Pros and cons of weighing daily vs weekly or monthly

Cinarocket

I'm sure this debate happened a lot before but i'm new to the community part so I'd like to know.

Personally I've heard that weighing daily is a bad idea because my mind gonna be all over the place if I do and that I should aim at a weekly frequency.

Personally being a bit of a numbers nerd and all that I love following my evolution on a daily basis, so many more numbers to deal with and If i happen to gain weight it makes me more motivated to try even harden to lose for the next day.

Not sure what you all thinking

TheSatinPumpkin

I just weigh daily after i wake up and gone to the bathroom. If i am down then i log and move on if not then i don't log and move on.

bwogilvie

I recommend daily weigh-ins, with a huge caveat: you need to do some math to find the difference between your actual weight loss and the daily fluctuations, which are much larger.

Your weight fluctuates depending on water, salt, and fiber intake, and other factors having nothing to do with calories. Using an exponentially smoothed moving average can help you filter out the noise and focus on the trend, as John Walker explains in "The Hacker's Diet" (http://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/e4/). The chapter on "The Rubber Bag" explains, briefly, the source of these fluctuations. The chapter on "Signal and Noise" explains how some simple math can filter them out. Walker explains how to do the math, but you can also set up a free account on his server to do it for you, or use a service like Beeminder or TrendWeight.com.

If you're going to be all "OMG! I'm bloated!" if you see the number go up by 2 lbs. from one day to the next, then daily weigh-ins aren't for you. Personally, I'm not bothered, because it's the trend that matters.

If you weigh weekly, you still risk getting a shock if your weigh happened to be unusually low on one weigh-in day, then unusually high the following week. If you weigh every day, you come to see fluctuations as normal.

threnjen

I weigh daily and it has helped me understand my personal fluctuations and actually keeps me from getting frustrated. Like the previous poster said, it keeps me from seeing a low day one week and a high day the next week and perhaps thinking nothing has happened. I don't log my weight every day though; I just note it and move on. If I weight a new low weight three days in a row then I will log it as a loss at MFP.

365andstillalive

I'm typically a daily/every few days type of weigher. I understand that my body is going to fluctuate, and I like to see how it reacts to different things (like whether being just over on my sodium will make me bloat or if I have to be way over, or if my new workout is making me hold water weight etc).

I did weekly only when I lost my initial 60-70lbs before coming to MFP because I felt like I needed to see semi-significant number drops to feel like I was making progress, but getting a scale with decimal places lead me to eventually move to the daily.

Monthly doesn't work well for me, and isn't something I prefer, but I'm away for work right now and haven't weighed in for a little over 2 weeks now. I find weighing monthly works one of two ways for people: it either keeps you really dedicated because you could actually put on 1-2lbs in fat over a month if you went over frequently or it allows you to just write off stuff with this, well it's only one day and I don't weigh in for 30 more type mentality. I tend to lean towards the second of those two options haha

northbanu

I weigh daily, because I like the data. I don't put any emotional stock into the numbers, it's just data. If your the type of person that is going to become discourage if the scale isn't moving like you want, then I'd recommend every two weeks or monthly even. But I'm too curious to weight that long. Also, I only "Check In" or record my weight when I've lost some amount that I'm happy with, say 3 to 5 pounds. So I'm recording my weight every 3-4 weeks.

missiontofitness

I weigh frequently. I take into consideration water weight and don't lose it if it's jumping all over the place. But frequent weigh ins let me gauge my natural fluctuations, and get a better gauge of my progress. If I weighed monthly, I wouldn't know if that was my actual weight, or water weight from the day before.

Generally though, I weigh every other day, if not 3-4 times per week.

Dr__Girlfriend

I track my progress with measurements, pics in the mirror, and how my clothes fit. Threw out my scale a long time ago:)

paradi3s

i track using measurements and only use the scale maybe every 2 weeks or so? it's more accurate that way (for me).

Kalikel

Daily: You can indulge your obsessive side and track really accurately, follow trends, compare weight to calories eaten. But you may freak out if you go up three pounds.

Weekly: you get to be less obsessive and still follow trends. But if you only lost half a pound, you might wonder if this is one of the "off" days where it went up three pounds.

Monthly: you will not obsess much and will generally see nice changes in the downward direction.

Not at all: you don't obsess. All weigh loss is felt in clothes and seen by others or, maybe, in the mirror.

I did Not At All for forty pounds and wish I'd stuck with it, but now I'm hooked on daily.

kdeaux1959

For accuracy about once per week will be adequate. I weigh daily but don't get bent out of shape when it does not go down daily.. It won't. Weight loss figures less than 2-3 lbs are actually not that reliable... Here are three reasons...

