Weight trends and Weighing every day

13ecca4

I’ve noticed on a few post people talking about weight trends. Would anyone be able to explain what exactly this is? It’s probably what it says on the tin but I’m a little confused!
From what I’ve read people weigh themselves daily and use an app like Happy scales to log it?
I always though weighing yourself every day. What’s the reason behind doing it daily?
Thanks for any advice.

tinkerbellang83

It helps to better understand your fluctuations. Weigh fluctuates constantly from a myriad of things that are both within and outside our control.

Trendweight is a moving average, usually from the last 7 days.

For example if I was to only weigh on a Tuesday my weigh ins would be as follows:

29th Jan 231.4
5th Feb 236.6

However, because I weigh daily, I am not freaking out about what looks like 5.2lb gain, because I know on the 4th Feb I was 232.6lb (a gain, but a small one following holiday). I can attribute the massive rise overnight to a sodium-laden pizza I had on the 4th.

In the past I didn't really understand fluctuations and if I'd seen that 5.2lb gain after eating in a deficit most days with the occasional maintenance day I would have just rage quit thinking that I might as well just stay fat because clearly it wasn't working.

13ecca4

Thank you @tinkerbellang83! Most helpful

emilysusana

I weigh every day and use Happy Scale. I can handle the slight twinge of disappointment when the scale goes up instead of down in the morning, but I think I’d have a lot of trouble handling the disappointment after one week of doing everything right and waiting to weigh in. But there’s every bit as big of a chance for it to go up instead of down on some weeks NOT because I’m gaining fat but because of other factors (menstrual cycle, sodium, exercise patterns, etc).

ceiswyn

Weighing every day has given me insight into what gains/losses I can ignore (a 3lb gain the day after overeating isn't 'real', and neither is a 5lb loss two days after my period ends) and which ones indicate a genuine change (I can pretty much only compare from one ovulation week to another).

Weighing weekly, I wouldn't be able to see those trends. Or predict my period quite so accurately as it turns out I can

Dilvish

Even experts agree that weighing yourself daily is not accurate. For the best accuracy, use a tape measure instead, not a scale.

Once a week at the same time of day on the same scale will give you a more consistent result.

Also realize that most "consumer" scales can be off by as much as 2-5 lbs!

In my experience people who weigh themselves daily are usually in a hurry to lose weight and will almost always gain it all back. Sustained weight loss takes a lot of time and effort and is a lifestyle change, not a diet!

sardelsa

Dilvish wrote: »

Even experts agree that weighing yourself daily is not accurate. For the best accuracy, use a tape measure instead, not a scale.

Once a week at the same time of day on the same scale will give you a more consistent result.

Also realize that most "consumer" scales can be off by as much as 2-5 lbs!

In my experience people who weigh themselves daily are usually in a hurry to lose weight and will almost always gain it all back. Sustained weight loss takes a lot of time and effort and is a lifestyle change, not a diet!

@Dilvish you are very incorrect about daily weighers. Please see the above comments on how tracking your daily trends can be very helpful for many people. It is the only way I can accurately gauge my weight and able to make small changes in my intake without tracking my food. It has been a game changer for me.

By the way I was not in any hurry to lose weight, I lost at 0.5lb per week, and I only gain it back on purpose (bulk cycles). I have been very successful at managing my weight over time.

callsitlikeiseeit

Dilvish wrote: »

In my experience people who weigh themselves daily are usually in a hurry to lose weight and will almost always gain it all back. Sustained weight loss takes a lot of time and effort and is a lifestyle change, not a diet!

i lost 120 pounds 2-3 years ago and weighed daily. maintained for 3 years and weighed daily. actively losing again and have lost 10 pounds and weigh daily.

ive always only logged my weight once a week.


your logic is flawed.

now, if you are new to this and obsess over the number daily, it might not be the right thing for you to do. but for those who have the experience and intelligence to know that fluctuations are normal and nothing to worry about, its just not a big deal. even back when i first started i didnt freak out over a gain on a random day during the week. too many variables, especially for women to be overly concerned about it. my weight varies by up to 5 pounds on any given day, at any point of the day. its normal.

there are many people who do better only weighing a couple of times a month or once a month. But that is based on individuals and how they react to normal fluctuations on the scale.

tinkerbellang83

Dilvish wrote: »

Even experts agree that weighing yourself daily is not accurate. For the best accuracy, use a tape measure instead, not a scale.

Once a week at the same time of day on the same scale will give you a more consistent result.

Also realize that most "consumer" scales can be off by as much as 2-5 lbs!

In my experience people who weigh themselves daily are usually in a hurry to lose weight and will almost always gain it all back. Sustained weight loss takes a lot of time and effort and is a lifestyle change, not a diet!

I think it's actually the opposite, I weighed weekly when I didn't really understand weight loss and expected it to come off overnight. Now that I weigh daily I am not freaked out when my weight swings up from hormones/alcohol/sodium/intense workouts and I've not been in any major rush to lose the weight, just taking it slow and steady.

