How often should I weigh in?

kathyt08069
kathyt08069 Posts: 39 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
How often do you weigh yourself? I started by doing a weekly weigh in on a set date but now I find myself wanting to check midweek to see if I am on track. At one point I was doing a daily weigh in but that just made me crazy when the scale went up and down all the time. Should I just relax and wait for that weekly weigh in date or do others do a mid-week check in as well.
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Replies

  • catmanor
    catmanor Posts: 85 Member
    Weekly is more than enough otherwise as you have discovered you will drive yourself crazy doing it more often.

    Some people even do it monthly as weight can fluctuate by the week..

    I guess there is no right answer..
  • TamaraKat
    TamaraKat Posts: 533 Member
    I'd say weekly just because your body needs time to change :) These sorts of things don't happen overnight, unfortunately for us...
  • beckademic
    beckademic Posts: 69 Member
    I posted this exact thing earlier today:
    I'm mostly a weekly weigher.....when i wakeup, after the bathroom, before the shower. I weigh myself until I get the exact same reading(digital) 3 times in a row. or if i weigh 4 times and 3 of them are the same...i will take that one. Sometimes I weigh myself throughout the week but just out of curiosity and I don't record it. Good luck getting off of the daily weigh-in!!


    Note: not sure why I decided on 3...3rd times a charm?
  • TamaraKat
    TamaraKat Posts: 533 Member
    Weekly is more than enough otherwise as you have discovered you will drive yourself crazy doing it more often.

    Some people even do it monthly as weight can fluctuate by the week..

    I guess there is no right answer..

    Straight answer there man; whatever satisfies your needs!
  • RawMomma10
    RawMomma10 Posts: 89 Member
    Weekly is more than enough otherwise as you have discovered you will drive yourself crazy doing it more often.

    Some people even do it monthly as weight can fluctuate by the week..

    I guess there is no right answer..

    Straight answer there man; whatever satisfies your needs!

    Water retention is so stinking unpredictable that I cant do weekly.. it makes me crazy!! I will do monthly or even sometimes every couple of months...But thats just me... :happy:
  • Achrya
    Achrya Posts: 16,913 Member
    Different strokes for different folks. I hop on...often, but I only record on Fridays and/or Mondays and don't take the numbers in between too seriously. I do find weight fluctuation to be really interesting though; I 'gain' and 'lose' 4 pounds or so daily; more on days I lift/start something different. I did kickboxing yesterday and was up six pounds from Monday morning and to me that's just fascinating.

    YMMV
  • RealMattHopkins
    RealMattHopkins Posts: 75 Member
    I keep my scale in the middle of the floor in the bathroom. It's a bit of a reminder that this is a project I am working on. That said, I'm not someone who beats myself up over the number. It's just a number to me that measures where I'm at. I find weighing myself every day or a few times a day helps me understand how food/exercise affects my body (bloating, water retention, etc). I let go of the weekly weigh in because I found it too easy to leave the scale in the cupboard. Weighing in every day is now part of my routine.
  • elkahallick
    elkahallick Posts: 1,138 Member
    Every Monday morning after I wake up and take a piss....
  • itsscottwilder
    itsscottwilder Posts: 317
    every day.

    knowledge is power.

    And the geek in me likes lots of data points (they make for pretty graphs)
  • Mama530
    Mama530 Posts: 605 Member
    every day.

    knowledge is power.

    And the geek in me likes lots of data points (they make for pretty graphs)

    This is exactly me!
  • RealMattHopkins
    RealMattHopkins Posts: 75 Member
    every day.

    knowledge is power.

    And the geek in me likes lots of data points (they make for pretty graphs)

    LOL. Love it.
  • Ejourneys
    Ejourneys Posts: 1,603 Member
    Copied from other forum posts asking the same question:
    I weigh myself daily but I take the long-term picture into account. I got into the habit of daily weighing in 2001-2002. During that weight loss I took a weekly average:
    8058380998_ed08a62411_b.jpg
    The averages give a smoother decrease than either daily or weekly numbers because the fluctuations are evened out.
    These days I log only a decrease in weight. Here's what that looks like:
    9438601206_5697c632db_z.jpg
    (I've lost another 2.5 pounds since I generated the graph.)
    The slope of my weight loss keeps getting shallower as I get closer to goal, meaning my rate of loss keeps getting slower. This is natural and is to be expected. During plateaus my weight fluctuates up and back down, before it drops again; so far my longest plateau has been 28 days. Sure I feel impatient from time to time, but I know I'm doing the right things and I'm cool with that. I'll get there when I get there.
  • Monnolyth
    Monnolyth Posts: 1
    I am different than most people, I weigh myself before every meal. And while this may seem crazy to some people, hear me out. First, doing this gets you really in touch with your bodies rhythms and more importantly it makes a direct psychological link between what the scale says and what you are putting in your mouth. Believe me when I tell you, this exercise makes it easy to skip the little cheats or indulgences you might otherwise allow yourself. In my opinion this is way more effective than putting a "fat" picture on the fridge.

    I've also found that this method actually helps when you plateau. If you are only weighing in once a week it might appear that nothing is happening and it might come as a surprise particularly if you are expecting to have lost weight. This is a big negative jolt to your psyche and one you'll have to live with for another week to see if you have better results. By monitoring the situation on a micro level you never expect to see big jumps and quite often you see nothing or very little at all. You'll have unexpected gains and loses throughout the week but if you're doing everything right, the trend will be downward. When the plateau occurs you'll still see things moving and changing but there will be no downward trend. Noticing a trend change is much easier to deal with than a once a week glimpse at where you are at that might leave you aggravated for another week.

