When I recently signed into Zwift on a new device, I was presented with the reminder that I should ensure that my weight is set correctly to ensure fairness. It was but it felt reasonable to be reminded after 18 months. In fact it felt long overdue.
A Zwiftinsider survey showed that 36% of respondents were willing to admit to failing to enter weight gains.
Research has shown that people are far less likely to cheat when they have to actively do so, rather than passively not updating their weight, for instance.
Shouldnāt Zwift occasionally ask racers, in particular, if theyāve got their weight correctly set in-game? Iāve seen racers who havenāt updated their weight for years, often after months of sustained weight loss (showing they once understood the benefits of updating weight) thenā¦nothing.
Weight doping is apparently by far the biggest source of cheating in the game. Yet virtually nothing is done about the most common form. Only those who actively change their weight get requests for weight verification in the big series it seems, yet this passive cheating is far more pervasive.
If, say, every Zwift monthiversary there was a reminder upon entering an event āhave you set your weight correctly?ā then I think this would nudge many into choosing between being an active cheat or doing the right thing and most would do the later.
My weight gets uploaded to Apple health whenever I step on the scale. If Zwift had an option to read my weight from the health app, Iād enable that. I agree that most people probably just set it and forget about it.
Although itās only a marginal difference, when resetting mine I have to acccount for bib shorts + vest. Iām not sure if this is just a ZRL requirement or generally the case, but I have to mentally add it to all weight measurements before I decide if to change my weight, usually only after about a week of constantly weighing under the new value, having accounted for clothing weight. Maybe this is taking it too far, but as I progress people seem very keen to accuse me of cheating. Usually those whoāve stopped updating their weight. I can be confident of firing out a weight-verification video almost any time,
i asked WTRL once (i was A1) and they said within 3% in the community leagues is fine, though i donāt think they actually bother doing weigh ins anymore. i thought it was kind of overly generous if anything but i suppose 3% means a whole lot more when you are my size than it does when you are 90kg
I believe you can create a free fitbit account, choose what elements you sync ie weight and then this syncs with zwift. The only difference you will have from the video below is that you are syncing apple to fitbit rather than the scales app
PS I have the scales in the video and they seem spot on compared to my brothers Withings
To be completely honest I have a Wyze scale. The last update in November saw my body fat % basically double and I know itās wrong. At most when Iāve been obsessed with the numbers in the past, itāll bounce around Ā±1kg, unless if get sick, a binge for a couple weeks without riding or Iām very hydrated. So there are two problems here. I donāt trust my scale to begin with, have no interest in spending more money for another scale and I might be passively weight doping because during the IRL racing months when I donāt really care or check my weight (pretty much stay away from the scale unless Zwift makes me do a weigh in).
My concern around this is that weight can be a really sensitive topic and is forcing people to weigh themselves for a community event (Iām not talking large scale like ZRL here) a big OTT?
Easily avoided with some simple rules for when it should be shown. Have the remainders set to show every x weeks for a user in events where the organiser has toggled on.
For the avoidance of doubt as realise itās not clear. This is a response to @James_Zwift suggesting it might be OTT. Iād certainly be supportive of something like this, though it will do nothing to deter those actively weight doping, it may prompt those who have forgotten to update in a while. Better than nothing.
I do get that it would irk some, I think. Or maybe not? As weight is, inevitably, a key metric for the game, if it were just a box you had to enter as you entered the pen for a race, could anyone seriously object? Honesty is still required, but people are far more likely to be dishonest passively.
I think that would be overkill, but a nudge every month/quarter of ādo you need to update your weight?ā Perhaps only if it hasnāt been updated seems unobtrusive.
I think Iād be okay with once a quarter. I think we need to consider the fact that whilst us, as a collective, are massively invested in racing, there are an awful lot of āoh, Iāll just give this a goā and we definitely donāt want to scare them away by being too draconian.