Weigh yourself once a week or ??

hanalou1992
hanalou1992 Posts: 30 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
is it best too weigh yourself once a week or a few times a week everyone says different
«1

Replies

  • clairelouise276
    clairelouise276 Posts: 8 Member
    edited September 2015
    Once a week is best I think, but everyone is different.
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,626 Member
    edited September 2015
    do what works for you, but be mindful that your weight fluctuates widely during the day and week. Which is why its so common for people to weigh once a week, in the same time and place. i weigh daily but i only log and remember friday mornings ;) if normal fluctuations will stress you out, only weigh once a week
  • cnbbnc
    cnbbnc Posts: 1,267 Member
    I think once a week is best for tracking purposes, but yeah...if you can handle the fact that your weight will normally be up and down, then do it if you want.

  • DeguelloTex
    DeguelloTex Posts: 6,652 Member
    I think every day is best for tracking purposes, but whatever works for you is best for you.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    edited September 2015
    Because of normal day to day fluctuations that easily can mask a week's true fat gain or loss, it's best to weigh daily. Or monthly. Or never. At least not weekly. But I'm probably the only one who thinks that.

    Do what works for you. But for most reliable results, weigh under similar conditions every time - same scales, same place, similar clothes, preferably same time of day, after loo, before breakfast.

    Oh, and I use Trendweight. My graph looks like a seizure even though I eat very much the same every day.
  • VykkDraygoVPR
    VykkDraygoVPR Posts: 465 Member
    I weigh every day, but I don't actually care what the scale says. If I'm lower, I log it. If I'm not, I just note it and move on. It's helped me understand when I retain water, and how long it takes for that to even out (because I am definitely in a deficit).

    If you are interested in tracking the stats, do it day to day. If you just want to see a general trend, check once a week or so. Just figure out what works for you, and helps to keep you on track!
  • 999tigger
    999tigger Posts: 5,235 Member
    It depends on your personality as to what suits you. once a week would be a happy median.
    I much preferred daily when losing, because consistent results are encouraging and you have all the information at hand to make adjustments. Data is just data.

    Some people get stressed, dont understand fluctuations and its not healthy for them to weigh too frequently.
  • LaceyBirds
    LaceyBirds Posts: 451 Member
    I wake up, go to the bathroom, then take off my pajamas and step on the scale. I do it every day. I keep telling myself not to do it, because the normal fluctuations UPWARD can really bother me if I'm not in a good frame of mind, but I keep doing it anyway. >:) I only record losses because I would find recording gains discouraging. Do whatever works for you, and if it's not working, change it. :)
  • OsricTheKnight
    OsricTheKnight Posts: 340 Member
    kommodevaran wrote: »
    ... But I'm probably the only one who thinks that...I use Trendweight

    First off nice work maintaining! Looking great!

    Secondly I'm another fan of daily weigh in plus trend. It's really the only thing that shows me what's going on. It's more obvious with losing than maintaining, though you can see kommodevaran is within the goal band. Compare my fitness pal's chart:

    9ouuhz7t1vox.png

    with the trendweight chart over almost the exact same days:

    w0p1tqheujp9.png

    Same data, one with no clear message, and the other with a very clear message.

    If you're looking at your scale weights, once a week is probably OK, once a month is probably better. Scale weight is just totally dominated by water and water isn't what you care about.

    Osric

  • Asher_Ethan
    Asher_Ethan Posts: 2,430 Member
    I wish I could weight myself everyday (I think the graphs people get are cool.... I'm a numbers geek) but I mentally just can't handle it. I tried it and when my weight would go up I would get so frustrated and it would sometimes cause me to binge eat that night because I felt like giving up. Now I weight myself every Friday and it's much better.
  • moribunny
    moribunny Posts: 417 Member
    edited September 2015
    VykkDraygoVPR wrote: »
    I weigh every day, but I don't actually care what the scale says. If I'm lower, I log it. If I'm not, I just note it and move on. It's helped me understand when I retain water, and how long it takes for that to even out (because I am definitely in a deficit).

