How often should I weigh in at maintenance?

halimaiqbal00

I am starting a recomp soon. I am somewhat at peace with the scales and my current weight of 143 (5' 7) but I need to lose some serious body fat. My body composition scales show that it's at 29% which depresses me.

I have a horrible relationship with the scale. I have weighed weekly for 5 years and force myself not to weigh more than once a week. I will look at myself in the mirror on a Friday morning and feel so good about myself and will look slimmer but then I step on the scales to see that I've gained a pound and my entire mood is ruined for the day. I still workout that day though because I absolutely adore exercise. This is something in itself because in the past, if the scales showed a gain, I would skip my workout and eat junk all day and seriously self sabotage. Thankfully, lifestyle changes prevent me from doing this anymore though the number of the scales still can affect me in a negative way.

Now that you know my relationship with tha scale, would you recommend that I weigh once a fortnight, once a month or never?

TavistockToad

Scales are useless for giving you an accurate bodyfat percentage.

I weigh a couple of times a week whether trying to maintain or lose.

RoxieDawn

Those scale really are terrible at identifying one's true Body Fat%.. I have one and I give no forethought to the read out it gives me..

This is just me and not for everyone, I do weigh daily, but I use my scale as a tool to help me with trending my loss or maintain weight over a period of time (30 days).. I do use a weight trending app to help with this too. Being female and all the day to day fluctuations are too much to deal with on a day to day scale (no pun intended)..

How ever you want to do it.. really comes down to personal preference and your relationship with the scale.

tiffaninghs

I weigh in multiple times a day mainly so I can see all those pesky fluctuations in my weight. I retain water very easily and if I see an uptick I know that I need to get more sleep and increase my water consumption.

TavistockToad

tiffaninghs wrote: »

I weigh in multiple times a day mainly so I can see all those pesky fluctuations in my weight. I retain water very easily and if I see an uptick I know that I need to get more sleep and increase my water consumption.

You do know you're ALWAYS going to weigh more through the day due to ingesting food?

RoxieDawn

TavistockToad wrote: »

tiffaninghs wrote: »

I weigh in multiple times a day mainly so I can see all those pesky fluctuations in my weight. I retain water very easily and if I see an uptick I know that I need to get more sleep and increase my water consumption.

You do know you're ALWAYS going to weigh more through the day due to ingesting food?

I would be horrified doing this everyday.. I would probably throw my scale at my husband.

halimaiqbal00

I did that a few times too because I was curious but that curiosity turned to despair even though I knew it was logical that I'd weigh more after eating yet it still stressed me out. I don't do that anymore thank goodness. Just need to programme myself to stop worrying about the fluctuations the scales show

UpEarly

I only weigh in every few months. I go mainly on clothes-fit. I lost about 60 pounds in 2011 and have been maintaining ever since. My weight seems to stay within the same five pound range.

brynnsmom

Scale fluctuations used to dictate my mood and behaviors, too. For a really long time I got away without weighing at all because I was sick of it. When I'd hop on after a few months out of curiosity I would not have gained. My opinion, if you are logging accurately and working out regularly, leave the scale alone. Go by the mirror and the fit of your clothes (presuming you don't live in stretchy yoga pants all the time). I know when I've gained because my tailored clothes fit crappy (like they do right now. Sigh.).

AllOutof_Bubblegum

Knowing your predisposition to letting the scale affect you mood for the rest of the day (it should never have that power!) I would chuck the scale completely, and just go by inch measurements and by how your clothes fit. Or take a full-body bikini pic once a month, and compare to last month.

Spliner1969

I weigh in officially once a week on Thursdays. I figure on the weekends we tend to eat foods with more sodium so it takes a few days to flush that out of my system so Thursdays seemed like a good day to me. Mondays are also my rest day so it's the third day into my six day workout schedule. However any time I want to weigh myself I do it, but I don't really log anything until Thursdays.

jolive7

AllOutof_Bubblegum wrote: »

Knowing your predisposition to letting the scale affect you mood for the rest of the day (it should never have that power!) I would chuck the scale completely, and just go by inch measurements and by how your clothes fit. Or take a full-body bikini pic once a month, and compare to last month.

I agree with this.. Also, I don't really weigh myself. I do it every 6 ish weeks but that is because it is the time I am doing my body fat measurements. My weight almost always stays the same and my bf% decreases about 1 - 2% every 6 weeks

PandoraGreen721

I use to do it daily..now it's as I remember.

sllm1

I weigh daily, but it doesn't bother me to see fluctuations. I actually can predict fluctuations at this point - when they are hormonal, when they are sodium, etc.

But, if I had the relationship that you do with the scale, I would weigh once every four weeks. That way, weighing at the same time each month, you're taking the hormonal water retention out of the picture. I would choose a day during the week so that any weekend "splurging" or change in diet won't affect the results either.

Once every four weeks on a Wednesday. That's what I'd do.