Do you weigh every day? Do you fluctuate greatly??

Lyndseed

yes... or almost every day, and yes... I fluctuate up to 1.5 lbs in either direction. I only log my "new weight" when I've come up lower or the same a few days in a row.

For me its good to see the natural fluctuations with a general downward trend. What if I weighed only once per week, but only caught a "high day," or what if I caught the "low day," and the next week the high one, and then thought I had somehow gained. In a weird way it keeps me from being too excited or disappointed with losses and gains.

ShiraDarling

I just bought a new scale a few days ago and so I have been weighing in lots just to see how my weight changes throughout the day. In the morning on an empty stomach I weigh the least.. obviously.. but throughout the day I have gone up as much as 5lbs. Back down the next morning though. I don't update MFP very often tho, maybe every month?? I'm more concerned with inches.

melmckay99

I weigh in almost everyday first thing in the mornings and I fluctuate by about 4 lbs (I'm anywhere between 120 - 124 lbs). I'm in maintenance now so as long as I stay within that range I'm happy. But I remember even when I was losing I would fluctuate fora few days then see a loss, then fluctuate around that number for a few days, etc ...

dazzo62

I have maintained my large weight loss by weighing everyday.
But I remember I lost that weight by weighing in on Monday AM's - so I am trying that again.
The daily fluctuation was proving a little frustrating for me while trying to lose - I want to see how this goes.

kpnive

I fluc like crazy! Anywhere from 1-5 lbs. I thinK I need a new scale (I have 2). My scales are both off from each other as well as the 2 scales at the gym. At the gym they have the old fashioned kind as well as the one that you put in your age/height, etc. 4 different scales - 4 fricking different numbers!!!! As long as the "range" keeps going down and keeps me in one-derland...than i'm fine!

jamers3111

I totally understand that pull. I stopped weighing myself because it was driving me crazy because I would be down 5 lbs one day and up 3 the next. UUGGGHHHHH. Now I trust my clothes... when they start fitting differently then I will pull out the scale. Try putting it away and only weighing yourself every week or two. Good luck!

JerseyGirl081

Not I. Every month for me. Or 28 days after each phase of my exercise routine which lasts 4 weeks. Everyday is too much and sets myself up for failure.

Joanitude

Though I weigh in excessively, I'm not bothered or discouraged by the fluctuations. I also take measurements and find this has been a great motivator. Plus, I really only 'Weigh in' on MFP once a week, and that number is always going down, so I'm okay with the day-to-day numbers fluctuating.

Sounds like I could have written this. By weighing daily I know my weight can change as much as 7lbs overnight. As long as it keep trending down I'm fine.

TomjsAj

When I first started trying to get the lbs off it did around 2-3 lbs I would be heavier at night then I was the same morning but now when I weigh in the morning I seem to weigh that same weight all day, which is strange because looking at 131 one morning and 131 that night then waking up 130 the next day and still 130 that night seems funny to me, it is like I lost the weight in my sleep. LOL SWEET! I should sleep more often. HA HA

StheK

I would drive myself crazy if I weighed every day! I actually hesitated to get a scale for the longest time for fear that it would take over my life. I can easily get obsessive, and the way I feel about my weight has a big impact on my mood. Anyway, I have one now, but it lives in my closet most of the time and I only take it out once a week or so.

MayaSPapaya

I weigh every day and same, I want to stop doing that too. I've thought about hiding the scale but it's my mom's so I can;t. Yes, I do fluctuate. If I went out to dinner or had a salty dinner the night before, I usually weigh more.

jal16jal

I weigh myself every day and my weight fluctuates like crazy!!!! Now I am trying to do it just once a week so I don't get too discouraged.

devilwhiterose

Yes but I only record it on Thursdays.

I fluctuate about 2-3 pounds.

mellypeters09

I think you are supposed to just weigh yourself once a week because you will fluctuate and that helps even you out to get a good estimate....But I weigh myself everyday...sometimes more than once a day! Weighing myself gives me a little reminder that I need to keep exercising or show me that I am doing good. So I think as long as it isn't driving you crazy, weigh yourself as much as you want!

crabbok

I weigh myself every day also, but I don't do it until around 11 AM, right before I workout. My weight used to fluctuate like crazy, like 4 pounds change sometimes from day to day. Turns out I think it was because of water weight. I drink a ton of water and it can have a huge impact on weight.

