Lowest weight this week?

freespirit427

I weigh myself daily. That’s just how I stay accountable.

Silly question.

Is my lowest weight that week my “true” weight?

Sorry if that doesn’t make any sense!

erjones11

I always wonder the same thing Spirit. I weigh every single day. I only log my weight in MFP on Sunday mornings. That is my official weight, I guess. That said I have weighed a couple of pounds lower three days before my official day but I follow the rules even if I made them up. The rule for me is official weigh in Sunday first thing!

I have been thinking though of a new rule and just logging every day, since I weigh every day any way.

For those of you who are going to start saying that's not healthy you shouldn't weight every day. I don't care that's what I do.

malibu927

You never have a "true" weight. It fluctuates 24/7 for various reasons. You could hit a new low and be up three pounds the next day.

kimny72

Yep, you don't have a true weight. If you want to record your weight here once a week, just pick a day and go with it. Many folks here use weight trending apps to chart the trend of their daily weight over time if that would be useful for you.

When you reach your goal weight, you won't stay there either! You'll have to pick a weight range of several lbs up and down from your goal weight to allow for normal daily and weekly fluctuations. You just have to roll with it

kami3006

erjones11 wrote: »

I always wonder the same thing Spirit. I weigh every single day. I only log my weight in MFP on Sunday mornings. That is my official weight, I guess. That said I have weighed a couple of pounds lower three days before my official day but I follow the rules even if I made them up. The rule for me is official weigh in Sunday first thing!

I have been thinking though of a new rule and just logging every day, since I weigh every day any way.

For those of you who are going to start saying that's not healthy you shouldn't weight every day. I don't care that's what I do.

There are plenty of weight trending apps for this so you can see your overall trend. Happy scale is one.

Your weight will always be a range not a specific number.

freespirit427

So when someone asks what you weigh, do you say an in genera weight? Ball park it? What you weigh that day? Like for my drivers license. What do you put? Goal weight? I know it really doesn’t matter. Just curious.

malibu927

freespirit427 wrote: »

So when someone asks what you weigh, do you say an in genera weight? Ball park it? What you weigh that day? Like for my drivers license. What do you put? Goal weight? I know it really doesn’t matter. Just curious.

Last time I renewed my driver's license I changed my weight to 30 pounds lighter than I was (this was after losing 47 pounds already). But if someone else asks I just tell them my lowest weight, because eventually I'll be less than that. When I reach maintenance my plan is a specific range, and I'll say it's the middle number.

erjones11

For me DL I just tell them the general range. But when people ask and I tell my most recent official weight from Sunday morning.

AnvilHead

freespirit427 wrote: »

So when someone asks what you weigh, do you say an in genera weight? Ball park it? What you weigh that day? Like for my drivers license. What do you put? Goal weight? I know it really doesn’t matter. Just curious.

If you're like most people, the formula for drivers license weight seems to be "current weight minus 50".

As others have said, you don't have a "true weight". When you step on a scale, it's a snapshot of what you weigh at that moment. If you go eat a meal, it will be heavier. After a workout, it may be lighter. It will fluctuate from day to day. If it makes you feel better to have a weight you can recite when somebody asks for it, use a trending app and go with whatever your current trend weight is. Or round off to the nearest 5 pounds, or use your most recent lowest weigh-in or whatever - it's not like they're going to put you on a scale to verify it.

erjones11 wrote: »

I always wonder the same thing Spirit. I weigh every single day. I only log my weight in MFP on Sunday mornings. That is my official weight, I guess. That said I have weighed a couple of pounds lower three days before my official day but I follow the rules even if I made them up. The rule for me is official weigh in Sunday first thing!

I have been thinking though of a new rule and just logging every day, since I weigh every day any way.

For those of you who are going to start saying that's not healthy you shouldn't weight every day. I don't care that's what I do.

There's nothing "healthy" or "unhealthy" about weighing every day, no need to get defensive about it. There are a lot of people on MFP who weigh every day, myself included. Only difference is that I don't have a particular day of the week I log my weight - I use a wi-fi scale which uploads my weight to MFP and several other apps every day, so every day is a "weigh-in" day for me.

Most often, discussions about weighing frequency center around a person's attitude toward weight fluctuations. There are some people who go absolutely nuts when they see a 0.1 lb upward fluctuation on the scale and it ruins their whole day. For those kind of people, it's probably best for their sanity that they weigh less often - but it would be better yet if they could just learn to accept that daily fluctuations are perfectly normal and to be expected (whether they want to weigh daily or not), and that weight loss does not occur in an orderly, linear fashion.

[ETA:] I think that weighing every day is a valuable lesson, because you learn about how your body responds to things, and you also learn that the fluctuations are no big deal. If you go out for a big, sodium-laden dinner and are up 5 pounds at the next morning's weigh-in, you just shrug it off because you've been there, done that already. You know why it's happening and you know that it will go away within the next couple days. As opposed to locking yourself in your bedroom and crying all day because you think you gained 5 pounds of fat overnight and you'll never lose weight and you're a big failure and why is life so cruel and...and......

30kgin2017

I weigh pretty much every day but have only been logging if weight is lower. I know from history Friday is typically my lowest weight for the week because during the week we have lower sodium food and I also run Wed n Sat and deliver catalogues Tues- Thurs depending. So Friday I am also not retaining water from exercise. mfp updates cal goals based on weight this is why I use the lowest weight. Eg yesterday I did a 10km run instead of normal 5. I am up a kg this morning I don’t think my calorie goal for today should be adjusted up for water retention.

I’ll be taking a maintenance break from July and then I will log every weight regardless. I’ve slipped up before telling myself that when I did jump on the scales and my weight was up it was just fluid retention etc. while I will expect to see ups n downs I’ll use my weekly avg to monitor if weight is stable.

