Looking for a more accurate way to know if I’m loosing weight?

3liysh

Hello everyone, I am currently trying to loose weight so have been dieting and exercising more. I’ve been weighing myself every few days first thing in the morning, because in the past I’ve found that’s a good motivator for me when I see the pounds coming off and I also want to know if I should reduce my calories further, but my weight is seesawing up and down by 4-5lbs between days. I understand this is probably due to water weight, but it’s making it really hard to see if I’m actually loosing weight. I’ve heard measuring your waist can be a useful measure, but I get a lot of stomach bloating as well (food intolerances) so I think that would be the same issue of it going up and down. Does anyone have any other suggestions please?

Thank you 😊

sollyn23l2

You may need to work on not needing that motivation boost every few days. Fat loss results only really shoe slowly over time. That's whether it's the scale, waist measurements, or paying a boatload for almost meaningless body fat scans like dexa. Start tracking your weight in a weight tracker like libra, which will let you see the changes over time. Plus, what do you think you're going to do when you reach your "goal" weight and never get to have that motivation boost of seeing a drop in the scale ever again? If you rely on that as motivation, you will end up regaining the weight again.

yirara

Look into a weight trending all. There's Happy Scale for iOS and something else for android. No need to pay for premium there. The more datapoints the better the prediction. This will even out the ups and downs and show you in which direction your weight is trending.

AnnPT77

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48552224#Comment_48552224

Libra for Android. Also Trendweight which I believe requires a free Fitbit account (but not a Fitbit device), and Weighgrapher on the web. There are probably others, too, but those are a few common options.

ETA: With or without a weight trending app, it's still the general direction weight is heading over many weeks that tells us whether we're losing fat or not. Psychologically, it can help to use multiple metrics - scale weight, tape measurements (waist and more), front/side/back photos in good light in form-fitting but maybe not compressive clothing. Generally, those other metrics take weeks to create an observable trend, too, but also sometimes one will be look more encouraging than another.

I think Sollyn is right, though I'm sure not everyone will agree: I feel like being patient and persistent, not over-focusing on the short-term misleading changes but rather understanding the process, is a better approach.

We do see people here pretty often over-react to short term changes, thinking today's scale weight is mainly the outcome of what they did yesterday, tweaking their tactics based on that misimpression . . . that usually doesn't work out well, TBH. I'm glad to see in your OP that you're not looking that way, but instead are understanding how water retention, digestive waste, and bloating can obscure what's happening with fat loss.

Best wishes!

scottydewwannalosewt

What has tremendously helped me for my weight loss journey (as of today I'm on track to lose 100 pounds in the last 5 1/2 years by April 17th) is to eat as much whole foods as I can. Stay away from processed foods, stay away from foods like soda that have HFCS (high fructose corn syrup), drink plenty of water, eat a moderate amount of fruits and vegetables, and use the body weight planner to monitor my daily caloric intake based on how much you want to lose. I hope this helps you as much as it's helped me.

tomcustombuilder

As mentioned, weigh every day and use a weight tracking app. You look for trends in the form of averages.

You need to weigh the same time every day and that is going to be as soon as you get up use the bathroom naked. If you've had coffee even, your weight is going to be higher so you want to be very consistent on the timing

tulips_and_tea

I'd recommend taking your measurements, too (waist, hips, thighs, etc.). I know you mentioned bloating, so tracking your waist may help you to figure out what foods or what types of food cause the bloating. Information accurately gathered over time is very helpful to make a long-term food plan that makes you feel your best.