updates weekly because I’ve found that for some clients, asking for weight updates every two to three weeks or even monthly wasn’t frequent enough, as they would get too comfortable and/or become complacent. There wasn’t enough accountability. On the other hand, asking for weight updates too frequently would put too much emphasis on the scale and in most cases, unless you’re trying to make a weight class, daily weight fluctuations are normal and not indicative of actual fat loss.

The scale is just one piece of the big picture. My clients are asked to submit structured updates that include the following:

• Stress level
• Workout performance
• Energy level
• Focus level
• Sleep pattern
• Deviated meals/workouts
• Water intake
• Current video or photos of their compulsory poses

Only after I have all of this data can I best assess their progress and address any elements of concern toward optimizing results.

With that said, there may be weeks where we don’t see change on the scale, which is something many have difficulty accepting. They kick ass in the gym all week, they follow their diet diligently, and come their weekly weigh-in, there’s no change. Fuck! What happened!?

Of course, there are cases in which the scale may stay the same—or even go up—but fat loss is still occurring. If for example, a female client weighs herself during “that time of the month,” weight gain from hormonal water retention can occur. Because the scale only shows her total body weight, it can’t tell if she’s gained water weight or lost fat; all it can do is indicate the net total of everything at that moment. That’s why I assess all data provided in the update, and if the other points indicate progress, then that week is still a win, despite the scale going up.

I’ve also had clients’ weight stay the same (or even gain) leading up to a contest. Change in weight aside, progress can be observed from weekly progress photos as the weeks go by and the person gets more and more shredded. In this case, the client is able to build muscle and burn off stored body fat, which can ultimately leave them weighing somewhat the same or, in some rare cases, weighing even more than when we started their contest prep.

How Often Should  You Weigh Yourself?

Weighing yourself infrequently can leave you too much room to wander and get lost, while weighing yourself too often can provide meaningless data due to water fluctuations and drive you crazy! Weigh yourself once a week and provide your coach the other emotional, psychological, and physiological indicators I mentioned above to work from the complete picture of your progress.