When and how often to weigh yourself

jasperisgr8

I am really trying to loose weight and am wondering how often I should weigh myself to enter into the app so it updates my calories. Also how much would low testosterone effect my ability to loose weight?

happyfrog12

Hi there,

Personally, I wouldn't update your weight very frequently on myfitnesspal, regardless of how often you weight yourself. I'd set a calorie goal (Most important aspect is that it is a reasonable goal), and then stick to it until it just before it becomes a maintenance. It is easier to stick to a routine for a month maybe, rather than changing it weekly for each weight drop. Daily weigh-ins can be great for measuring progress, although don't get discouraged from day-to-day results. Losing weight isn't a sprint; it's a marathon.

As for low testosterone, I'm no expert. I would only assume it might hinder your progress slightly when it comes to losing fat, but I do know that there are treatments available for that.

I hope this helps,

HF12

Lietchi

Updating your weight doesn't actually update your calorie goal, or at least not for most people. To update your calorie goal, Channing your weight loss rate setting and/or activity level setting and then change them back, and you should then get an updated calorie goal.

I would recommend doing that every 10lbs lost, more frequently is just overkill since the difference will be minimal.

As for testosterone: sure, it could have an effect. MFP calculates a calorie goal based on population averages and individuals may or may not be average. I could see testosterone levels playing an underlying role (muscle mass is one of the things influencing metabolism, which I presume is influenced by testosterone).
In any case, we can't answer what that means for your weight loss. The best strategy is simply to follow MFP's calorie goal for a month (one menstrual cycle for women) and then compare your actual weight loss rate with how much you should have lost. Then adjust accordingly: eat more if losing faster than intended, eat less if losing more slowly than intended.

westrich20940

As others have stated, updating your weight in MFP doesn't do anything to your calorie goal, it doesn't adjust as you go.

So for your question of how often should you weigh yourself...I'd honestly not do it any more than every 2 weeks. You need data over time anyway so even more like once/month would be better. Because then you can actually use the information to make adjustments as needed.

There are a lot of people who struggle with weighing more often than that (every day or every week)...because weight loss isn't linear and the number on the scale isn't the only thing to look at when judging success. Some people are fine with it and like the data...but I think it's more often than not triggering.

As you lose weight (maybe every 10 ish pounds or so) you can adjust your daily calorie goal based on that.