Situation – 1: You go to a doctor, stand on the weighing scale and get the shock of your life. You scream in your head – “Oh my god! My weight has increased!!!”

Situation -2: You go to meet a dietitian at 4 pm in the evening and it shows 2.5 Kgs more than what you saw last time and you scream weight gain, again!!!

Situation -3: You go to enroll in a gym or yoga classes or weight-loss programme and you stand on the weighing scale to check your weight and you scream again “Oh my god my weight is up by 2 Kgs than last time!!”

We all have been through these situations. So what happened? Why does your weight look like it has a mind of its

own? Are all the weighing scales conspiring against you? So what’s your real body weight?If you want to know your actual weight then check your weight as you get up in the morning immediately in the following steps:

1) Go to the washroom to get rid of the waste in your body (potty & pee), then

2) Remove your clothes and stand naked on weighing scale, that’s your actual body weight.

Make sure you don’t drink water or eat anything before checking weight. This is a critical step and something that is very easy to overlook or forget.

Everything you eat has a unique weight associated with it. Everything you wear adds on to your weight. You will be surprised to know that your clothes have at least 500 grams weight. Some of the belts you wear are heavier than the shirts/tops. Your jeans are also heavy.

You can experiment to see it yourself. Check your weight after you eat anything.

Check your weight (standing naked after visiting the washroom) on a digital weighing scale early in the morning. Then wear clothes and check your weight, your weight will be up by 500 grams at least.

Now drink a glass of water and check your weight. It will be up again.

You will be surprised to see that every day by end of the day our weight increases by approximately 2.5 Kgs and decreases by the next morning (as the food gets digested). We eat and drink 1.5 kg of food & water. On an average, our stomach has a capacity to keep 2 Kgs of food. Our large intestine can hold up to 1.5 kg of waste.

So that’s why we hear dietitians, doctors, internet articles and trainers say that we have 3 kg variable weight. That’s because of the food we eat, the waste in our body and clothes we wear.

So next time you weigh yourself – keep calm and remember if it’s not an early morning weight (empty  stomach+ after a visit to the washroom + without clothes) it’s not your actual weight.