    If you are interested in tracking the stats, do it day to day. If you just want to see a general trend, check once a week or so. Just figure out what works for you, and helps to keep you on track!
    +1
    And also what @Asher_Ethan mentioned happened to them, don't do it often if it's going to frustrate/upset you to see a fluctuation upwards.
  • shrcpr
    shrcpr Posts: 885 Member
    I hate weighing myself so I'm planning on weighing only once a month. It's makes me too crazy to do it more often.
  • dianamaine
    dianamaine Posts: 20 Member
    LaceyBirds wrote: »
    I wake up, go to the bathroom, then take off my pajamas and step on the scale. I do it every day. I keep telling myself not to do it, because the normal fluctuations UPWARD can really bother me if I'm not in a good frame of mind, but I keep doing it anyway. >:) I only record losses because I would find recording gains discouraging. Do whatever works for you, and if it's not working, change it. :)

    This is exactly what I do! It would make me crazy to only weigh in once a week- what if that was the "up" day? Definitely a personal decision, as is everything when it comes to diet and exercise. What works for you is what you should do!
  • philipkearns87
    philipkearns87 Posts: 3 Member
    I could weigh myself a couple of times a day. He main one is in the morning. If it's low(er) it's logged. I have breakfast and could even weigh myself again after I walk past it. I find it interesting more than anything. I enjoy weighing myself before bed and seeing it return to the low weight in the morning.. Only been two weeks or so but I haven't had any gains in my morning weight.. Down 11lbs.
  • Merkavar
    Merkavar Posts: 3,082 Member
    Depends

    Do you freak out or get demotivated by every small gain? Weight fluctuates.

    Many posts seem to be made claiming they are gaining. Turns out they gained 1 pound over 2 days, because they weigh them selves too often and don't realise it's likely water weight.

    If you understand your weight fluctuates them more data points the better for looking at trends.

    Personally I weigh once a week. I look at my weight loss over 2-3 months since I don't care if I gained this week or that week as long as over all is going down.
  • ciaralizabeth
    ciaralizabeth Posts: 14 Member
    I try to weigh myself every 2 weeks. My goal is to lose 1 lb per week, so weighing myself everyday wouldn't be helpful for me. Also, it's always pleasing to see a loss of more than 2lbs on my weigh in day. It's really up to to you.

    Good luck :)
  • hanalou1992
    hanalou1992 Posts: 30 Member
    callsitlikeiseeit wrote: »
    do what works for you, but be mindful that your weight fluctuates widely during the day and week. Which is why its so common for people to weigh once a week, in the same time and place. i weigh daily but i only log and remember friday mornings ;) if normal fluctuations will stress you out, only weigh once a week

    Thank you :)
  • hanalou1992
    hanalou1992 Posts: 30 Member
    Thanks guys for the feedback much appreciated
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,557 Member
    I weigh myself every day.

    I like to see the patterns ... the normal fluctuations. I find them interesting. :)

    But I usually only update my info here on the weekends. As it happens, that seems to be when I'm the lowest each week. :grin:
  • unigirl143
    unigirl143 Posts: 126 Member
    I weigh every day but rack my overall trend each week. I think this is the best of both world when I am being a bit of a control freak. I can see the number every day but choose to ignore for the overall picture.
  • PinkPixiexox
    PinkPixiexox Posts: 4,142 Member
    I weigh myself once every Friday morning :)

    Weighing daily is an option if you generally have a good relationship with the scales and understand that they will fluctuate (sometimes by a couple of pounds) each day. Daily weighing is good for tracking patterns but I think it's 'healthier' not to get too wrapped up in that number on the scales - there are so many factors that can cause fluctuations - even a lot of exercise.

    I'd personally advise you to keep it simple and weigh in once a week and record your results. Having said that, it really is personal preference :)
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    For me, desensitization is even more important than my love of numbers and data points. Weighing every day makes it a normal habit, not something I dread. I know that I can't have gained a pound of fat over night. A large sudden jump up or down is ALWAYS water weight (or poo).
  • PinkPixiexox
    PinkPixiexox Posts: 4,142 Member
    kommodevaran wrote: »
    For me, desensitization is even more important than my love of numbers and data points. Weighing every day makes it a normal habit, not something I dread. I know that I can't have gained a pound of fat over night. A large sudden jump up or down is ALWAYS water weight (or poo).

    Very good points!
  • NotPoodle
    NotPoodle Posts: 4 Member
    kommodevaran wrote: »
    Because of normal day to day fluctuations that easily can mask a week's true fat gain or loss, it's best to weigh daily. Or monthly. Or never. At least not weekly. But I'm probably the only one who thinks that.

