How often should you weigh yourself?

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.

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

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.

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.

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).

.

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"

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.