Have You Skipped the Scale?

Graymanstole

I use my scale 4-5 times a day, every day. It's a food scale, and I weigh just about everything I eat, but I'm fanatical about it. I will step on the people scale weekly, but otherwise I have found that for me a food scale has provided much better results than any people scale.

srecupid

I only weigh in once a week. Only real way to judge if you're losing weight. Maybe do it once a month? Even if you lose 2lbs a week the difference in calorie adjustment might be about 20 calories from say 210 to 202.

motterotter

I weighed myself several times a day and found that my weight varies so much by the end of the day i could have lost or gained 3 to 5 lbs i would get upset and stop trying to lose weight because i felt all my effort was useless but then i had a brilliant idea , I stopped scaling and go by fit of clothes and overall only weigh every 2 weeks or so as long as i am trending in the right direction i don't care what the scale reads

callsitlikeiseeit

i officially weigh once a week. i might step on the scale through the week but dont pay much mind to it.

a better indication of your progress are measurements, which i do once a month or so.

Yanicka1

I am a long term success for MFP (5 years and counting) and almost never step on the scale. I go by tape measure and by what I see in the mirror

starbuckaddict

I'm just starting to transition to not weighing myself. Because I was getting obsessed with the number and it was making me stress eat over or under my goal. Feel free to add me if you want

toe1226

Usually I step on the scale when motivation is taking a hit - I can FEEL in my body when I'm losing weight, I know it, and it's usually right on. The times where I dont' feel like I need the scale, I usually step on it and say "yep, that's about right, I feel like I've been losing that much weight"- but then things get lax, or I have a few events that add up, scale keeps me honest.

blues4miles

I weigh every morning. I record that weight and take the 5-day average of my morning weights. Trendweight will do this for you if you have a fancy scale or if you have a fitbit account and enter in your weight every day. I take the 5 day average as what I'm really at now. This works for me as I see all the ups and downs and worry less if I'm up a particular day I know it likely I'll be down the next. Then I don't get too excited about a low weight either. That's important because when your weight pops back up again you'll panic and think you 'gained' weight but you didn't, it's just water weight.

nwppwn

Whenever I start skipping the scale the pounds start creeping back. I can't skip it, I need the reality check at least once a week.

determined24girl

I weigh everyday. If I'm up on any given day I'll check my food entries to see if i've been eating to much. If I have I'll adjust and get back on track. If I've been good I'll ignore the number and measure myself. Usually I haven't increased any of my measurements and I don't stress over the number. I can't skip the scale either. Its really good for keeping me on track.

brb_2013

FitnessTim wrote: »

I try to weigh myself everyday, log the number and just forget about it. What a person weighs on a given day is meaningless. It's progress over time that matters most.

That's a sweet concept but many people struggle with it, stating it so simply doesn't make it so.

I have been doing my best to stay off the scale lately. I'm pushing for at least Feb 1 (allowing myself to fully recover from Holiday gain, I hope) and then monthly from there unless I can resist longer. Seeing the number just makes me feel so much anxiety and self loathing, even when it's moving as it should.

AdrianChr92

No reason to skip it. My weigh will still be the same

kirstinlee

I go crazy when I don't weigh in the morning. It's the first part of my day. I used to get discouraged by the numbers fluctuating, but I found an app -- Libra -- that charts your weight over time and shows you the trend instead of just the numbers. That way I can look back over time and see the downward trend instead of just an essentially arbitrary number. Helps put it in perspective.

jdhcm2006

I used to weigh myself weekly. But once I moved to my own place, I didn't own a scale for a while. I recently got the Fitbit Aria scale. So I have started to weigh myself daily bc it syncs automatically. I want to see the trends; especially, during my monthly cycle. I make sure I weigh myself fasted each morning (so the conditions are somewhat the same). However, if you're someone who gets freaked out by seeing tiny fluctuations, I wouldn't recommend a daily weigh in.

eviegreen

clobern80 wrote: »

JanetYellen wrote: »

Everything I read says that you are more successful when you weigh yourself daily.

I have NEVER heard this. I weigh myself weekly and never touch the scale again. Your weight fluctuates too much with weighing daily due to water, how much food is in your system and various other things.

*raises hand* I have also read that daily weighing keeps the weight off more successfully.

Because even though weight fluctuates, the daily weigher will notice when that weight fluctuates higher and starts to creep up, and they'll be able to adjust their calories to bring their weight back down much sooner than those who weigh less frequently.

The daily weigher also becomes familiar with his/her daily weight fluctuations, what their fluctuations look like after certain meals the day before (I'm usually dead on accurate how much water weight I'll have following a night of drinking, for example), and during certain times of the month.

The daily weigher, who uses the scale as a tool, takes each morning's scale number as a data point in a trend. The more data points the person puts in, the more accurate the trend, the more accurately they're able to tell whether gains and losses are legitimate or just fluctuations.

As to the original question: I went from weighing myself sporadically (because I was afraid of the number on the scale) to weighing myself daily. When I weighed myself sporadically, I didn't notice when the weight started creeping back up because using the scale just upset me.

Then I put on my big girl (fat) panties, stepped on the scale, and decided I would listen to all the advice I read and weigh myself daily. I use the Libra app to track my weight. The things I credit most with finally making it down to a healthy weight are: 1. Weighing my food ; 2. Logging my food ; and 3. Weighing myself every day even when it's after a huge Christmas meal.

Being honest with yourself (about your food and your weight) is a huge part of a successful weight loss.

88meli88

Not weighing myself regularly is what got me into this mess in the first place. Bye bye DENIAL, my good old friend. The scale keeps me accountable. Also, you need to find your sweet spot of losing the optimum amount of weight without feeling deprived and that can take some trial and error on what is the right calorie deficit, how much of it from food and how much from exercise. It can also be super motivating to see the number go down from week to week. Once I understood what can affect weight fluctuations, I obsessed less about it

If you are worried about daily fluctuations, you can find weight visualization apps that smooth fluctuations in your daily weight. I use Happy Scale for example. It actually makes daily weigh ins fun and reduces the big expectation towards the end of the week weigh in. It evens out big losses and also puts gains from time to time into perspective. Eg if you are out of town for a few days and you gain a bit of weight but it is within a three week period of losing, it will still look like you are losing weight over the longer period of time. So it helps you manage the expectations and your reactions to the number.

kommodevaran

I'm with the rest of the daily weighing gang. I feared the scale, didn't want to see that I was gaining weight. Weighing daily takes away that fear (I can't possibly have gained three pounds of fat in two days - so, it has to be water weight).

These fluctuations are natural, everybody has them. If you can't handle them, but still need to keep track of your weight, I suggest getting an old fashioned analog scale that tells you you weight in whole pounds or kilos.

crb426

I weigh everyday. It's great encouragement to keep going, and a reminder to stay in control.

kristen6350

I lost my first 30lbs without a scale. Just cut back on calories and watched my clothes size decrease. When I got within 20lbs of my goal I got a scale (actually just to see how much I actually did weigh). Now I'm in maintainance I find that I HAVE to get on the scale every 2 weeks to just make sure it's holding somewhat steady. If I don't, I tend to go a bit off the rails.

funchords

I weigh every day. You need to try an app called Libra (for Android) or Happy Scale (for iPhone). They smooth out the fluctuations and make it a lot easier emotionally to weigh.