How can experts agree it's less accurate? What is likely to be more accurate, a trending figure taken from more data points or one data point with no context?

ExistingFish

Dilvish wrote: »

Even experts agree that weighing yourself daily is not accurate. For the best accuracy, use a tape measure instead, not a scale.

Once a week at the same time of day on the same scale will give you a more consistent result.

Also realize that most "consumer" scales can be off by as much as 2-5 lbs!

In my experience people who weigh themselves daily are usually in a hurry to lose weight and will almost always gain it all back. Sustained weight loss takes a lot of time and effort and is a lifestyle change, not a diet!

I weigh daily and I haven't been trying to lose weight for 6 months. This doesn't hold water.

I would recommend using the same scale (because consumer scales can be off) in the same condition (usually first thing after waking before eating), and recording in a trending app. I use Libra (for android). This way I can see if there is an actual trend in rising weight, or if it's just a bloated day or two. I only log my weight online one day a week, and report both actual and trend.

sijomial

Dilvish wrote: »

Even experts agree that weighing yourself daily is not accurate. For the best accuracy, use a tape measure instead, not a scale.

Once a week at the same time of day on the same scale will give you a more consistent result.

Also realize that most "consumer" scales can be off by as much as 2-5 lbs!

In my experience people who weigh themselves daily are usually in a hurry to lose weight and will almost always gain it all back. Sustained weight loss takes a lot of time and effort and is a lifestyle change, not a diet!

@Dilvish
Utter nonsense and I very much doubt "experts" say what you interpret them as saying.
Why would weighing weekly be more consistent? Why couldn't the first weigh in be an unusually low day and the second weigh in be an unusually high day? Or vice versa....

PS - Been maintaining over five years and watching my weight trend is my primary method for staying in my goal weight range.

ceiswyn

Dilvish wrote: »

In my experience people who weigh themselves daily are usually in a hurry to lose weight and will almost always gain it all back. Sustained weight loss takes a lot of time and effort and is a lifestyle change, not a diet!

Does that mean I didn't lose 230lb over the course of two and a half years?

Or are you arguing that weighing daily means that going from a completely sedentary person who lived on convenience food to someone who makes all her own meals and likes to hike 18 miles isn't a lifestyle change, it's just a diet?

Or are you saying that I haven't maintained weight for the last six months?

I'm confused...

lthames0810

I have gone from weekly weighing to daily with a trending app to what I do now, which is weigh at irregular intervals and not using a trending app.

Each of these methods have their pros and cons and which one is right for you depends on the way you think about the weight loss process. When I weighed weekly, I experienced that thing where my weigh in day happened on an outlier high day an I vwas very disappointed. I switched to daily weighing and came to understand and even predict the ups and downs of my weight.

The trending app actually had a negative effect on my attitude. It allowed me to see when I would reach goal weight based on my progress to date and it bothered me to see how long it would take to get to goal.

Now my goal is simply to eat within my calorie budget on average. I do weigh myself, but I don't weigh when I know my weight is likely to be higher based on past experience. I continue to see new lows at irregular intervals and I am losing at an expected rate. If that changes I will make adjustments. I'll get to goal when I get there.

ExistingFish

lthames0810 wrote: »

I have gone from weekly weighing to daily with a trending app to what I do now, which is weigh at irregular intervals and not using a trending app....

The trending app actually had a negative effect on my attitude. It allowed me to see when I would reach goal weight based on my progress to date and it bothered me to see how long it would take to get to goal.....

I give that prediction as much weight as MFP's "you'd weigh _____ in five weeks" prediction. It's just a straight numbers prediction.

Duck_Puddle

Dilvish wrote: »

Even experts agree that weighing yourself daily is not accurate. For the best accuracy, use a tape measure instead, not a scale.

Once a week at the same time of day on the same scale will give you a more consistent result.

Also realize that most "consumer" scales can be off by as much as 2-5 lbs!

In my experience people who weigh themselves daily are usually in a hurry to lose weight and will almost always gain it all back. Sustained weight loss takes a lot of time and effort and is a lifestyle change, not a diet!

I’m fascinated. Where do you find this kind of drivel so consistently? Is there a special part of the Internet?

What experts?

Using a tape measure introduces about 16 more levels of variability. Who thinks that’s a better idea?

How is doing some less often more consistent?

And what now? That’s like a flying leap over a flaming ravine of bad logic. One false sentence followed by an entirely unrelated sentence does not make a cohesive argument.

In my experience, apples aren’t for vegetarians. A good roof keeps your house dry in a rainstorm.

See how that doesn’t make sense?

MelanieCN77

He weighs weekly, doctors hate him! Of course consumer scales aren't nuclear equipment, but what they can't provide in poinpoint accuracy they can provide in context and trends over time (provided you feed it new batteries once in a while). There are a dozen other things than the scale that would throw off any scrutiny of weight, and they'd affect every other investigation too because they are of the body and not the method.

