Dreaded scale..

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danibodani
danibodani Posts: 41
in Health and Weight Loss
How often do you guys & gals 'check in' with your scale? At the moment I am getting too excited and wanting to do it every morning, but I know that is a bad bad habit.
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Replies

  • LoraF83
    LoraF83 Posts: 15,694 Member
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    It can be a bad habit or a good one - depending on much emotion you tie to the number.

    I go through periods where I weigh myself every day. I like to see how different changes with my routine affect the scale. But I also don't lock myself in my bedroom with a pint of B&J's if the number is higher than I expect. I know what I'm doing is working, so even if the scale bounces up due to water retention, I deal with it and move on.
  • red_road
    red_road Posts: 761 Member
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    every two days. longer if ive been bad. I like digital scales because they show 0.2 loss or gains. With an old fashioned scale i would weigh in once a week, perhaps because im so tall i wouldnt be able to see a difference in anything but full pounds.
  • Burghaus
    Burghaus Posts: 22 Member
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    I like every morning and have seen a lot of posts of people on MFP that also do so.

    There is a theory about weekly because your weight fluctuates each day and you will get depressed with the highs and lows. But does once a week really tell you anything. For example, if you weigh in on Friday at 135 lbs and that weight is down a little because of dehydration and your real weight is 136. Come the next Friday, let’s say the scales says 137 but a pound high due to excess in your system. You have not changed weight but it appears as though you have gained two lbs. You could have the reverse affect as well.

    What I would think would be cool and used to do via spreadsheet is a 5 day average. If you could compare your average weight for the past 5 days to that of yesterdays prior 5 day average, you may get a better idea of where you are head. It has some latency but would at least take out some of the variance.
  • MyChocolateDiet
    MyChocolateDiet Posts: 22,281 Member
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    .
  • LLT57
    LLT57 Posts: 21
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    I weigh myself everyday to remind me not to overeat. When I don't weigh myself I just let myself get of control. It's part of my whole regime thing.
  • anytime15642
    anytime15642 Posts: 2 Member
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    I do it daily because it helps to motivate me. Also, I've read that studies have shown that it aids in maintaining weight loss. I try not to be disappointed with my numbers, it helps to guide me, especially with what I eat that day.
  • christinazaia
    christinazaia Posts: 135 Member
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    i weigh in once a week.......................i think its not so good to weigh myself everyday because if i see the scale going up i get discouraged
    but some people like to weigh every day to make sure they dont gain....but really people gain weight from muscle too
  • christinazaia
    christinazaia Posts: 135 Member
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    how long hav u been weighing daily for .....do u feel its a good thing
  • GnosisGnosis
    GnosisGnosis Posts: 148
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    Water weight, glycogen stores, intestinal capacity, etc. ensures that weighing every day is useless.
  • cmcollins001
    cmcollins001 Posts: 3,472 Member
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    The only "bad" part about weighing everyday is if you give too much credence to the numbers. You can't trust something that says you will lose 1/2 lb brushing your teeth or gain 1/2 lb after you pee.

    I weigh everyday because I like the data points, but I know that it's the long term trending not the day to day fluctuations that mirror the success.

    ETA: The only time I actually "check in" and record a weight on MFP is every time I get a new low. I keep the ups and downs recorded separately elsewhere.
  • dizy17
    dizy17 Posts: 236 Member
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    once a week.
  • malk2651
    malk2651 Posts: 55 Member
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    I weigh myself several times a week to watch for trends, but I only log my weight once a week at the same time on the same day. Some days its higher, some days its lower, but log day is when it counts for me.
  • hilaryhill
    hilaryhill Posts: 156 Member
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    I weigh every day. I have a digital scale.

    When I record my weight, the first time I get down to the next lower weight, I record it on here.
  • JulesAlloggio
    JulesAlloggio Posts: 480 Member
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    I step on mine every morning before I do anything... I also keep track of my numbers but numbers on the scale will jump around like crazy so I don't rely on them. I also take progress pictures..you can see better results with that.
  • GURLEY_GIRL3
    GURLEY_GIRL3 Posts: 359 Member
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    I weigh every morning before I get ready for work. It helps keep me in check..really! If your get discouraged easily I do not recommend this at all. It will go up and down daily. I only record loss, not the gains so my ticker always has exactly what i have lost since started this in Jan.
  • horrorstory
    horrorstory Posts: 125 Member
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    I weight daily when i first wake up, but I only log it on Mondays. Seeing it everyday keeps me accountable and make me want to work harder. Also I like to see how it changes through the week. Its all a personal choice though.
  • MyChocolateDiet
    MyChocolateDiet Posts: 22,281 Member
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    i weigh in once a week.......................i think its not so good to weigh myself everyday because if i see the scale going up i get discouraged
    but some people like to weigh every day to make sure they dont gain....but really people gain weight from muscle too
    ^this
  • seltzermint555
    seltzermint555 Posts: 10,741 Member
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    I check the scale every morning. Like someone else said...it's part of my regime and a great reminder at the start of every day what I am doing for myself!

    But I don't log a weight loss until it is maintained for 4 days at least. I usually update any change on Monday mornings.

    For example, I've "lost" 2.2 lb this week and I would love to see my ticker change, but not until Monday morning will I consider it "official" hehe

    FTR, I never owned a scale until March 25 when I joined MFP. When I was a teenager, my stepmom kept a scale in the house and I would get too discouraged because when my weight never changed even if I felt like I'd been eating better and become more active. It did not motivate me. I was scale-phobic in a way, for almost 15 years.

    I like having a scale, it makes me feel in control. It is challenging to not get too 'down' if I see a 1 lb gain but I just keep reminding myself it's probably sodium/water and it always comes off.
  • TribeHokie
    TribeHokie Posts: 711 Member
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    I'm still trying to figure that one out. When I started I didn't check my beginning weight, so when I finally stepped on the scale two weeks later and saw a weight four lbs higher than I thought my starting weight was I had a mini freakout. I then consulted the forums and weighed the pros and cons of each method (daily/weekly/monthly/not at all). I weighed myself every day for two weeks to get a better understanding of all the shizz that goes on and definitely saw some interesting things happen. I am currently hiding the scale for five weeks because I want to work on doing good things for my body regardless of the numbers and I am in the middle of the 30 day shred so I know there will be some muscle gain involved that will offset fat loss.

    Really, it is whatever you feel comfortable with. My advice though would be to consider other things as well, like how your clothes are fitting.
  • Msnevergiveup70
    Msnevergiveup70 Posts: 9 Member
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    I sure know about the dangers of a scale so I now weigh myself on a Monday at my Doctors office. She has been working with me on weight loss. This is the first time I have worked with a doctor on this problem.
    About eight years ago a joined a calorie counting group and we met once a week. I went down to my goal weight in 14 months however I became addicted to the scale. When I quit smoking I started to put the weight back on and I panicked. I did every thing wrong. I found myself weighing in several times a day. I got so bad when I first started another diet I would even weigh myself during the night. It was a silly thing to do as weight fluctuates with water retention as we all know. Anyway I just got more depressed. Then I did the best thing I could do. I threw those scales away and now the only way I can weigh myself is on my Wii Fit and that takes planning as you have to put on the TV and turn everything on, not something you just do on the spur of the moment. The good thing with this method is my Wii just says if I gained or lost since the last time so if the number is different from the doctors scale it does not matter too much. One more tip is to put your scale on another floor or in a storage closet so you have to make the effort to bring it out.
    Hope this helped you.

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