    I completely agree. If you don't mind seeing the variance, daily is great for accountability and troubleshooting. Monthly is good if you don't want to see any variance. But weekly is the worst of both: the 2lbs +/- variance can show up in the weekly weighing and it's much harder to go back through your diary to try and find if there's a logging error, or some unusual activity that caused it.

    Just my 2p.
  • CurlyCockney
    CurlyCockney Posts: 1,394 Member
    kommodevaran wrote: »
    For me, desensitization is even more important than my love of numbers and data points. Weighing every day makes it a normal habit, not something I dread. I know that I can't have gained a pound of fat over night. A large sudden jump up or down is ALWAYS water weight (or poo).

    Exactly this. If I didn't weigh daily (and my scales automatically log to MFP) I might have been disheartened this week because my weight is the same as last week. However, during this week I've lost and gained back 2 lbs, so my efforts weren't in vain and it's just normal fluctuations. In my experience, weeks like this are followed by losses that stay lost ;-)
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,557 Member
    kommodevaran wrote: »
    For me, desensitization is even more important than my love of numbers and data points. Weighing every day makes it a normal habit, not something I dread. I know that I can't have gained a pound of fat over night. A large sudden jump up or down is ALWAYS water weight (or poo).

    This ^^

    And I can always tie in a weight gain with something that would cause me to retain water, such as eating something quite salty the night before. And then the next day I lose a bit, and the day after I lose a bit more back down to where I was, and then I usually drop a little bit more to a new low weight. :)

    Then it might jump a bit again because of salt, or because I did quite a bit more exercise than usual, or because of my TOM, or whatever ... and then it drops again. It's a regular, predictable pattern, so those small gains don't worry me.

    I'm also confident in CI<CO. :) I know that if I just stick with what I'm doing, I'll continue to lose.



  • hamptontom
    hamptontom Posts: 536 Member
    dianamaine wrote: »
    LaceyBirds wrote: »
    I wake up, go to the bathroom, then take off my pajamas and step on the scale. I do it every day. I keep telling myself not to do it, because the normal fluctuations UPWARD can really bother me if I'm not in a good frame of mind, but I keep doing it anyway. >:) I only record losses because I would find recording gains discouraging. Do whatever works for you, and if it's not working, change it. :)

    This is exactly what I do! It would make me crazy to only weigh in once a week- what if that was the "up" day? Definitely a personal decision, as is everything when it comes to diet and exercise. What works for you is what you should do!


    this has been my regimen as well, for a couple of reasons - personally, i like to see what the number is every day so that - if need be - i can adjust my "caloric behavior" for the day if necessary based on what the scale is telling me, but also because it's been interesting to monitor the effect of my workouts on the scale.

    since i went from strict cardio-only to a mix of cardio and strength training, the effect on the scale hasn't been the same...but it's interesting to see which combinations of workouts and diet seem to have the most direct results.
  • cricketbird1
    cricketbird1 Posts: 16 Member
    :D
    LaceyBirds wrote: »
    I wake up, go to the bathroom, then take off my pajamas and step on the scale. I do it every day. I keep telling myself not to do it, because the normal fluctuations UPWARD can really bother me if I'm not in a good frame of mind, but I keep doing it anyway. >:) I only record losses because I would find recording gains discouraging. Do whatever works for you, and if it's not working, change it. :)

  • ncboiler89
    ncboiler89 Posts: 2,408 Member
    edited September 2015
    I weigh myself once per week except for days that end in a "y". On those days I weigh myself because I have found that on those days a person's weight is statistically significant.
  • OsricTheKnight
    OsricTheKnight Posts: 340 Member
    edited September 2015
    kommodevaran wrote: »
    For me, desensitization is even more important than my love of numbers and data points. Weighing every day makes it a normal habit, not something I dread. I know that I can't have gained a pound of fat over night. A large sudden jump up or down is ALWAYS water weight (or poo).

    It's not poo, it's always water. Even the air you breathe each day weighs more than your solid waste by a wide margin.

    figure355.gif

    Source: "The Hacker's Diet" which in turn credits the numbers to NASA.

    Osric

    [edit for spelling]

Categories