How Often Do/Should You Weigh Yourself?

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Replies

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 31,935 Member
    AquaMeow wrote: »
    I also want to add that I do have a Weight Watchers scale that measures your BMI, Body Fat, Water, and Muscle. But idk how accurate it is. Does anyone else use a scale like that at home? Is it even accurate?

    Not very accurate for body composition (fat, water, muscle) - lots of things can perturb the readings, relative hydration/dehydration looming large among those. BMI is just a function of height and weight, so as long as it knows your height, it can get that right. Some scales also estimate BMR or TDEE; no reason to expect those to be any more accurate than a decent research-based online calculator.

    Should be as accurate for your body weight as most other home scales, though.
  • GaryRuns
    GaryRuns Posts: 508 Member
    AquaMeow wrote: »
    I also want to add that I do have a Weight Watchers scale that measures your BMI, Body Fat, Water, and Muscle. But idk how accurate it is. Does anyone else use a scale like that at home? Is it even accurate?

    They're not very accurate as far as body fat and muscle. They are significantly affected by your hydration at the time of the reading. If you're curious as to how they work you can read about it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioelectrical_impedance_analysis.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,876 Member
    AquaMeow wrote: »
    I also want to add that I do have a Weight Watchers scale that measures your BMI, Body Fat, Water, and Muscle. But idk how accurate it is. Does anyone else use a scale like that at home? Is it even accurate?

    Depends on how you're using it. It is not sufficiently precise for recording a single measurement...ie you step on the scale that day it it tells you your BF% is X. There are just too many things that can affect individual readings...whether you've eaten recently or not, exercise before reading, dehydration/over-hydration, etc.

    These are best used as a tool for looking at longer term trends, not a precise number. Consumer Reports won't even review them anymore due to their imprecision.
  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,442 Member
    It's accurate for recording the Earth's gravitational pull on your body.
  • thanos5
    thanos5 Posts: 513 Member
    edited June 2019
    AquaMeow wrote: »
    I also want to add that I do have a Weight Watchers scale that measures your BMI, Body Fat, Water, and Muscle. But idk how accurate it is. Does anyone else use a scale like that at home? Is it even accurate?

    sadly, not accurate. i believe consumer reports won't even rate them, they are so bad.

    edit: not accurate for body fat, i mean.
  • HoneyBadger302
    HoneyBadger302 Posts: 1,967 Member
    I prefer daily weigh ins for a few reasons, primarily because they really help me see the day to day fluctuations and can help keep me more accountable without losing my mind from a single bad weigh-in.

    That being said, I've renewed my dedication to getting my weight down now that I'm moved and getting settled into my new location, so in addition to using my trend app (Libra), I also set up a spreadsheet that will show weekly averages and weekly average loss as I find that to be very helpful as well (which was the method I used before I found Libra).

    I just found the trend app to be a bit wonky in how it determined up or down trends, and find my own averaging to be a bit more of a reasonable guide. The trend line is still good, and it's great for historical data, so I'm using both right now - which probably seems like overkill lol.
  • AquaMeow
    AquaMeow Posts: 296 Member
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    AquaMeow wrote: »
    I also want to add that I do have a Weight Watchers scale that measures your BMI, Body Fat, Water, and Muscle. But idk how accurate it is. Does anyone else use a scale like that at home? Is it even accurate?

    Not very accurate for body composition (fat, water, muscle) - lots of things can perturb the readings, relative hydration/dehydration looming large among those. BMI is just a function of height and weight, so as long as it knows your height, it can get that right. Some scales also estimate BMR or TDEE; no reason to expect those to be any more accurate than a decent research-based online calculator.

    Should be as accurate for your body weight as most other home scales, though.

    Yes it does take in account my gender and my height and also my age as well :)
  • AquaMeow
    AquaMeow Posts: 296 Member
    GaryRuns wrote: »
    AquaMeow wrote: »
    I also want to add that I do have a Weight Watchers scale that measures your BMI, Body Fat, Water, and Muscle. But idk how accurate it is. Does anyone else use a scale like that at home? Is it even accurate?

    They're not very accurate as far as body fat and muscle. They are significantly affected by your hydration at the time of the reading. If you're curious as to how they work you can read about it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioelectrical_impedance_analysis.