1. Poop
2. Pee
3. Sweat.

One's elimination cycle will definitely cause some variation in the morning weight... Additionally, some activities and foods cause water retention... Examples are salts on the food end and weight training on the exercise end... As one causes damage to one's muscles (weight lifting), the body compensates and works to heal the "damage" by retaining water in the form of glycogen.. This water, is not subsequently sweated/urinated out until that healing process is completed...

So a person goes and lifts heavy weights and his weight goes up... Has he regressed? Probably not. His weight will actually drop in the next few days as his body releases the excess water after the healing process is complete...

As far as monthly weights, one can do a lot of damage by changing one's eating habits and not checking on progress for 30 days... Instead, I think that weekly weights are generally more accurate than daily weigh ins but provide more feedback than the 30 day variety. Best wishes on your every success... Success is the goal regardless of how often (or even if) you weigh.

chelciebrown07

I weigh weekly, I'm tempted to switch it to every two weeks just because I get obsessive.

LexyMaree

Personally, I weigh in every 2-3 days. That way I have more data than if I did it weekly (as a mild numbers nerd I have an excel spreadsheet with trendlines and the works), and so I can see my progress over a week. Fluctuations will still effect the results, but you can still see a general trend over separate weeks as well as overall (in my case it's been pretty much downwards over my 7 weeks, which makes me very happy!). However, when I get down to maintenance it'll probably drop to once a week. In all, I think it depends on where you are at with your weight loss/gain, and at what level you think it becomes obsessive.

onefortyone

I'm not overly fussed by the actual number on the scale, getting to my goal weight sometimes seems so far away that I can't really connect with it right now. So I have health goals - food goals, emotional health goals, and fitness goals.

That said, I am also a bit of a nerd so I weigh in daily on the Wii Fit, which gives me my BMI and weight to 1 decimal place. I log it on MFP whenever it's at a new low, but otherwise I keep track using excel spreadsheets where I log my weight each day, my BMI and my running speeds.

I have yet to have an 'unexplained' weight gain, but I doubt it would freak me out. But if you're the type to see a gain/no loss despite sticking to your goals, then end up over-restricting/over-exercising to compensate, I would advise against weighing daily. But for me, if I have a few days of too-much-eating, weighing in keeps me accountable and will let me know I've fallen off the wagon.

chadya07

i am a daily person.

i find that if i understand the fluctuations that happen every day, by seeing them, i am less likely to get discouraged. i can also get a better idea of what is real and what is a fluctuation. i find that most of the time, for me, my lowest point stays the same to the exact oz, most of the time, until i lose. my higher pointshowever, are all over the board every day up to about 4 pounds higher than my lowest.

what i look for is the lowest number of the week. if that number repeats itself throughout the week, that is what i consider my weight, since it is so hard to change that lowest number i assume it to be real.

so... the lowest number as long as i see it more than one day.

when i weighed myself weekly, i was quick to get discouraged because i would weigh myself once, see whatever arbitrary number came up at that moment, and believe it to be true. so if i was up three pounds i would think i was gaining... which we all know gaining three pounds is a week cant really happen if you are not eating a horse... anyway.

daily for me. and then i just keep in mind that it will rarely be the same.

Xiaolongbao

There is no right or wrong, it really depends on figuring out what works for you.

For me, I record once a week. I weigh myself as often as I feel like (sometimes daily, sometimes only once a week) out of interest. But that works for me because I don't really get any emotional feeling from the numbers that I see. To me only the 'official' wiegh in counts. Everything else is just an experiment.

Some people seem to find the scales sending them on an emotional rollercoaster in which case it would best be avoided.

Skinnyfoodie1

I used to weigh in daily but recently started doing weekly weigh ins. I get way too affected by the numbers on the scale from day to day. I found it can sabotage my diets even when I'm doing things right. The other week I got down to a good number that I hadn't seen in a while, was so excited about it that I figured it was ok to eat a bunch of carbs and junk. It's scary not to track every day but the weekly weigh in seems to work much better. Especially if you're an emotional weigher )

afortunatedragon

I weight myself at the beginning of my weightloss journet every 10 days to two weeks, this gradually went up to nearly daily.
I felt obsessed and I am an emotional weigher, if there isn't (enough) loss, I feel bad and discouraged.
That's me. Not helpful, I know.
Anywho, now I am back to once a week.

