How often should you weigh in??

cannon712

I have a habit of constantly getting on the scale all of the time to see if I'm making process...how often do you guys weigh in?

beachlover317

every 8 weeks.

55in13

You should do a search; this comes up a lot. While losing, I weigh daily and only record the lows as long as I keep seeing new lows every few day. I figure the upward spikes are extra water and more "in the pipeline". Some people weigh daily, include the upward spikes, and average it. Some people weigh less often - once a week or month or ???. The question is whether or not you would obsess over the numbers or if you like seeing lots of data. There is no best answer for everyone.

lemur_lady

I weigh in every week. But I have only been at this a month.

lcfairbairn74

Once a week. After morning ablutions. Same day, same time, same place (down to the last tile on the floor), naked (I live alone, so nobody has to witness this :laugh: ).

I couldn't weigh myself more often. I realise that other people prefer to, and record their daily fluctuations and are happiest doing this. If I weighed myself daily, I would become obsessed and upset over the fluctuations, which can be as much as 7 pounds within a day for me. :grumble:

Camera_BagintheUK

Not more frequently than weekly. And more likely, every two or three weeks.

And I always weigh myself first thing in the morning after falling out of bed and going to the loo. Your weight can fluctuate hugely day to day. And I think it doesn't help to be constantly checking your weight - progress isn't that quick so it can be disheartening especially if it creeps up a bit when you expect it to go down.

As the weeks have gone by, I've learnt to trust myself - I know when I'm doing well, and I know the weight is going down bit by bit, so I have lost the need to check regularly. Recently I don't bother except to make sure I haven't gained anything if I've been to a party or not been keeping track properly.

There was a comedy show in the UK, Men Behaving Badly, about two blokes sharing a flat, and one of them decides to lose weight. There's a hilarious scene where he's weighing himself, and desperately trying to lose weight (within a few minutes) jogging on the spot, even cutting his fingernails to try and lose a bit. I always remember that when I'm tempted to peek. My scales are tucked away in a cupboard, so I'm not tempted to step on them every time I pass, and it's a bit of a scary thrill each time I get them out and get on. Luckily the worst is I haven't lost anything, but when the indicator slips a lb or two to the left, what a feeling!

jillyjelly

I weigh in every Friday - I had a habit of doing it every other day but I try to stop that it is hard

KimJohnsonsmile

I step on every morning. I think it's more realistic than to weight myself once a week. If you're someone who will get all weepy if you don't see results every single day, or will freak if you see a small fluctuation from sodium, then it may be better to weight in every other week or so when you'll have bigger results. Good luck on your journey!

m1kfb86

I used to weigh myself weekly but got disheartened when it went up so now use fitness as my measure but weigh in and do measurement once a month just to keep a record.

rsimoneau1

Every morning. Record on Fridays. Generally, I tend to let loose a little on the weekends, so sometimes I forget to log in (more like I'm camping and there is no connectivity) so there is always a spike between Friday and Monday, but it has been getting smaller, and I tend to lose anywhere from .5 to 1.2 lbs a week still.

missjojo31

I'm a nuisance and weigh daily, i only log once a week though

Juliebean_1027

Every day, first thing in the morning. I've been addicted to the scale for far too long, and as much as I preach the "it's not about the number on the scale" mentality to others, I can't seem to abide by my own rules. I went for a long time weighing in only once a month, but I started gaining and stopped being as vigilant with what I was eating and my workout routine. Now I use my daily weigh-ins as a tool to tell me what I need to do better that day, or what I need to maintain.

tamisawyer

I weigh in daily. I record the lows. I record the highs if they last longer than 2 days.
Weighing everyday helps me see what's going on with my body.
You have to do what works best for you. If a 1/2 lb increase will make you kick the wall, don't do it.

zytah

I weigh every morning and try to record every Friday morning. Measurements I update every 2-4 weeks.

lesspaul

I step on every morning. I think it's more realistic than to weight myself once a week. If you're someone who will get all weepy if you don't see results every single day, or will freak if you see a small fluctuation from sodium, then it may be better to weight in every other week or so when you'll have bigger results. Good luck on your journey!

