Advice on when to weigh

drivingahead

Hi Everyine I've lost 5 stone with slimming world but it's been very slow so now I'm really stepping up the exercise and calorie counting. Should I weigh weekly or monthly.? I know I will struggle to do monthly but I also know I will feel disheartened if I weigh weekly and the scale goes up due to the gym and building muscle...maybe I compromise and do fortnightly.......think I've just answered my own question :-)..I still have at least 7 stone to loose. Would love to hear from anyone who found the exercise really increased their losses as my rate is less than half a pound a week.....I know slow and steady is great but I want another baby and time is not on my side. Thanks for reading x

jnomadica

Personally, I recommend daily weighing and logging in a weight trend app like Happy Scale. It shows you your trend over time, so the daily/weekly fluctuations don’t bother me so much. I’ve seen a pattern where I hold steady for days, go up a pound, then finally drop. I could easily miss this if not for daily weighing, and I’m sure I’d get discouraged. Just a thought!

erickirb

An increase in weight when in a deficit, will not be muscle, but rather water retention. It is possible to build a small amount of muscle while in a deficit, but the scale would still go down, you just may gain a little muscle but lose more fat than the muscle you gain. (can't gain weight in a caloric deficit, other than water retention for a variety of reasons)

Dilvish

Experts actually suggest using a tape measure rather than a scale, especially if you are building muscle.

weighing daily in their opinion and in mine is a personal choice but not beneficial since weight can fluctuate a lot in a given day, just like blood pressure.

Ask yourself this, what happens when you reach the target weight? Do you stop counting calories and drop the exercise? If the answer is no, then don't worry about the scale. It's irrelevant if your weight loss journey isn't a part of a permanent lifestyle change.

crb426

I also weigh every morning when I first wake up, after visiting the bathroom. Like pp said, daily fluctuations will happen but I find it helps me stay motivated to make good choices each day.

sardelsa

Many people find that when they increase exercise, they retain water which can affect the scale so keep that in mind. I like to weigh 5-7x per week and use a trend weight app to sort through the fluctuations. I found weekly weigh-ins very discouraging since it put so much pressure on one day. Find what works best for you.

sijomial

Frequency of weighing is very personal - my preference is daily.
I expect my weight to fluctuate from day to day, I understand why it does that (and it's not building muscle in such a short timescale!), it doesn't have any emotional impact on me - keeping an eye on my trend is my primary method of weight control.
From a data trending point of view less data points is worse, lengthening the time between weigh ins doesn't prevent those weigh ins being on a good day or a bad day and can give you a false understanding of progress made.

With 7 stone to lose realistically exercise is going to be a small part of creating a 343,00 calorie deficit over time (pounds to lose X 3,500 cals). Do it because it's good for your health and your fitness and gives you a higher daily calorie allowance to subtract your chosen deficit from. Also try to make it enjoyable which is one of the keys for sustainability both while losing and also while maintaining at goal weight.

lilithsrose

Personally, I only record my weights on Friday morning after using the restroom. I tend to eat a little better throughout the week than on the weekend, so Fridays will generally show my lowest possible weight.

I do weigh myself randomly just to see where I'm at, but I don't record those weights.

Maxxitt

My preference is daily with Happy Scale to give me trends and averages. Even though I knew better, it was challenging to see a 2# increase on "weigh in day" - I say I knew better because the increases were totally due to fluid and slow digestion.

MonkeyMel21

I weigh daily, in the mornings (after using the restroom). I log it in to my fitbit app that uses a weight trend graph. Lots of normal weight fluctuations but it's the trend I'm interested in.

RowingBill

I do weekly weigh in and ignore the scale at the rest of the week. However, this site suggest... "Taking your measurements can be an even better gauge of your progress because when you burn fat and build heavier muscle, your weight may not change or even increase even though your body is tighter and smaller. We suggest taking your measurements every 2-4 weeks".