I can shave inches off in seconds with a tape measure, depends how tight I pull and how squishy I am that day.

Weighing daily has nothing to do with accuracy and everything to do with keeping an even keel with emotional reactions to tracking the goal we have set ourselves and which is a good marker of our progress. Whether or not you think people SHOULD have that component to their process is irrelevant.

valleylhc

Weighing yourself daily is only beneficial to cardiac patients, people monitoring blood pressure or people with diabetes and some athletes like wrestling. Weight can flectuate due to carb intake, hormones, exercise, certain medication...lots of stuff so it’s not accurate for a newb trying to lose weight, it benefits you not. Even if someone wants to look at trends it’s not accurate, too many variables. What it will do is discourage you, that’s 100% true. Measure yourself monthly, weigh in once a week, in morning to get more accurate results, but really the tape measurement isn’t going to lie.

apullum

Dilvish wrote: »

Even experts agree that weighing yourself daily is not accurate. For the best accuracy, use a tape measure instead, not a scale.

Once a week at the same time of day on the same scale will give you a more consistent result.

Also realize that most "consumer" scales can be off by as much as 2-5 lbs!

In my experience people who weigh themselves daily are usually in a hurry to lose weight and will almost always gain it all back. Sustained weight loss takes a lot of time and effort and is a lifestyle change, not a diet!

Please cite these "experts."

"Accuracy" means that a measurement is as close as possible to that quantity's true value. A scale tells you what you weigh at the moment you step on it, including normal daily weight fluctuations. Those fluctuations do not mean that scale measurements are inaccurate, since "accuracy" and "consistency" are not the same thing.

Your experience is not a study and is not necessarily true for others. If *you* weighed every day because *you* were in a hurry to lose weight and then gained it all back, that's one thing. It doesn't mean that it's true for "people" in general. Many of us here weigh daily and lost weight because how fast you lose weight and whether or not you maintain that loss has nothing at all to do with how often you weigh yourself.

MelanieCN77

valleylhc wrote: »

Weighing yourself daily is only beneficial to cardiac patients, people monitoring blood pressure or people with diabetes and some athletes like wrestling. Weight can flectuate due to carb intake, hormones, exercise, certain medication...lots of stuff so it’s not accurate for a newb trying to lose weight, it benefits you not. Even if someone wants to look at trends it’s not accurate, too many variables. What it will do is discourage you, that’s 100% true. Measure yourself monthly, weigh in once a week, in morning to get more accurate results, but really the tape measurement isn’t going to lie.

How is NOT accurate? Your weight is a range. If you weigh yourself, accurate is whatever the scale says. Why it says that today and what it's likely to do tomorrow are the insights gained from more data points.

Duck_Puddle

valleylhc wrote: »

Weighing yourself daily is only beneficial to cardiac patients, people monitoring blood pressure or people with diabetes and some athletes like wrestling. Weight can flectuate due to carb intake, hormones, exercise, certain medication...lots of stuff so it’s not accurate for a newb trying to lose weight, it benefits you not. Even if someone wants to look at trends it’s not accurate, too many variables. What it will do is discourage you, that’s 100% true. Measure yourself monthly, weigh in once a week, in morning to get more accurate results, but really the tape measurement isn’t going to lie.

How is it not discouraging if I’m ignoring the fact that my weight fluctuates so I’m only going to weigh weekly. The first week I happen to be at the low side of my range (that I don’t know is a range because I’m not weighing daily) and the next time I’m at the high side? Now I think I gained weight when I could very easily be trending down.

And my tape measure can give me 7 different numbers in the same session depending on how tight I pull, whether I move the tape a millimeter up or down, if it’s not exactly as parallel to the ground as the last time...which number isn’t the lie?

valleylhc

Duck_Puddle wrote: »

Dilvish wrote: »

Even experts agree that weighing yourself daily is not accurate. For the best accuracy, use a tape measure instead, not a scale.

Once a week at the same time of day on the same scale will give you a more consistent result.

Also realize that most "consumer" scales can be off by as much as 2-5 lbs!

In my experience people who weigh themselves daily are usually in a hurry to lose weight and will almost always gain it all back. Sustained weight loss takes a lot of time and effort and is a lifestyle change, not a diet!

I’m fascinated. Where do you find this kind of drivel so consistently? Is there a special part of the Internet?

What experts?

Using a tape measure introduces about 16 more levels of variability. Who thinks that’s a better idea?

How is doing some less often more consistent?

And what now? That’s like a flying leap over a flaming ravine of bad logic. One false sentence followed by an entirely unrelated sentence does not make a cohesive argument.

In my experience, apples aren’t for vegetarians. A good roof keeps your house dry in a rainstorm.

Please explain 16 variables aside from pregnancy that can change body mass so much so that tape-measuring is so inaccurate to measure success? Body mass doesn’t change over night like water weight, your arms thighs aren’t changing unless you lose the fat.