CarvedTones

When I was losing (still seem to be even though I should be staying even now) and was absolutely sure I was in deficit every single day, I recorded only my low weights. There would be another within a few days. Now, I am not adjusting until I see it a few times. Yesterday morning I saw the lowest weight I have seen in about 35 years, but I can't legitimately record that yet.

iowalinda

freespirit427 wrote: »

So when someone asks what you weigh, do you say an in genera weight? Ball park it? What you weigh that day? Like for my drivers license. What do you put? Goal weight? I know it reallydoesn’t matter. Just curious.

Why in the world would you need to answer someone who is rude enough to ask what you weigh? Or that you needed to give them a precise weight? As far as the Driver's License Bureau, unless they have a scale close by, I guess you can tell them any number you think they won't challenge you on LOL. Of course, if you're 300 lbs and you tell them 125 . . . .

PokeyBug

I can understand just wanting a number you can use for calories burned calculators and your daily calorie allowance. I just round down to the nearest 5 from what I weighed last. But I only weigh once a month, because I drive myself crazy when I do it daily, lol. Last time I weighed, I was somewhere in the low 140s, so that's the number I'll put into my calorie allowance calculator and my calories burned calculators until next month.

AnnPT77

Personally, I don't think I have a "true weight".

I have a short-term weight range, and a long term weight trend.

Over the course of a day or a few days, my scale weight will fluctuate up and down through a range of a few pounds, for the reasons I mentioned (among others). That's my short-term weight range. (How many pounds are in that range varies by person.)

Over the course of a few weeks to months and beyond, my weight range is moving up, down, or staying kind of level. If I'm gaining fat (which I can do fast) or gaining muscle (which is slow under the best conditions) my weight range will move upward. If I'm losing fat (which I might want to do) or losing muscle or other lean tissue (which is mostly something I want to avoid), my weight range will move downward. If I'm maintaining fat and lean tissue at a more or less constant amount, my weight range will be steady (ups and downs around the same level).

Scale weight is always a jagged line of ups and downs, even if I weigh myself at the same time under the same conditions every day. That's totally normal. If I want to lose weight, I want those jagged ups and downs to gradually trend downward, like bumps on a downhill slope. If I want to gain weight, I want the jagged ups and downs to trend upward, like bumps on an uphill slope. If I want to maintain weight, I want the jagged ups and downs to stay roughly around the same range, like bumps on basically level ground.

That's how I think about weight. I don't have a single "true weight" per se, just a current range, and a long-term trend.

Lesscookies12

I use happy scale It takes into considerations fluctuations. I've heard people that have an android device use libra.

jayemes

I used to do my "official" weigh in on Sundays, but I found with my indulgences on Friday and Saturday night, my Sunday weigh in was always a little inflated with water weight. I find my Friday morning weigh in is more consistent with the work I've done during the week. I started using my Friday weight as my "official" weekly weigh in, but I also track daily in libra (weight tracking app on android)

Maxxitt

When I was in my active-losing phase, I recorded the mean of the numbers I had the last 3 days of my week. As I tapered toward maintenance & wasn't weighing daily, I recorded the number that I was most consistently hitting.

cwolfman13

freespirit427 wrote: »

I weigh myself daily. That’s just how I stay accountable.

Silly question.

Is my lowest weight that week my “true” weight?

Sorry if that doesn’t make any sense!

You don't have a "true" weight. Body weight isn't static. In maintenance I can be up or down 2-3 Lbs and sometimes more from my average weight...ie my average maintenance weight is 180...some days I will be around 177 or 178 or 183.

Your best bet is to just use a weight trend app. The number isn't really important...the trend is.

lorib642

I weigh daily, my weight fluctuates. It hovers between about 5 lbs, then drops and hovers around a lower number. I have decided Monday is my weigh in date when i log. If anyone asks my weight, i round it to the closest 5 lbs. i dont worry about being precise at the dmv.

AnvilHead

cwolfman13 wrote: »

freespirit427 wrote: »

I weigh myself daily. That’s just how I stay accountable.

Silly question.

Is my lowest weight that week my “true” weight?

Sorry if that doesn’t make any sense!

You don't have a "true" weight. Body weight isn't static. In maintenance I can be up or down 2-3 Lbs and sometimes more from my average weight...ie my average maintenance weight is 180...some days I will be around 177 or 178 or 183.

Your best bet is to just use a weight trend app. The number isn't really important...the trend is.

^ Yep. Definitely not static, not even in maintenance. This is what maintenance looks like for me for the last 6 months. Gray line is daily weigh-ins, red line is weight trend:

jayemes

@AnvilHead what app is that you're using? I'm not near maintenance yet but I love the idea of having the visual of your goal range for a daily trend app

2baninja

I only log my lowest weight in MFP, that is my "new lowest" weight, I write down all weight changes, up or down on my calendar, so I see it daily. I figure unless I go 3500 kcal over my calorie goal, any gain is just water weight, so I refuse to really log it, but I do want to see it, so I can see what causes my weight to go up.

I've never had to give my weight for my drivers license....

AnvilHead

jayemes wrote: »

@AnvilHead what app is that you're using? I'm not near maintenance yet but I love the idea of having the visual of your goal range for a daily trend app

@jayemes

Trendweight.com - it's a web-based app.

Technically, it 'wants' a wi-fi based scale, but there's a workaround if you don't have one. Create a Fitbit account (you don't even need an actual Fitbit device to create an account), link it to trendweight.com and enter your weights manually into your Fitbit account, they'll be transferred across to Trendweight. Help/support page with more info is here: https://trendweight.com/help/

Trendweight is also useful when you're still actively losing weight, as it smooths out the scale fluctuations and gives you an idea of what's really going on in the bigger picture.