Why I weigh daily

257_Lag

I unearthed this two year old post for a new friend and thought I might share it again. Since I originally posted it I am down 45 more pounds.


I am a daily weigher and love it. Every morning, wake, pee, weigh, log it. I have learned a lot through this like what a high sodium day does to me or hot weather or a HARD workout or a big change in my workout routine - they all add a few temporary pounds for me but they truly are temporary. The fluctuations fascinate me, they don't upset me in the slightest. I'm not saying this is right or wrong, everybody has a different mentality when it comes to how often to weigh yourself.

I fully understand the concept of weighing once a week or even once a month but this can be very upsetting if you weigh on a high peak day. Look at my chart below and consider these two scenarios:

Monthly
Let's say I weighed ONLY on the 2nd day of the month.

May 2 - 239.5
June 2 - 239.5
CRAP! I didn't lose anything this entire month!

How about weekly?

Sunday May 12 - 237.9
Sunday May 19 - 238.9
WHAT! I worked hard all week and I GAINED 1 whole pound!

Both of these people are are not happy!

You be the judge, how in the world have I lost weight when I gained a pound in one week or went a whole month with no loss?



Just saying...

holly_roman

nice, sounds like this works well for you. Keep it up :-)

ettaterrell

I am right there with you! I love to weigh daily and I use to swear by once a week because I thought it would discourage me weighing daily but now after weeks of daily weighting I realize when I see a lb up from day before I truly know it's coming back down with in a day or 2 and what if I had weighed once a week and that been the day I weighed......

Matt200goal

I'm a daily weigher, for the same reasons, as well. What App is that (picture)?

scolaris

I am a convert to every day weighing myself. It's a good health affirming routine & you just need to accept there's a 5-7 lb window of 'weights' that represent your living breathing ingesting & excreting body rather than one unchanging number. Once you are square with that, you've really got nothing to fear or dread!

scolaris

But, ever since I switched to a very responsive Aria scale I don't see such wild fluctuations. It's more like 18-24 oz in a 24 hour period although it can drift up & down within 3-4 lbs in a week. And I only weigh naked first thing in the a.m. I really don't care to know what I weigh in my shoes at 3 pm after a big lunch! Just never going there!!

suruda

I also find that when I stop weighing daily, it's when I know I'm not doing what I'm supposed to do. Getting casual about tracking, and I don't want to face the scale. I feel at my best when eating well, tracking what I eat, and weighing consistently...then if the scale goes up, I can look at what I ate or did the day before and see if it possibly caused the fluctuation.

257_Lag

Matt200goal wrote: »

I'm a daily weigher, for the same reasons, as well. What App is that (picture)?

It's an android app called Libra

ettaterrell

I use the app "happy scale" for Apple phone

strong_curves

That's exactly why I weigh daily.

MsMaeFlowers

I can't stand weighing myself daily, at least not right now. I just started losing weight, and I find the daily fluctuations drive me crazy, wondering why I'm up higher, or haven't lost anything. I weigh once a week, and so far I have been lower every time.

Different methods for different people though, so as long as what you're doing works for you, that's all that matters. I might be more interested in daily weight once I have lost a bigger chunk of weight and the gains don't freak me out any more

ebouchie

257_Lag wrote: »

I fully understand the concept of weighing once a week or even once a month but this can be very upsetting if you weigh on a high peak day. Look at my chart below and consider these two scenarios:

Monthly
Let's say I weighed ONLY on the 2nd day of the month.

May 2 - 239.5
June 2 - 239.5
CRAP! I didn't lose anything this entire month!

How about weekly?

Sunday May 12 - 237.9
Sunday May 19 - 238.9
WHAT! I worked hard all week and I GAINED 1 whole pound!

Both of these people are are not happy!

You be the judge, how in the world have I lost weight when I gained a pound in one week or went a whole month with no loss?

Just saying...

Exactly why I weigh daily as well!

LivingtheLeanDream

Totally get people weighing frequently, it really helps us get to know our body and how fluctuations happen. The main thing is that the overall trend is down.

susanmc31

I use Libra too and that is why I weigh in daily!

NikiChicken

I am also a daily weigher - for the exact same reasons. I'm 3 1/2 years in and 100 pounds down weighing daily. I like knowing exactly how my time of month, a salty day, an extra workout, too much sleep, too little sleep, etc., etc., etc. will affect my scale weight. It absolutely took the frustration of the scale fluctuations away. Now it's just information to use as needed.

Bry_Fitness70

I weigh myself as often as possible, even though I've been in maintenance and have generally been the same weight (+-5 lbs) for several years, for the same reason I continue to log my diet and exercise; I love data and the more data the better!

RetiredAndLovingIt

I weigh daily & chart it on paper. Once a week I add up the weights & divide by 7 to get my average & draw a line so I can see the over all picture. It is slowly going down, which is what I am aiming for.