Katiebear_81

I weigh in daily, looking for a downward trend. Then I take measurements on Fridays to see what my body is doing.

PAV8888

I love the idea of exercise because it will make you feel better and, over time, more energized, and possibly increase your tdee thus allowing your deficit to come from a bigger pie (I'm a proponent of keeping deficits to no more than 25% of total expenditure even when obese, 20% when not)

Any single data point when it comes to weigh-ins is subject to error because of water weight variation.

The way you find the underlying trend is by increasing not decreasing the data points.

Happy Scale for iPhone, Libra for Android, trendweight.com and weightgrapher.com can all be used to help you see your weight trend over time.

I believe but I'm not sure that slimming world encourages you to change your way of eating towards what they consider to be more healthy options.

If this is the case that is a good start and basis to expand from.

While "free" foods may have been a great inducement to introduce some positive changes, very few if any foods are really free.

So now you have the opportunity to evaluate every item you're eating in terms of how many calories you're spending on it and in terms of the satiety and satisfaction it brings to you.

Your goal, of course, would be to maximize these while still meeting your weight loss goals!!!!

Stretch goals might also include things such as eating at least 0.35g of healthy fats per lb of goal weight in the "normal weight" range, 0.6g to 0.8g of protein per same, a good 26g or more of fiber per day, your 5-a-day fruits and veggies (and hey there's lots of studies that hint that 7 to 9 a day are even better for you!!!!) that sort of stuff...

but first things first, and for weight loss first is being able to adhere to your deficit, and that will be mostly created in the kitchen... so I would start there!!!!

peggyfranzen

Over the years I have found I do better when I don’t weigh myself. In fact I don’t even own a scale anymore. I focus on healthy eating habits and exercise. A fresh washed pair of jeans with no stretch tells me everything I need to know.

RelCanonical

I weigh monthly and find it to be better aligned with my mental health to do it this way. It requires me to be honest and accurate with my logging, but I don't have to worry about fluctuations as much, especially since I tend to have significant fluctuations with periods (when I say "monthly", I actually weigh about 7 days after my monthly cycle has started, so a "month" can vary. To put it simply, I weigh with the lunar month, lol).

This is what weighing monthly looks like on my chart (I skipped one month, didn't want to deal with it, lol):

gentlygently

Well done on the first five - and best of luck with your hopes for another baby!

Weighing in - I’ve done monthly (aligned to cycle), weekly, recording lowest only in any given 3 day period, and daily. Occasional. And not at all. My advice is to pick one and follow this for a while - and then change it if you want, as all can work and all have their downsides too.

Yes excercise can make a big difference - but you need to be realistic about how much time and energy you have for this (especially if you are starting from a sedentary base).

The usual advice here is to build more movemnt into your day so you dont even think about it (eg walk or cycle to work), and to find something you enjoy (classes, lessons and being in a social serting help a lot of people. Eveb a dog).

There is a dog owner in my park whose dog got a lot larger and need much longer walks than he ever expected - and he spends hours and hours outside, walking pretty fast, with him. He is retired...He has gone from very overweight to slim and there seems little doubt that poorly researched dog purchase saved him from a heart attack.

But most people don’t have that time or commitment and take a gentler approch. It is useful to find excercise helpful to a) allow a bit of calorie indulgence, to earn your cake b) relax and be happy c) improve your heart health.

Being healthy helps with getting pregnant of course...

Good luck

Dove0804

At first I weighed myself on a daily basis- I was 260 lbs and had a lot of weight to lose, and weighing myself every day helped me to see patterns- especially regarding water weight and how it plays with your head. It was good to get a sense of what was going on.

Now, however, I’m 175 lbs and I’m weighing myself every other week. I don’t want tiny blips on the scale to affect my mood, and I’m confident enough that if I’m logging correctly I WILL lose weight. As I get closer to goal and the rate of loss slows down, I plan to weigh monthly.

As others have said, it’s a very personal thing.