I drive myself nuts weighing myself

Papa_Swearingen

I wish I could stop weighing myself, but I do it everyday. If my weight fluctuates up a little in the morning it kind of wrecks my mood and determination. How often should I weigh myself? How can I stop my compulsion!? HELP!

Acg67

How about never or once a month? go more by measurements and the mirror then the scale. Scale weight tells little of overall body composition

Papa_Swearingen

With all do respect, its probably really easy to NOT weigh yourself when you have about 30 defined ab muscles.


On the other hand, when you measure yourself where do you take your measurements, how often, and whats a significant change versus a normal fluctuation.

itsuki

I'd say once a week, at the same time every week, is your best bet. Once every two weeks might be good for you, if small fluctuations drive you crazy.

If you have a hard time not weighing yourself every day, get rid of your scale! Use a scale at a gym or a doctor's office so you won't be tempted to weigh in early.

LemonsAndCoffee

I'm in the same boat you are. This morning I weighed myself and was .5 more than yesterday morning. Grrrr. I'm trying to decide if weighing myself everyday is doing more harm than good. Today I've decided not to let it discourage me and instead use it as motivation to do really well for the day .

TinaRodina

I do the same thing! I tell myself that I'm not going to step on the scale but I end up doing it anyways.

oneIT

Anything sooner than a week is a waste of your time. I loose inches but no weight so don't rely on the scale for the big picture.

amcswain01

Give your scale to someone and have them hide it from you and only let you have it once a week or every 2 weeks. If you don't have access to it you won't be tempted by it.

ScubyUK

With all do respect, its probably really easy to NOT weigh yourself when you have about 30 defined ab muscles.


On the other hand, when you measure yourself where do you take your measurements, how often, and whats a significant change versus a normal fluctuation.

I measure my chest, waist (at the belly button), both biceps, both thighs and both calves. My bathroom scale very seldom works, and I'm lucky if I can weigh myself once a month which is fine by me.

I learned first-hand in September to not stress over the physical number on the scale. I was working out 4 times a week with a trainer, and in 20 days I only dropped 2lbs, but lost 5cm off my waist, 1 cm of each bicep and 2 cm of each thigh.

By the way, stressing can lead to excess cortisol production which can increase your body's capacity to store calories.

Dethea

Probably once a week at most.

I keep my scale on the top shelf of my bathroom closet. I don't see it, it doesn't bother me, and when I want to weigh myself I just get it down.

Kind of the out of sight, out of mind thing. It doesn't make me crazy up there, and if I have a bad day where I eat in excess, the scale isn't sitting there taunting me.

AmyLRed

i do check my weight daily, but more for curiosity. I dont fluctuate alot, but if it goes up a little, its a chance for me to look at my eating patters. Did i have too much sodium? am i bloated? did i go over my calories 2 or 3 days ago? Have i not used the bathroom (BM in a day or two? etc. Its frustrating to have a gain, but then i can look for ways to change it. Sometimes its the opposite of what you think, too. I gained 2lbs and was stuck there for a week and a half. I was doing everything right and the scale didnt budge. I planned a "spike day" and drastically increased my calories for the day. 2 days later, those 2 lbs plus another were gone.

My point is, yes, you probably should weigh everyday. If you do, you have to understand that fluctuations are normal and not beat yourself up over it. We are made up of water and complex cells and muscles. What are bodies are holding on to on any given day is out of our control, to some degree.Just stay on track and dont get discouraged.

julie781

Me too. But we shouldn't. Weight fluctuates a lot throughout the day. The other night I weighed myself and the scale read that I gained 2 pounds and the next morning after going to the bathroom it read that I lost 2 pounds. A difference of 4 pounds. So I'm only going to weigh myself once a month, right after my cycle. And maybe if I feel myself getting off track.

Kriszti29

I have to opposite problem: I used to weigh myself once a week (for years, on various slimming club programmes and such) and it practically ruined my digestion... The weigh ins every week gave me so much anxiety and stress that I was hardly myself the day before and on the day of the weigh in. I kept torturing myself if I did enough, if I went to the loo enough, if I could sufficiently reduce my water intake on the day so the scale shows a smaller number... Long story short: it made me dependent on laxatives and wrecked my mental health somewhat.

Now I weigh myself every day. It was a torture at the beginning, because for a couple of week I had to battle the same anxiety and stress patterns I used to have once a week. But then it subsided, stepping on the scale become just another point in the morning routine - it is not scary any more, it does not stress me out any more. I learned that my body is working in mysterious ways, and as long as I keep on track with my food and exercise I will lose weight. Even if one morning is slightly higher than the day before (I might be withholding water, or maybe didn't have a #2 in days... so many reasons.) So stepping on the scale is an ok thing to do now. And I learned not to beat myself up even if the number is not what I expected. It's fine. Stepping on the scale is not the Big Scary Duty any more - it's like brushing my teeth: a normal daily routine.

What daily weigh ins also give me is a constant daily reminder of my goal, and what I suppose to do that day to get nearer to it. It's an accountability thing and keeps me on track a lot.

But I know we all work differently - I just wanted to put out a different experience, where weighing myself weekly caused the trouble. Then again: getting rid of that anxiety and doing it stress free wasn't an overnight project: I had to work on that too.

roseymacdoo

Step away from the scales! Bin them if you need to!!

Why are you trying to lose weight? To lose inches? Is it to feel healthier? To look better? To be able to fit into smaller clothes? Or to make some numbers on a scale get smaller?

Judge yourself on how well you're doing towards your *actual* goal, not the numbers on the scale. Think about how well your clothes fit, how you feel after running up a flight of stairs, or what you think about your body when you look in the mirror.

We don't have any scales in our house, I go once a month to see the nurse in my local doctors surgery for a 5 minute appointment, I jump on her scales and we have a quick chat about any issues I've been having that month.

Hope that helps

Rosey x

Batchoy

I'm with itsuki, do it once a week ideally at the same time in the day wearing the same clothes. Your weight can fluctuate by lb or more during the day and day to day, (you can gain or lose a lb simply by having a drink of water or having a pee and with some domestic scale you can make your weight fluctuate by more simply by the way you stand on them) this is just noise, so limiting your self to a longer period between weighing sessions gives better picture of your weight loss and you have a better chance of not giving up.

EbonyK

I weigh myself everyday to keep myself on track. I find when I don't my weight goes up for some reason. Plus I like to see instant results and see how my hard work made a difference.

callikia

Every single person is different. You drive yourself nuts weighing yourself? Stop! Seriously, go cold turkey for a few weeks. Just ditch the scale and do what you know works and then in a month, you can pull it out and see how well you did. Ideally you'd want to weigh about once a week because, yes, those fluctuations can bother most people. I weigh every morning but for purely mental reasons -- it broke my reliance on and attachment to the numbers of the game. Seeing the scale go up and down and up and down every day took the sting out of the weigh-ins. And when I'm having a really good week, I get to see how TINY the downward climb is so I know how much work it takes. Change your thinking or change your tactic...either way, don't stress youself. Find what works for you and what you can deal with. Some people never need to weigh in. Some people do it once a month, week, day. All based on personal taste.