So what I've done is I started normalizing my habits. I no longer drink anything after 10 pm, and in the mornings, I drink very little, if any, water at all until my weigh in. I also try to go to the bathroom each morning before my weigh in. Having normalized my timings and routine has helped my weight stabilize and now I usually don't fluctuate very much.

Lunnunis

I weigh every morning. I would worry if I only did it once a week not knowing whether the weekly weight was representative - how would I know it wasn't at the top/bottom end? Weight can fluctuate as much as 4-5lbs over a couple of days, usually a gain caused by sodium.

I don't worry if the weight goes up for a couple of days - been keeping my chart for nine months now and the trend is downwards.

I recently resolved to only record losses on my MFP chart, unless I really fall off the wagon like e.g, at Christmas, and need to re-start.

You got a lot of responses - hope you had time to read them all and found them useful.

grdnr03

I have been weighing in everyday since the new year, and yes it's a yo yo effect, also fustrating, when I see the lower number a few times thats when I "weigh in" on MFP.

But recently I've decided to go back to once a week or every other, everyday is usless for me.

xqp123

I weigh every day and for (most of) the last couple of years I've entered my weights into my hackdiet page which draws a smoother trend line through the readings. My weight does bounce a few lbs around the line, but as long as that red line is mostly headed downwards I'm happy. He doesn't specify diets or exercise levels, it's only about the direction of that red line.

My personal problem is I have a pretty stressful life get depressed (about stuff generally) and then forget to exercise/eat properly and stop weighing in so it all goes toe-up. A bit like yo-yo dieting I guess.

I log my weigh-in times and daily events/exercise in the comments fields (lack of analysis for that there is why I've just signed up here) and it's interesting to see how long it takes your body to recover from something like a beer/curry session or a large sunday roast dinner. And I'm not talking about lack of visits to the, err, bathroom here. As I understand it, just eating a bag of crisps will make your body retain more water and that might take a day or two to correct.

For me, the variability in the daily readings make weekly weigh-ins seem unreliable. With a pint of water weighing over a pound how can you be sure what your weekly weight increase is caused by? Have you really put on weight or did you eat something salty two days ago? There are other "factors", especially for women. Where in that 2-4lb or 5-8lb range are you when you weighed in? I wonder if not knowing that puts people off dieting?

When you plot the trendline you can see the daily weights rise *temporarily* but the trend only moves a fraction of that amount. I've back-filled some of my historical daily readings on here but it was pretty tedious. I think I will delete them and just enter weekly averages in future.

There's a lot more detailed reasoning about the trendline stuff on this "other" website. I won't post the link but it's easy to find a suitable search term in my first line. I'm not in any way suggesting that people switch, but his "Eat Watch" pages are well worth a read and (for me) go some way to explaining why people have a hard time controlling their weight.

Anyway, first post so I'll stop there. Does this count as hello MFPers? :blushing:

Martin

aa62579

I will fluctuate some, normally less than 2 lbs, during my 4 weigh-ins per week - Tues, Wed, Thur, Fri, (and Saturday if I get up at the same time.) I do not weigh in on Sunday or Monday, because I know I do not drink as much water on the weekend, yet I often exercise more. To me, those weights could be the ones that really show some fluctuations (down due to dehydration, up due to sodium, etc.), so I don't even want to see them.

I don't really pay attention to a fluctuation unless it is more than 2 lbs or I am still up on the third day. Likewise, if I am down more than expected, I know not to get my hopes up until I see that number hang out for a few days.

ForABetterMe89

I am just curious about how many of you weigh every day and if so, how much does your weight fluctuate (if at all). I try not to weigh every morning but there is some insane gravitational pull that makes me...but this is what I've noticed. I will fluctuate for about a week anywhere from 1-3 pds every morning....then after a week or two, I'm done a couple of pounds. Thoughts? Be kind.

I weigh myself every single morning, after I go to the bathroom. I weigh myself naked since I'm not wearing the same thing all the time. Since I've started I haven't really seen any fluctuation, the numbers just seem to be going down, even if only by an oz or two. Some days it stays the same, and ones in a while yes it does jump up, but the next day it's right back down. I think you should do what works for you. And weighing in every morning helps me. It puts me in the mind set of this is going to be a good day, and sometimes a better day than before. It shows me if that donut I ate before bedtime was really worth it or not. I guess if I get on the scare and don't see a difference after one day it's ok with me, if I get on the scale with no weight gain for a week or so I get this defeated feeling. The weigh in every day allows me to be accountable to for my actions. One day I'm sure I won't have to weigh in every day, but for now it's what works for me.