    Thanks I will take a read! I dont see why they made them then if they are gonna be inaccurate lol what a waste of money xD
  • AquaMeow
    AquaMeow Posts: 296 Member
    quiksylver296 wrote: »
    It's accurate for recording the Earth's gravitational pull on your body.

    Cool
  • AquaMeow
    AquaMeow Posts: 296 Member
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    AquaMeow wrote: »
    I also want to add that I do have a Weight Watchers scale that measures your BMI, Body Fat, Water, and Muscle. But idk how accurate it is. Does anyone else use a scale like that at home? Is it even accurate?

    Depends on how you're using it. It is not sufficiently precise for recording a single measurement...ie you step on the scale that day it it tells you your BF% is X. There are just too many things that can affect individual readings...whether you've eaten recently or not, exercise before reading, dehydration/over-hydration, etc.

    These are best used as a tool for looking at longer term trends, not a precise number. Consumer Reports won't even review them anymore due to their imprecision.

    I weigh myself in the morning after the bathroom and naked before the shower. My last meal every night is usually around 7 or 8pm and I'm up at 7am or earlier.
  • apullum
    apullum Posts: 4,838 Member
    AquaMeow wrote: »
    GaryRuns wrote: »
    AquaMeow wrote: »
    I also want to add that I do have a Weight Watchers scale that measures your BMI, Body Fat, Water, and Muscle. But idk how accurate it is. Does anyone else use a scale like that at home? Is it even accurate?

    They're not very accurate as far as body fat and muscle. They are significantly affected by your hydration at the time of the reading. If you're curious as to how they work you can read about it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioelectrical_impedance_analysis.

    Thanks I will take a read! I dont see why they made them then if they are gonna be inaccurate lol what a waste of money xD

    Because people buy them. There's a lot of money to be made from selling gimmicky products.
  • TheAssyrian
    TheAssyrian Posts: 26 Member
    It depends on your goals. Personally I weigh myself every Monday morning after I use the bathroom and before I consume anything (including water). It's the most accurate weight you'll have but if you're not strict on a diet or a workout regiment then you won't see much difference. Oh. Don't forget that if you are seeing an increase in weight and you're lifting weights don't be afraid. Muscle weighs a lot more than fat.

    I also recommend weekly progress pictures. It's another great way to track progress when you feel the scale is messing with you.
  • katiesmom_99
    katiesmom_99 Posts: 87 Member
    I weigh weekly, on Friday morning. It's an incentive to stay on track throughout the week, and I can use it to help plan out the following week.
  • MaxineMarieM
    MaxineMarieM Posts: 50 Member
    Once a week
  • koalathebear
    koalathebear Posts: 236 Member
    Official weigh in is just once a week for logging on MFP, but our scales are in the bathroom so I pretty much weigh myself multiple times a day when I am in the bathroom - in various stages of undress.

    I only pay close attention to my weekly weigh-in, though. During the week it's just out of interest to see how various meals/exercise sessions may or may not have affected me. I'm not particularly fussed by the scales because they fluctuate during the week but I think it's good to know how my body responds to things. It was a good way for me to learn that as long as I stay within calorie budget my body is consistent and things like sweets/carbs etc don't cause blow-outs in themselves etc.

    I wouldn't do it so regularly if it upset me/made me stressed/made me obsess.
  • CSARdiver
    CSARdiver Posts: 6,252 Member
    The optimal mean for most is probably once a week.

    If you know you have a mountain of financial debt it doesn't do any good to look at this daily if you've done nothing to pay this down. Weight management is no difference. Your body is limited in it's capacity to safely burn fat, so don't set yourself up for failure if you have a mental block over this.

    I weigh in daily to detect trends and after 5 years know what to expect after high salt meals, vacations, stress, etc.
  • hixa30
    hixa30 Posts: 274 Member
    As an experiment I'm not moving my scales from storage to my temporary home. I'll be here 7 weeks. I count kilojoules and I seem to be doing it quite accurately (my weight loss matches well with my calculations) so it'll be interesting to see what that first weigh in shows.

    I calculate my weight every day. It's FAR less stressful because the numbers change slowly. I have got a bit of scale anxiety in the past, probably because of wide fluctuations.

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