How often should you weigh yourself?

lmkaks

I have heard one day a week and I have heard once a day. What have you found to be the best time/way to weigh yourself and track your weight?

HippieMamaOf2

I plan to weigh once a week. I have a kidney disease, so if I weighed daily I would become frustrated easily. I can retain quite a bit of fluid over the course of a day.

icimani

On this site you'll hear everything from "you have to weight yourself daily" (and some who do it more often) all the way to "throw away the scale and just go by looks and measurements". So I think it's really about what works for you.

I weight myself 2x a day - morning and night. - but I don't obsess over it. If I forget the morning weigh-in, I don't get undressed again to weigh myself, and if I forget the night time weigh-in, I don't get out of bed again to weigh myself. I go more by the AM weight, and the evening one does a few things for me: it keeps me mindful of what I'm eating in the evenings, and it reminds me that there WILL be fluctuations.

Fatsotubs

I've always been told once a week, the same day and time of day. However I end up doing it more than that!

spade117

3:42am on Thursday.

sbondel

I only weigh myself once a week. Weighing yourself everyday will drive you insane... if you gain or lose more than 1/2 a pound in a day it is all water weight; there may be some exceptions (for those who are morbidly obese... like on the biggest loser shows). I used to weigh myself every morning and it would affect how I felt about myself for the day and I became unhealthily obsessed with my weight.

janeymay79

I say just get rid of the scale and only pull it out once a month! The reason is the scale doesn't really tell you if you are losing or not! Plus when you are working out you are gaining muscle!

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Built_Strong

I weigh and record my weight daily. It just keeps me on track. On days that I lift I look for an increase the next day due to water so I'm happy with the fluctuations.

L_Stradford

I only weigh myself 3 or 4 times a month on Sundays. That is it. More will drive me up a wall and discourage me. I don't feel like being in a funk daily so I refuse to weigh in every day.

I have a friend who weighs in once a month and she loves to see the change on the scale that might not come from week to week. So to her, it's punishment to see 155 one day and seven days later see 154. She wants to see 155 and 30 days later see 145.

But that is what works for us as individuals. Try to find what works best for you.

Good luck!

jacksonpt

It almost doesn't matter. Multiple times per day, once a day, once a week, whatever... just be sure you know what that number represents - overall body weight. It has no idea how much of that is water weight, body fat, lean mass, etc. Nor does it know what affects body weight (water retention from diet, water retention from exercise, dehydration from exercise, etc).

.

Spokez70

Last year I weighed myself every day- several times a day actually. This year I decided to just do it once a month.

I don't think there is anything wrong with weighing in every day as long as you understand what the scale says in the morning isn't all about what you did yesterday. I see a lot of people on the site posting things like I ate this or that and actually lost weight- or went on a huge run and somehow gained weight. Your body fluctuates up and down a bit day to day anyway so if that bothers you I would suggest just checking once per week. The main thing is to check at a consistent time of day.

r0ckclimbingm0m

I weigh myself every day. I like to do it; it helps me see what the previous day did to me, though of course you have to take that with a grain of salt.

The scientific studies seem to support the idea that with more frequent weighing, you'll have more success with losing weight and maintaining the loss. See below.

That said, do what works best for you! If weighing daily or weekly helps, do it. If you find it discouraging, then don't. We're all individuals. What works for me won't work for someone else, and vice versa. Best of luck!



"A study of more than 4,000 women aged 40-65 published in Preventative Medicine in 2007 looked at the relationship between frequency of self-weighing and body mass index. They actually found that weighing yourself more frequently is associated with greater weight loss. Subjects in the study who visited the scale daily lost twice as much weight as those who only weighed themselves weekly. Those who didn’t weigh themselves at all actually gained weight! In fact, people who changed their weighing behavior during the study actually gained or lost weight depending on whether they decreased or increased their frequency of weighing themselves."

From: http://www.lifescript.com/diet-fitness/tips/y/your_weight-loss_solution_weigh_yourself_daily.aspx "Your Weight-Loss Solution: Weigh Yourself Daily"

AND...

"Twelve studies met the inclusion/exclusion criteria, but nearly half received low evidence grades in terms of methodological quality. Findings from 11 of the 12 reviewed studies indicated that more frequent self-weighing was associated with greater weight loss or weight gain prevention. Specifically, individuals who reported self-weighing weekly or daily, typically over a period of several months, held a 1 to 3 kg/m2 (current) advantage over individuals who did not self-weigh frequently. The effects of self-weighing in experimental studies, especially those where self-weighing behaviors could be isolated, were less clear."

From: http://www.ijbnpa.org/content/5/1/54 - "The Impact of Regular Self-weighing on Weight Management: A Systematic Literature Review"

cpaman87

I weigh every day. Once a week (Monday morning) is my official weigh in that I post. I do Monday because it keeps me honest over the weekend. The others don't count and I don't stress over them.

lmkaks

It almost doesn't matter. Multiple times per day, once a day, once a week, whatever... just be sure you know what that number represents - overall body weight. It has no idea how much of that is water weight, body fat, lean mass, etc. Nor does it know what affects body weight (water retention from diet, water retention from exercise, dehydration from exercise, etc).

.

This is great insight. Thanks!

lmkaks

I weigh myself every day. I like to do it; it helps me see what the previous day did to me, though of course you have to take that with a grain of salt.

The scientific studies seem to support the idea that with more frequent weighing, you'll have more success with losing weight and maintaining the loss. See below.

That said, do what works best for you! If weighing daily or weekly helps, do it. If you find it discouraging, then don't. We're all individuals. What works for me won't work for someone else, and vice versa. Best of luck!



"A study of more than 4,000 women aged 40-65 published in Preventative Medicine in 2007 looked at the relationship between frequency of self-weighing and body mass index. They actually found that weighing yourself more frequently is associated with greater weight loss. Subjects in the study who visited the scale daily lost twice as much weight as those who only weighed themselves weekly. Those who didn’t weigh themselves at all actually gained weight! In fact, people who changed their weighing behavior during the study actually gained or lost weight depending on whether they decreased or increased their frequency of weighing themselves."

From: http://www.lifescript.com/diet-fitness/tips/y/your_weight-loss_solution_weigh_yourself_daily.aspx "Your Weight-Loss Solution: Weigh Yourself Daily"

AND...

"Twelve studies met the inclusion/exclusion criteria, but nearly half received low evidence grades in terms of methodological quality. Findings from 11 of the 12 reviewed studies indicated that more frequent self-weighing was associated with greater weight loss or weight gain prevention. Specifically, individuals who reported self-weighing weekly or daily, typically over a period of several months, held a 1 to 3 kg/m2 (current) advantage over individuals who did not self-weigh frequently. The effects of self-weighing in experimental studies, especially those where self-weighing behaviors could be isolated, were less clear."

From: http://www.ijbnpa.org/content/5/1/54 - "The Impact of Regular Self-weighing on Weight Management: A Systematic Literature Review"

These are really interesting. Thanks for sharing.

5kRunner76

I weight myself 2x a day - morning and night. - but I don't obsess over it.

Twice a day? I'd call that obsessing over it.

I'm 'bulking' at the moment (looking to gain muscle mass), so I'm going to go for once a week.

JJordon

I'm making a weekly weigh-in a tradition. I call it, the SUNDAY SHOWDOWN.

YOU VERSUS THE SCALE.

NO.

HOLDS.

BARRED.

Let's get it on.