Only by weighing daily do I understand what is going on with my body.

Someone posted a good chart in another thread, but just assume that your weight goes up/down by 3-5 lbs based on water retention, refuse in the system yet to be dumped (you know what I mean) etc.

So one Friday I am not toting any extra. I weigh myself. I smile.
A week goes by, during which I lose 2 lbs of fat.
The next Friday, I hop on the scale, but I am full of five of those extra non-fat pounds. I am up 3.
I burst into tears wondering where did all the hard work and self sacrifice go.

Weighing myself daily, I see the ups and downs. I see how my body reacts to sodium, to activity, how much difference it makes before and after the trash is taken to the curb. (digestive euphemism there, just in case you are skimming this post)

I'm not saying this is for everyone. It works for me. Others are far happier with weekly or less often weighing.

My advice? Which ever frequency is better for you to keep yourself on the road to improved health is how often is best for you.

JerseyGirlinTN

It's up to whatever you can psychologically handle.

I do it daily. It's actually much easier on me psychologically to see daily fluctuations than to step on a scale once a week and see NOTHING and feel like I did a week's worth of work for NOTHING and I would get so, so, SO frustrated.

If I'm up a little from yesterday, I understand it's because I had a work out the night before. No biggie. The next day I'm down a little because it was a rest day the night before. It also helps me to understand how my body processes what I eat (carbs, sugar, sodium, etc.). And then when I step on the scale and I see a lower number than I've ever seen before - woohoo!

But to wait a whole week and have nothing happen (or see a GAIN!) used to break my spirit and I'd quit right away. To hell with that nonsense. :-)

I also log my weight on a chart every day so I can see the downward trend (I use the Libra app on my smart phone). My loss is slow, but steady.

Again, I say it's up to what you can handle in your head.

PS: Check measurements too. My actual weight loss has been slow, but my shape is changing and it's definitely visible.

brc912

When I first started I weighed weekly... about 3 months into it I switched to daily weighing and taking measurements once a month. I find the second method more helpful for me now. I just have the understanding that the scales are going to be higher some days than others due to water weight, etc. Taking measurements is a BIG thing. Because even if the scales aren't moving a lot of times the measurements will, and it helps keep you motivated. About the same time I started weighing daily I began taking pictures (Front, Side and headshot) of myself for comparison as well, which I wish I would have started from the beginning. There is no one correct answer to this, you just have to find what works best for you and keeps you motivated the longest! Best of luck!

DanIsACyclingFool

Twice a day! Record every piece of data, not just the ones I like!
(Btw that's why my news feed makes it look like I'm a star....it congratulates me on losses but lets the gains slip by unremarked)

Always the same conditions.

I can vary 8 to 10 lbs from weigh in to weigh in. I am always partly dehydrated first thing in the morning and after exercise and it shows in both weight and bf%. On days when I've burned a lot of cals I'm more likely to endulge in naughty foods which means my sodium intake can go from very low to several grams, and no doubt that shows too. I also drink lots of water, and water is heavy, so even though I weigh under indentical conditions depending on how much of that water is still kicking around I can vary several lbs.

Those of you weighing less often may be having a psychologically healthy relationship with your scale and simply don't need to weigh in in order to trust your progress and that's great. But you ARE missing data and can only draw weight-based conclusions after a much longer period of time than I can. I'd NEVER consider varying my diet/fitness program without 20-30 data points to support doing so.

I am fully cognizant of the meaning of weight variations and am neither overly celebratory in the lows (although it's always fun to see a new low) and certainly not depressed about the highs. I recently went through about 3 wks of extreme yo yoing and only by graphing my daily weights and drawing a mental trendline was progress visable. That's why I weigh-in in the first place...to make sure progress is still happening when there are no obvious nsvs and to help ensure it's not lean mass being dropped.I am currently too lazy to do measurements and photos, which I feel bad about because that's the TRUE goal here. But the scale is convenient so I use it religiously.

