Do you log weight increases too?

whitelaurel

I log whatever the scale says on Saturday morning. How do you know if it's "real," "water," "fat," "muscle," "poop," "TOM," "the weather," "stress," "leftover hair product," "increased knowledge and brain mass," "poltergeist" or otherwise? You'll see the loss over time if you log it, and as somebody said before, the fluctuations are part of the project. It's hard, but don't be so sensitive to the numbers. You're going to drive yourself into a really difficult spot if an increase in weight or a certain food literally freaks you out. All of that is a small part of a much bigger picture. Besides, if you are just retaining a little bit of water and working your *kitten* off otherwise, you can look forward to a really sweet-looking loss the next week.

Either that, or like somebody else said before: Don't log your gains or your losses until you've maintained them for a while. I think this is easier when you have less to lose or you're deliberately losing at a slower pace or tracking some body composition change (like muscle)

Lt_Starbuck

DUH i can celebrate losses way more often

meskibrp

Always log everything.

LauraRose03

I do! The first time I logged my weight increase I was scared it would announce to all my friends that "LauraRose03 gained 1 lb!" like it does with weight loss. Lol, I was so glad it didn't do that!!!!

scythswife

Whatever the scale says on Monday morning it gets logged.

baroqueviolin

I only log losses.... Sometimes it takes awhile... but I love seeing the downward trend!

Shrinking_Moody

I log it all - good or bad.

***edit to add - it helps me see trends in going over on macros, TOM, etc.

Mommy4812

I'd only record it if it stayed for a week since it may be temporary (too much sodium the day before, or monthly cycle). I don't even record loss until I have maintained the same loss for several days.

This^

Deipneus

Hi all, I weighed myself after a long gap today and the number on the scales was up a few pounds. This could probably well be muscle, fat or water. The scales said I was up a fraction in bodyfat which I expect could also mean water. Should I log this weight or is it really only necessary to log losses? Any thoughts?

People handle weigh-ins all different kind of ways. Almost any method works as long as you do it one way consistently. I weigh myself every morning and average the previous 7 days on Monday. That smooths out the day to day highs and lows.

Riemersma4

I will answer the question with a question. What do you do with the information? The data (weight, inches, calories, etc) is only of value if you do something as a result of a trend.

If you aren't going to change your training or eating, why bother? If it will cause you to 'hunker down' and work out harder/eat better, than go for it.

Good luck!

You're right, I would probably do nothing as really I should be looking to tone up rather than slim down. Maybe I should be watching body fat % more though.

Personally, I just watch the mirror. When i look in the mirror, i know everything that i need to know about BF %, how i have been eating, how i have been training.

The mirror never lies!!

I also don't get bent out of shape about the set backs. Weekends happen....

Good luck!

KevinS62

I log whatever the scale says Friday morning. No cheating myself by pretending I didn't gain when I did!

Same here.

wibutterflymagic

I only log gains if they stick for more than 2 weeks. I would have to be eating an insane amount of calories for a legitimate gain.

This!

ang3h

I log it.. but that is because I've had a binge problem for the past couple months and have been gaining steadily because of it..

Tercob

I am going to log both

dinkydudette

I did NOT record the day after my LOW two days ago when the next day it was up .5.

I DID record this morning after seeing a 1.7lb. total gain in forty-eight hours. Something is up. What is it? I ask myself.

I look back over my behaviors and logs.

Did I eat something salty (pretzels were the culprit last week)? This week, the beef and veggies did need added salt. Could be it. Am I getting enough fiber in my diet (working on that today) by additives and fruit. Am I drinking enough? Working on that last night with water instead of coffee PM.

I like getting to know my body and try to take care of it better.

I'm not sure I drink enough as a whole without these prompts, or watch my food balance enough. It helps me.

Ahh, yes I don't take into consideration my habits re: sodium intake etc. I probably should though.

dinkydudette

I wasn't logging my weight here unless it went up or down five pounds because I didn't want to fool with it, but might have to change that. I do log in every single day on the wii fit at home and let it record my weight, which is regularly up or down 2 pounds. I have always heard not to weigh every day because of the fluctuations. However, the weekly weighing seems less accurate now that I've been weighing every day. Here's why.

I was getting frustrated because it seemed like I had hit a plateau or had lost a lot more in the beginning than lately. When I looked back on the wii fit chart, I could see that there was a definite diagonal line through all of the fluctuations, and that it was at a consistent angle no matter what period I looked at. It was consistent for the first month, the most recent month, the entire time - all the same rate. I never would have guessed that because I get discouraged that it is taking so long. I averaged it out and it is exactly the goal I set here! I wouldn't have as many data points with weekly or monthly weighings and that would be more misleading.

On a related note, does anyone know if you can view a longer period of time on the mobile app than 3 months? I couldn't find a way to change that default.

That's a good idea. I wish the graphs were more like a scatter graph with an average line because that would be more encouraging.

DexterDarko

I only log once a week, if i gained I usually drop a big number next week anyway. I don't really think people should log everyday. But if I gained and its my weigh in day, yes i log it. Example: I went from 346 to 342 to 346 to 338.

starrisonmclennon

i log it, my weigh-in days are my weigh-in days and i log the results no matter what

dinkydudette

My approach is to treat this as an experiment and as data that can be used for analysis so always simply log the facts. Whether it is logging what I eat, what I weigh, or what my measurements are it is very important to log the facts.

As far as logging weight when it goes up this can and will be as important information as when weight goes down. For example, how will you know if you are eating or not working out enough? what happens after you reach your goal and are trying to maintain how will you know if you are maintaining?

I take and log my weight every day (in the morning as I am getting ready for the day). Have been doing this for over 10 months now. One interesting observation is that 40+% of the time my daily weight measurements are higher than the previous day. For example during one month I weighed myself 30 times. Of those 30 times, 13 of those times (43%) the measured weight was higher than the previous day. The largest increase was 1.0lbs. So there were 13 days that I could despair about the lack of progress or about why am I doing this or that I may as well just quit. But wait, there were 16 days (53%) that measured weight was less than the previous day. There was one day that there was no difference in weight. The largest decrease was 1.8lbs. So there were 16 days that I could rejoice. Most importantly, my weight in those 30 days dropped 6.4lbs and that is something to be really happy about.

Sorry to ramble so much, hope that helps.

I might try this for a month and see what happens. Out of curiosity more than anything.

timpicks

I tend to not log increases because I don't want MFP to report losing the same pound over and over if I am yo-yoing a bit. I tend to log decreases because they serve as motivation by setting a mark that I need to beat.