JLG1986

GREAT explanation of the weigh daily rationale! I have been a daily weigher for a long time and often struggle to explain it to others. Now I have a good summary. Thanks!

ebouchie

Just downloaded and installed the Happy Scale app. Very cool!

wendymoira

I weigh weekly, and also see fluctuations. If my weekly weigh-in coincides with the day or two I feel bloated from my period, I *might* push it off a day (and I like to weigh using a scale at my gym, so once in awhile the day gets pushed off because of emergency not-a-workout). Honestly, though, I'm pretty familiar with the pattern where my scale says one week I've maintained or lost or gained less than a pound, then the next week I'm down three. It doesn't bother me as long as I can see that the overall trend is downward.

kthompson601

Congrats on your successful weight loss!

For a while I weighed once a week, then daily for a couple months. I found that I started to get really anxious and obsessive about the scale and started weighing multiple times a day. When I realized that I was starting to get too upset about that number, I returned to once a week. Different strokes for different folks! It's ok to play around and do different things at different times, whatever feels right. Your explanation (and that of many of the posters) about why you weigh daily makes perfect sense, but I know right now it isn't the best thing for my health, mentally.

Also, I have to share about the fluctuations: Two weeks ago, I weighed 201.8. Then I had a truly bad week of eating--Chinese food, crackers and chips, and an extremely salty buffet. Last week I weighed 207. 4! Whoa! Then this week, after returning to my regular eating, I'm down all the way to 200! It is crazy how much water your body can retain in response to food, workouts, and the weather. Nuts! I know I didn't "gain" 5.6 pounds, the same way I didn't "lose" 7.4 pounds. Your body can really fluctuate!

MarcyKirkton

I am still weighing daily, but I plan to transition soon to weekly. Once I hit my goal, then I'm hoping a weekly check-in will keep maintenance steady.

Lounmoun

Both of these people are are not happy!

Maybe. But there are people who also weigh daily who say "I gained a pound since yesterday!" or "I gained 3 pounds since breakfast" and are absolutely depressed too. If you are going to weigh yourself as a measure of progress- no matter the frequency- you still need to understand that your weight (not just fat) will fluctuate from day-to-day or hour-to-hour.

I happily weigh weekly. That is as much information from the scale as I want.
I understand that my weight will not go down every day or every week and I look at my weight over time. I don't think I'm not losing weight just because of the reading one week.

If weighing every day makes you happy and keeps you motivated that is a great.

Jruzer

More data > less data

Asher_Ethan

257_Lag wrote: »

Matt200goal wrote: »

I'm a daily weigher, for the same reasons, as well. What App is that (picture)?

It's an android app called Libra

Ahhhhh I was actually coming on here to ask what app the daily weighers use and you happened to post this. Thank you! I'm going to try and start weighing daily, It's such a mental game for me though because when I work hard and don't lose anything I get frustrated. But I also really like numbers and graphs so I better start to like weighing daily.

sanjay_says

I actually prefer to weigh daily for the same reasons as the OP. One minor issue that I noticed with MFP is that if you fluctuate a lot (e.g. lose 1 pound, gain 1 pound, lose 1 pound, gain 1 pound) over the course of the week, MFP just keeps saying you lost 1lb every time on your timeline (even though your net loss is actually zero). Anyone know how to disable that since it's misleading?

auddii

sanjay_says wrote: »

I actually prefer to weigh daily for the same reasons as the OP. One minor issue that I noticed with MFP is that if you fluctuate a lot (e.g. lose 1 pound, gain 1 pound, lose 1 pound, gain 1 pound) over the course of the week, MFP just keeps saying you lost 1lb every time on your timeline (even though your net loss is actually zero). Anyone know how to disable that since it's misleading?

@sanjay_says just go here and uncheck "when I lose weight" : http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/news_feed_settings

Of course, you won't get any pats on the back for you loss, but it can be very annoying when you basically stay the same but go up and down the same pound.

LilMissLisaC

How do you get it to show the actual weight spikes against the red line? Thanks x

lesliewynn14

I weigh daily as well. It helps me to focus on my resolve to keep eating healthy and exercise. When I don't weigh in daily I go back to my old ways of overeating and not exercising. The discipline of daily weighing motivates me to do the right things for the day.

257_Lag

LilMissLisaC wrote: »

How do you get it to show the actual weight spikes against the red line? Thanks x

The actual daily weight is the tips (high or low) of the vertical lines. The red line is your average over your chosen time frame. I prefer to set the Smoothing Days to 10 in Libra so a spike doesn't seem so extreme overall.

257_Lag

auddii wrote: »

sanjay_says wrote: »

I actually prefer to weigh daily for the same reasons as the OP. One minor issue that I noticed with MFP is that if you fluctuate a lot (e.g. lose 1 pound, gain 1 pound, lose 1 pound, gain 1 pound) over the course of the week, MFP just keeps saying you lost 1lb every time on your timeline (even though your net loss is actually zero). Anyone know how to disable that since it's misleading?

@sanjay_says just go here and uncheck "when I lose weight" : http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/news_feed_settings

Of course, you won't get any pats on the back for you loss, but it can be very annoying when you basically stay the same but go up and down the same pound.

Another option is to chart your daily weight in an app but only log new LOWS in MFP. That's what I do. I got tired of "likes" for the same pound over and over again.