    Oh and one other thing, while I do monitor my weight several times a day, I have an official weigh in once a week that I actually record the weight, or at least this is how I've done it in the past. I am still very new to MyFitnessPal and I'm tracking and recording everything else on a daily basis, I will probably start trying to keep an actual daily record of my weight just for data purposes. This is more of a data mining exercise than a practical necessity. I would probably only recommend recording the weekly weigh in. But I'll let you know if I learn anything from my new tracking practices.
  • fatfudgery
    fatfudgery Posts: 449 Member
    Another daily weigher chiming in. There can be a lot of fluctuation from one day to the next, but even with that, seeing each new data point in context with the two or three previous ones helps you catch unexpected weight gains before they get out of control and they've gone on for a whole week. Constant vigilance, I say!
  • HeadsPoppingOutOfCups
    HeadsPoppingOutOfCups Posts: 115
    I used to do it daily but now that I use my Wii fit as a scale it takes too long to weigh in so I do my official recording Friday mornings.I may check at other times but don't record them. I've only done it on Friday the last few weeks.
  • morticia16
    morticia16 Posts: 230 Member
    I weigh myself daily. I check in my weight in the system roughly once per week.
  • PTFighter
    PTFighter Posts: 11
    Every single day, sometimes twice or more a day, early morning, before gym, after gym, before dinner... you name it.
    It helps me to stay on course and understand better the weight fluctuations, mental note, "you cannot have a late and heavy dinner you fool"

    Recently I'm kinda stuck, I'm already at a normal bmi value, I've maintained my calorie deficit but increased my weight training and I see more body definition but now the scale doesnt move :)
  • Eastern_Echo23
    Eastern_Echo23 Posts: 198 Member
    I usually have an official weigh in once a week on sunday, but check everyday to get an idea what direction i am going in. I also usually check once in the morning and once before i go to bed to get an idea how much my weight changes in a day. It might be obsessive but before that last weekend that didn't go so well i was averaging 2 pounds per week in weight loss. this week however, might gain 2...
  • araviel
    araviel Posts: 19
    Once in a while. Some times once a week, some times once a month. I put way more emphasis on how my clothes fit and what I see in the mirror, it's much less stressful for me and I don't have to work myself up into a fenzie if the weight varies too much on a daily basis, type: 'OH MY GOD I just gained 300grams compared to yesterday! *freak out*'. No thanks. I deadlift 10kgs more this week than last week, that's good enough for me. :bigsmile:
  • lambchoplewis
    lambchoplewis Posts: 797
    I had lost 25 lbs and was maintaining and then stopped weighing myself every day. Now I am up 10 lbs and need to get back on the plan that worked for me. I would weigh myself everyday just to make sure the trend was not going up. Now I know I have to do this or the weight comes back on. I am depressed but motivated.
  • bobf279
    bobf279 Posts: 342 Member
    Once a week, same bat time, same bat channel and completely..........................nude
  • Buckeyegirlbritt
    Buckeyegirlbritt Posts: 69
    Once a week, same bat time, same bat channel and completely..........................nude

    This.
  • Swissmiss
    Swissmiss Posts: 8,754 Member
    I actually weigh just about every morning. That way if I am getting off track, I can tell early on. When doing this I have to remember that weight does go up and down a couple of pounds with water weight and then I don't freak over a little gain as it is usually gone the next morning.
  • moochachip
    moochachip Posts: 237 Member
    Weekly will keep you from pulling your hair out, since your body will regularly change due to water weight among other things.

    While weighing on a scale is a way to keep track of the fat you've lost, I recommend using measuring tape instead. Keep track of measurements around the hips, waist, chest, neck, thigh, and bicep monthly. That is what people see, not a bunch of numbers over your head. ;)
  • kathyt08069
    kathyt08069 Posts: 39 Member
    I like your method, I might just try that this week.

    thanks,
  • BlueBombers
    BlueBombers Posts: 4,064 Member
    Once a week, early in the morning before eating and after my potty break.
  • kathyt08069
    kathyt08069 Posts: 39 Member
    Great suggestion, I think I will still weigh in but add the tape measure. I tend to gain weight around my waist so seeing that number go down would be fantastic.
  • jerryvo
    jerryvo Posts: 66 Member
    I officially weigh in twice a week Monday morning and Friday morning but I jump on the scale every morning as soon as I get up and right before I go to bed. I have found that I weigh 2-4 pounds more before bed than I do when I wake up. I also like to look for spikes during the week.

    Unless you can mentally disregard and not fret over daily fluctuation DO NOT do it daily or you will drive yourself crazy.

    I also hate to admit it but I like to weigh myself right before and after a nice poop just for fun and laughs. :bigsmile: :bigsmile:
  • nickyvw
    nickyvw Posts: 26 Member
    every day.

    knowledge is power.

    And the geek in me likes lots of data points (they make for pretty graphs)

    This is exactly me!

    This is me too. Graphs are my buddies! Lol
  • kimmymayhall
    kimmymayhall Posts: 419 Member
    I also hate to admit it but I like to weigh myself right before and after a nice poop just for fun and laughs. :bigsmile: :bigsmile:
    It is pretty interesting if you feel you have an epic one on the way :laugh:

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