GatorDeb1

I weigh myself daily. And sometimes more than once a day if I'm in the bathroom and in the mood. And someone after a bike or run session to see how much I sweat and see if I'm drinking enough. If I'm running at the house for an hour I'll weigh myself before and after running without having anything to drink to see how much I lose in sweat and be better prepared in longer runs and races to hydrate properly. I also weigh myself whenever I use my handheld BF machine to make sure it's giving me accurate info and it lets me know how many grams of protein I need per day. It also lets me know when the monthly visitor is coming if I suddenly shoot up 5 lbs and crave bread. I also weigh myself after weight training because you tend to retain water after weight training and I get a kick of the 2-3 lbs gain overnight :bigsmile:

XX_Miss_RoseMary_XX

Daily helps keep me motivated. I check in the morning when i first get up.

joyfuljoy65

I weigh daily and it has helped me understand my personal fluctuations and actually keeps me from getting frustrated. Like the previous poster said, it keeps me from seeing a low day one week and a high day the next week and perhaps thinking nothing has happened. I don't log my weight every day though; I just note it and move on. If I weight a new low weight three days in a row then I will log it as a loss at MFP.

this

frisco111

Daily. Its hard at the beginning not to react emotionaly if the numbers are disappointing. However, with time you will get use to it and, as many of you mentioned, better understand how your body works.

johnthomasmoore

I'm in the daily camp. Every morning I step on the Aria Fitbit scale which syncs over wi-fi. There is some evidence that daily weighing is associated with weight loss and maintenance success. I also monitor sleep, blood pressure, steps, activities, along with diet. The trends are what I pay attention to not the individual data points.
In about a year I've lost about 50 pounds (23% of initial body weight) and brought my blood pressure down without meds.
I've found trendweight.com very helpful. Nice graphs with moving averages plotted to smooth out the variability. Based on the Hacker's Diet. With a connected scale that measures body fat Trendweight will also graph fat%, fat mass, lean mass.
I'm a data nerd and have put together a system to automate the collection and visualization of my data using MFP, Fitbit, Google Spreadsheets, Microsoft Health Vault. See my blog for details: http://johntmoore.blogspot.com/

considerphi

I weigh daily and second the trendweight recommendation. I have never felt so in control of weight loss as I do when looking at that graph.
Now, that doesn't mean it's doing exactly what I want but just that it accurately represents my progress and behaviour patterns. When I fall off the wagon and start throwing in a beer with dinner I see the corresponding slowdown/stall in my weight loss. Carefully log food on MFP and watch calorie intake, I see the graph descending nicely. Takes all the frustration out of the scale weight fluctuations.
In fact when I did the math to calculate how much calorie intake I was comfortable with, the calorie deficit said I should lose 0.9 lbs a week
When I first set up trendweight, it said - based on my actual weigh-ins over the previous couple of weeks - that I was losing 0.9 lbs a week.

stacyjh1979

I just weigh daily after i wake up and gone to the bathroom. If i am down then i log and move on if not then i don't log and move on.

This is EXACTLY what I do!

DaMarion1998

I weigh daily (every morning when I wake up) and it doesn't bother me to do so. I like to know how far i need to go to reach my goal weight and if my weight fluctuates then I know what I need to do be doing to get back on track

nicsflyingcircus

I track my progress with measurements, pics in the mirror, and how my clothes fit. Threw out my scale a long time ago:)

That's fine, but as a morbidly obese person, who has lost 74 lbs with twice that to go, the scale is a wonderful tool. How my clothes fit is useless, as everything is too dang big right now and I refuse to go buy new clothes until it cools off (I am cheap).

That being said, I weigh daily, nekkid, after I've peed. I only log it if it shows a loss, otherwise I shrug and move on. I like seeing the number daily, heh.

SteveMFP123

I weigh monthly, some weeks I don't lose much then others I lose a lot, so if I weighed weekly I'd get discouraged sometimes and that's not good for me, but if I weigh monthly I always lose something which keeps me going.

sweetbamaTLC

I've done it all. Currently weighing once a week...just before the weekend, as they are the most challenging for me:)

emdeesea

I weigh daily but only track when I hit a new low. I got into the habit of weighing daily to get used to the fluctuations and ups and downs, and to also see what causes me to hold on to water weight and what doesn't.

Salt of course does, but when my carbs are higher I tend to hold on to water as well. And of course there's the lovely TOM.

Anyway yes, I'm a daily weigher. When you see those numbers every day the shock wears off.

Marbella29660

Daily - would make me go mad
Weekly - would make me hate weekends
Monthly - seems about right

but do what works for you, we're all different. Good luck....