Weighing In

meridianova

i weigh daily because mentally it helps keep me on track. my body has developed a habit of dropping a couple of pounds and then spending the next 2-3 weeks bouncing back and forth between the old weight and the new weight. why it can't just take the energy from losing the same 2 pounds several times over and put that toward losing new pounds, i'll never understand :grumble:.

but because i fluctuate so much, and because i lose weight so ridiculously slowly (:mad: :explode: :mad:), i want to be able to catch those losses when they happen. i'm more likely to freak out over NOT weighing myself than weighing too often.

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. The more often I see those fluctuations, the less they bother me.

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.

As long as most of your daily weights are below the average, you're losing weight. If most of them are above, you're gaining. If they are half above and half below, and the average stays flat, you're maintaining.

corinic91

Maybe the new people on here do not see this thread every single day and aren't we here to reach out and support one another not be negative...

Then actually trying to help here, not trying to be negative but did you know there's a "search" function in the forums? You can type in what you're looking for to see if your question's already been asked/answered.

blankiefinder

Personally, I weigh in every day but I try to only concern myself with my weekly average weight. I have a spreadsheet (Google Docs) on my phone that I just plug my weight into every morning and it calculates and graphs my weekly average weight.

I started doing it this way at the suggestion of my cycling coach and I have come to like it. Looking at the downward trend on my weekly average is motivating for me.

That is a great idea, would you mind sharing the doc?

MystifiedFluff

I weigh in every Monday. It helps me track how the previous week's calorie intake, exercise, steps, etc. effects my weight. A weekly weigh in seems to work for me since the results seem more consistent than the daily up down fluctuation I experience (sometimes 4 pounds either way).

dania201

I weigh in very sporadically, maybe every few months or so. I generally find it discouraging, so I do avoid it if I can.

I went a long time for a while without doing it in part because the scale I had at home only went up to 550. A while back I got a newer one that goes up to 1000--in part to help get things rolling with the motivation. It hasn't worked yet, as I've just gotten heavier since then, and now am having a much harder time getting around. But still, every few months I get brave lol....

harshada10

I weigh myself once a month.

JVClubs

i do it once a month, if i did it once a week id become obsessed very fast

ntnunk

Personally, I weigh in every day but I try to only concern myself with my weekly average weight. I have a spreadsheet (Google Docs) on my phone that I just plug my weight into every morning and it calculates and graphs my weekly average weight.

I started doing it this way at the suggestion of my cycling coach and I have come to like it. Looking at the downward trend on my weekly average is motivating for me.

That is a great idea, would you mind sharing the doc?

Sure. Here's a cleaned up, view-only version of my spreadsheet. You'll have to open it and go to File->Make A Copy to be able to edit it. The first tab, Daily weight, is where I enter weight every day (3rd column). The 4th column will generate a weekly average in the Sunday row (my weeks run Mon-Sun to sync with all my other training software) as values are entered for the daily weights.

The 2nd tab is the weekly weight trend and will begin to populate as weights are entered and averages are calculated.

The 3rd tab is just a graph of daily weights, just like MFP does.

Let me know if there are any problems.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1rgNo1cNLNZ6FfgrmsDcLQLSFEt46faAOTh0oqpGm7wo/edit?usp=sharing

JustSomeEm

ntnunk - I'm coming back after work to download that spreadsheet - it sounds amazing. Thanks for sharing it!

molls10m

I try and weigh in (at weightwatchers) once per week but sometimes it gets hard so I sneak a peek at the scale, mostly for my own amusement.

lucystacy71

I weigh myself once a day but only because I have to because I have to record my daily weight for medical reasons.

It really depends on the person, but I really prefer once a week. When I was trying this before, I became addicted to the scales and would moan over ever little fluctuation. I finally moved my scales into a back room so I wouldn't be tempted to jump on every time I went to the bathroom. Personally, that helped me and allowed me to become less obsessive. Now that I weigh daily, I have to remind myself not to freak over the little changes. Maybe the scales say I'm up two pounds. I just have to remember that it's normal and it's not some sign that I'm failing or anything. Remember, these are life long changes, so don't get too caught up in the trivial matters of a single day.

dopeysmelly

Personally, I weigh in every day but I try to only concern myself with my weekly average weight. I have a spreadsheet (Google Docs) on my phone that I just plug my weight into every morning and it calculates and graphs my weekly average weight.

This is what I do as well. I plug it into excel and look at the long term and monthly charts I have set up. I calculate a monthly weight loss rate based on my cycle, not the calendar month. It means the fluctuations don't bother me.

daynes23

I can lose 2 pounds after a poo. It's a pretty small fluctuation.

^ THIS!!

One of my favorite times to weigh myself. Even if I've already weighed myself for the day/week/whenever. Maybe it's just a sick curiosity of mine but at times it's been very shocking!

TMI? Sorry.

ntnunk

This is what I do as well. I plug it into excel and look at the long term and monthly charts I have set up. I calculate a monthly weight loss rate based on my cycle, not the calendar month. It means the fluctuations don't bother me.

That's what I've found. Earlier on, I'd occasionally start getting discouraged by fluctuations or by perceived lack of progress. Flipping open the spreadsheet and looking at the actual data quickly dispels that feeling because I can see, right there in black and white (and a blue trend line) that the numbers tell me, whatever I *feel* like, progress is in fact being made, and made steadily.

MsHarryWinston

I get obsessive about weighing myself so I did all of my first month (sept) without a scale. Now I will start weighing myself. My goal is only to weigh on Fridays and to skip when it's that TOM because I can gain 10+ pounds in water weight.

212ackley

I weigh and record every friday morning....most weeks I show a 1/2 # loss, some a 1# gain, but overall my trend is downward over the past 12 weeks so I can't complain too much Slow and Steady!

blankiefinder

Sure. Here's a cleaned up, view-only version of my spreadsheet. You'll have to open it and go to File->Make A Copy to be able to edit it. The first tab, Daily weight, is where I enter weight every day (3rd column). The 4th column will generate a weekly average in the Sunday row (my weeks run Mon-Sun to sync with all my other training software) as values are entered for the daily weights.

The 2nd tab is the weekly weight trend and will begin to populate as weights are entered and averages are calculated.

The 3rd tab is just a graph of daily weights, just like MFP does.

Let me know if there are any problems.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1rgNo1cNLNZ6FfgrmsDcLQLSFEt46faAOTh0oqpGm7wo/edit?usp=sharing

Thanks so much!!! Just saw this now, got hit with a brutal cold. Thanks to my kids