How many times you weigh yourself in a day?

Yes, seriously, how many times do you weigh yourself in a day? How many times do you get on to the weighing scale to check your weight? Well, if you ask me, not less than ten times a day! Wonder what is wrong with me? Don’t. I find it to be a healthy habit. Whoever said to those aspiring to lose weight, not to check weight often, in my opinion, is totally wrong. By checking your weight often you come to know the progress you are making in losing weight and also learn to correct your food habits, if the weight is not coming down as planned or if it is adamantly stagnant.

My day starts with climbing out of bed and after the visit to the toilet, climbing on to my digital weighing scale, which is kept just next to my bed. My day had started well if I have lost one kilogram (kg) from the weight I had recorded the previous night before going to sleep. One kg less means your bowel movements are good and you have eaten your good share of fiber and fruits and vegetables, cooked or raw.

The next checking is done immediately thereafter, on consuming a fistful of dry fruits, and a hot glass of water in the cold season or water at room temperature during warm and normal weather. I usually add 200 grams on this.

After my morning devotional readings and prayer, I go for my 45 minutes fast morning walk, up to the mini-forest near my home and on return the first thing I do is to check the weight. I just manage to lose 100-200 grams on this exercise. When weather permits, Bangalore being cold, I go for my 45 minutes swim and manage to shed at least 300 grams. So that shows you that exercises like swimming are more strenuous than walking. See, such constant checking help you know how much your body responds to the exercises you are on. In case the result is not much you can always change the exercise to something a little more strenuous.   

Well, next is the energy giving breakfast. I have a sumptuous breakfast with three idlies (rice cakes) taken with dal sambhar (lentil soup) and a mug of nice hot milk. It adds almost 700 grams to my weight. But it is good to have a healthy and good breakfast. Never skip it. You need the energy it gives to go on till after noon.

You might like to take a snack or/and fruit around 11 am to nourish your body with good nutrients and you might just add another 100 gram to your weight, not very much really.

Then comes lunch time.

Does it look as if I am only planning and eating food and not doing much in between? Ah, not true, not true at all. When I was in Service I was working quite hard and missed the midday snack or fruits, but always caught up with lunch. Now that I am retired, I do a lot of reading and writing and counseling and teaching and preaching, but I do have enough time to keep up my schedule.

After a good lunch of a cup of rice with dal (lentil soup), one cooked vegetable, a piece of fish, curds and salad, I add up to 500 grams. A sumptuous lunch is again a must to keep your energy levels up throughout the day until the evening.

Evenings, if I am at home I may take a healthy snack or a fruit and a cup of green tea and this adds just 200 grams. Thereafter I go for my evening walk, which you can call a stroll, for I do it leisurely with my friends, for around 45 minutes. This brings down the weight by another 100 grams or so.

A light supper in the night of just two thin chappaties (like tortillas but made of wheat flour), some vegetable and a piece of fish, one might add another 300 grams.

So you see, now you know how much you have eaten and how much you are expending after exercise and work. A healthy human being with normal working hours would require at least 2000 to 2400 grams of food intake. Of course it has to be healthy food and not junk or sugary or fried stuff. From morning we do lose 1500 or 1750 grams in our daily routines and exercises. Some extra energy is always welcome.

Ah, but you must weigh yourself before hitting the bed, so that you can know how much you have lost in the morning on waking up. You will also notice on days you have gorged on sweets and cakes and fried snacks, though your intake by way of grams is like the normal food intake, mornings the weight will stay and that is the extra weight that makes you gain more weight. So such checks helps you to find out what wrong food you are eating and to cut on that, in case you want to lose weight and want to be healthy.

The same principle applies to taking water also. On taking water you do add 100 grams or so, but on relieving yourself you will lose that. You need to take water as much as you can, as per your thirst requirements.

Well folks, so if someone tells you to check your weight on the scales once in a week or a month, know that it is not scientific. It is better to take your weight before and after each meal, including snacks, so that you will know how much really you are eating and where you are gaining more weight, so that you can cut on that.

If you can do this religiously for a week or a month, then you come to know the pattern of your food habits and how your body responds to it, and thereafter, may be you need not be that meticulous.

So go ahead and check on your weighting scales, even up to 12 times a day. You will lose nothing but gain a lot of information about your own body.

Happy experience with your weighing scale!