Studies consistently show that people who regularly track their weight or bodyfat lose more and maintain their weight more successfully. Keeping track tells you when you are slipping and need to take some action.

How often you track is a personal decision. The important thing is that you do it!

A warning: Your body weight is not an accurate indicator of your actual fat loss. See Real Weight. Your weight fluctuates daily, but it does not mean you have actually gained real weight (fat). So if you tend to be very emotionally attached to what the scale says (easily discouraged), you may not want to weigh daily. Instead, do it weekly, or every other week. Or use one of the other methods we describe below.

How to track: There is no single best way to monitor your body fat levels and/or weight. Choose a method that give you valuable feedback, yet doesn't cause you anxiety, stress or discouragement. This is important! We'll talk about various methods below.

How Tracking Weight/Fat Helps You

It keeps you aware. It alerts you to a possible need to change what you're doing.

It's too easy to get sucked into the stress and busyness of everyday life for months, or years, and not notice that you're starting to gain fat until it's too late. It's so much easier to deal with a small gain, than having to face losing 30 pounds, right?

Not noticing weight creep can be a problem for people who like to eat "intuitively". Intuitive eating has benefits, but there are known instances of people gaining 30 pounds without realizing it, because they completely ignored the scale.

So, if your weight has gradually gone up over a week or two and you're not sure why, your Journal is the first place you should look. There is likely a clue contained in there.

If you realize you are constantly derailed by the same challenging situations, you should take some time to figure out a solution -- imagine and plan how you can react differently or change the situation.

If needed, you can go to a more strict program for awhile to get back on track. You have a lot of options in this member area to help you decide what to do.

What is Real Weight Loss?

You need also understand a few things about how and why your weight changes. Otherwise you may end up needlessly riding a roller coaster of emotions. Or you may jump to the wrong conclusions and make bad choices, such as ending a goal or weight loss tactic when there is nothing wrong.

There are two key things to remember:

Your weight naturally fluctuates up and down.
Your weight isn't a very accurate indicator of body composition. True weight loss is fat loss, and there are better ways to measure it (keep reading below).

The amount of weight you lose each day on a weight loss program won't always be consistent. Your body is very complex, with many systems and numerous interacting processes. As you lose weight, there are several bodily processes that will contribute to fluctuations in your weight. You might lose more on some days than others. Your weight might plateau for awhile.

Likewise, during weight maintenance or everyday eating plan, your weight will not remain the same and gaining a pound or two overnight is nothing to worry about.

These weight fluctuations are natural and you shouldn't be concerned. It's the trend over multiple days that counts. More on this below.

Factors That Influence the Scale

Water weight fluctuations.

Water weight is the main cause of weight fluctuations, and is discussed in the Education section (specifically, the Real Weight vs Water Weight page). Factors that affect water include fluctuating glycogen levels, hydration levels, salt intake, cortisol levels, and others.

Muscle weighs more than fat.

This is another important consideration -- see the Fat vs Muscle section. If you are exercising regularly, particularly resistance (weight) exercises, you will gain some muscle. This is a very good thing because burns slightly more calories than fat. However because it weighs more, the scale may not "move" as quickly and you may think you aren't making progress. Yet your body composition is changing for the better — you are losing fat, inches and looking better — but all you can see is the number on the scale!

Inaccurate/inconsistent scales.

The standard bathroom scale just isn't very accurate and can easily be off by a pound or more. Even fancy body-electric scales can be inaccurate simply from changing hydration levels. Still, you can invest in a more accurate scale if you want to know your weight with a little more precision.

Digestive system weight.

The contents of your bowels can change depending on calorie intake and diet. After a multi-day low-calorie diet, eating more normally again can "fill up" your entire digestive system and can easily cause 2 pounds of gain. It's yet another thing that influences the scale that has nothing to do with actual fat levels.

Best Methods to Track and Monitor Your Weight

So, if the scale isn't the most reliable method, what are some alternatives? Or, what can you do in addition to weighing yourself? Consider one or all of the following methods.

Pictures

One thing you should do regardless of other methods is take camera phone self-portraits in the mirror. At the least, take one picture of yourself now. After losing weight and changing body composition, most people regret not having taken at least one "before" picture -- it's a reminder of where you once were, your old self (and where you don't want to return).

Look at Long-Term Trends

If you prefer to weigh daily, you can avoid the unnecessary emotional rollercoaster by recording daily, BUT only seriously looking at the long-term average or trend.

The average over the last 7 days is a good method. There are apps that can track this for you and create a graph.

Or you can simply ignore the daily entries and only mentally compare your weight to last week.

Either way, it's essentially ignoring the scale and realizing that what happened yesterday or today is of no concern compared to the long term progress.

That's not to say that you can't or shouldn't take some action if your weight spikes one day; there can be a mental advantage to taking immediate action to "correct" the situation, even if it's not strictly necessary.

The main thing is to put dips and spikes in perspective and realize that it is what your weight says a week or two later that really tells you what is going on. There's no need to panic over what you see on the scale today, tomorrow or even over a few days.

Measurements (For Fat Loss)

Here, you are essentially measuring "inches lost" or actual fat loss by monitoring the size of your waist and other areas. If you have a really bad relationship with the scale, meaning you cannot help but let it control your mood, you should ditch the scale altogether and only use this method.

Why is this a great method? Because your actual body size including your waist doesn't fluctuate very much from day to day. As you lose fat or "real" weight, your body shape changes and your measurements will reliably show this.

Also, remember that muscle weighs more than fat so if you are exercising and gaining some lean body tissue then your weight may not be an accurate indicator of what is actually happening.

Roughly speaking, 1 inch lost around the waist means you have lost about 5 pounds of fat (1 cm lost equals 1 kilogram).

There are different ways to measure:

With a measuring tape. Record your waist, belly, thigh, arms with a measuring tape (see below).
With calipers (the most accurate way to measure fat loss).
Electronic body fat scale (however, these can be inaccurate depending on hydration levels as mentioned earlier)
The simplest method is to check how your clothes fit.

You do have to take care that you are measuring in the exact same spot on your body or it'll be inaccurate or inconsistent.

Just like recording your weight, taking your measurements daily is still a good habit to get into. However, because body composition changes more slowly, you could instead do it weekly.

Measuring Tape - Where to Measure

To track inches lost, the following are some suggested areas to measure.

Belly. Wrap around your belly, across the top of your hip bones and below the belly button. Exhale, and don't suck in your belly.
Waist. Measure at the narrowest point.
Hip. Measure at the biggest part, even if it's clear down near your thighs.
Chest/Bust. Measure at the fullest part, or right at the nipple line, all the way around your chest.
Inner thigh. Measure around one leg at the biggest point.
Biceps. Measure around one arm at the biggest point above the elbow.

If you only want to track one measurement, the most important is your belly because it is an indicator of certain health risks.

While measuring, make sure the measuring tape is flat against your skin. Don't pull it tight or let it droop. Keep your muscles relaxed.

Consistency

If you do choose to use the scale, make sure you weigh yourself at the same time of day, on the same scale, wearing the same clothing (or no clothes). The best time is first thing in the morning after voiding your bladder.