If you are currently focused on either losing or gaining weight, you might find yourself staring at the scale confused on a daily basis. In order to not lose your sanity you must first and foremost schedule a same day and time to weigh yourself weekly, as this will give you the best idea for your actual results. Your weight will change from hour to hour due to water and food weight. A diet low in fiber can cause stool to stock up and add toxic weight in your colon, but water will play the largest and most common culprit to weight fluctuations.

Your body retains pounds of water for protection and balance. After an intense workout, your muscles (which are 70-75% water) will swell for recovery. The more sore muscles you have the more water you will retain. The body can also naturally retain water due to your menstrual cycle, low sleep, injuries, stress, health conditions, illness, chronic dehydration, or high sodium levels. these days our food is saturated with so much hidden sodium, that our bodies can retain up to 3-5lbs in water due to this imbalance. The good news is that it is almost always temporary and your body will naturally readjust, so don’t be hard on yourself.

If you would like the most accurate reading of your body changes, make sure to weigh yourself only once a week at the exact same day, time, and under the same conditions (clothes, empty stomach, pre-workout, etc). For the absolute best indicator of body changes, I would recommend you find a tape measure, the inches never lie. Measure shoulders, arms, bust, waist, hips, thighs, and calves for a full body recording. If you take your measurements and all your numbers have dropped except your thighs which went up you can feel safe knowing that that hard run you had yesterday probably has you retaining some water. The scale number is a shady, fickle character while the measurements will always tell the truth, scouts honor.