A commonly traded phrase on this subject is that "there is no right answer" but that is not really true. If you weigh infrequently your data will almost certainly be biased by something. In order to eliminate those biases you need a statistically significant sample base. If you weigh in monthly, that may mean a year before you can draw weight-based conclusions. If you record only the lows, your ticker looks better, but now you are biasing the data yourself! This is not an opinion...this is math. Data is data. The only time you should take less samples is if you don't understand the math and can't deal with the data...then you are probably better off ignoring the scale altogether which is perfectly fine.

Note that the number on the scale is only one metric of your progress. If it wasn't so convenient we'd be better of with something else.

If you want the scale to show meaningful data you must weigh in often. I am not obsessed by any means, I just understand the concept of aliasing and the Nyquist limit for signal sampling. (Yeah I'm in engineering but we need love too!)

glin23

I step every morning and at worst every third day.

spetermann190

Once/week is plenty for me. Intraday I can be a over the place ... If I eat salty popcorn etc.. I'll gain 2-3 lbs water and take day or two to shed ... Don't fixate on weight ... I prefer Mirror & calipers

urbanbabydoc

You have expressed my thoughts on this subject. I do weigh daily.

Cerdice

No right answer to this in my view, it depends on the person. I find it both enlightening and motivating to weigh every morning, I use the Libra app and love seeing the trend line going down! I only log my weight here once a week, always on Saturday morning. If it doesn't go down much, or weren't to go down, I'm not disheartened because I know the overall trend of the week has been down and the apparent lack of progress is due to what I ate or how much exercise I got on Friday.

Lmns218

I'm not going to lie. I weigh in everyday...sometimes 2-3x a day....I'm obsessed lol

But at least I know what my ups and downs are....I only record Fridays.

In addition to measurements taken every week or 2, I also took pictures from Day one....and will be doing so every 30 days. That is to me where you see most results because as you work out, you might not lost a whole lot of pounds, or even a whole lot of inches...but your body composition does change as you work out and things start sitting a little higher even if you don't see a big difference on the scale or measurements.

Corinne_Howland

I do the same thing! Unfortunately, my weigh two days ago was better than today. Which means, I will be weighing in even more often until it goes back down. :mad:

cingle87

Like Cerdice just said, there is no right answer. You will find many people on here that weigh themselves every day, some that weight weekly, monthly, bi-monthly etc. Its all down to what you feel comfortable doing. Personally I weight my self every 2 weeks but only record it every month.

One thing that you do need to make sure you are doing is cut out the variables when it comes to weighing yourself, for example same scales, same time of the day, same food intake before hand, same clothes etc. If you cut all those out then it will give you a true indication of how much weight you have lost.

Geojerm

I weigh every Friday... but skip if it's that TOM... just personally makes me feel better not to see that fluctuation

find what works for you : D if daily is disheartening start looking for NSV (non scale victories) maybe measurements or how your clothes fit and how you feel etc

JesterMFP

Once a day, in the morning after ablutions. It has really helped my understand how my weight fluctuates. I've found that I forget more often now that I'm maintaining though.

same place (down to the last tile on the floor).

Me too! :blushing:

Dovekat

You will get a lot of different options on this question. I do so once roughly every 4 to 8 weeks (if as and when I remember) but many people do it every week or every day. I don't think there is a right or wrong answer really it's personal preference

donna_glasgow

I weigh every day, log once a week and compare weights 4 weeks apart ... my weight goes up and down like a yoyo week on week but over the 4 weeks I see the true trend ....

langurmonkey

I do it every day and use the Hacker Diet online to track it. It takes a running average to smooth out day to day variation. I like it because you get fast feedback about how any changes you make to your diet / exercise are affecting you. I think waiting a week to discover that you have put on two pounds by eating badly is too long and is very demotivating. Finding out you have put on a pound in three days is a kick up the *kitten*.

jennrox78

I have a habit of constantly getting on the scale all of the time to see if I'm making process...how often do you guys weigh in?

:embarassed: me too..