Logging gains or only losses?

juliamcmullen92
juliamcmullen92 Posts: 28 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Just curious-- do you only "check in" every time you see the scale go down, or do you log your weight regularly (once or twice a week) regardless of whether it's gone up or down? I'm trying to figure out which is more helpful/motivating?

Replies

  • jessicahill530
    jessicahill530 Posts: 65 Member
    I weigh-in once a week, on Saturday mornings. No matter what the scale says, I log it. Gain or loss, doesn't matter. It helps me to see how what I did during the week affected me and gives me a good graph to look back on and see the peaks and valleys. It sucks to log a gain, but if you don't then you are essentially lying to yourself, pretending it didn't happen. That is what I do. If the scale makes you depressed, then maybe that is not for you, but I like to know where I stand every week so I can either keep it up or do better.
  • staceypunk
    staceypunk Posts: 924 Member
    I usually only log losses. I regularly fluctuate between 3-5 pounds and I don't want to annoy my MFP friends constantly having an update that I lost weight, when really I'm just going up and down but staying in the same range. If I have a gain that lasts for 2 weeks (usually I know it's related to a vacation or sickness or whatever) I will log that. Luckily for me it's only happened a couple of times so far.
  • Duck_Puddle
    Duck_Puddle Posts: 3,237 Member
    I log whatever the scale says Monday AM, up/down/same.
  • kimcalica
    kimcalica Posts: 525 Member
    i log my gains. if i do, when i exercise, the site gives me more calories. which is important. not to mention. i lose the gains fast, and i get to see my losses again and everyone is proud of me! although i don't log when i have a bad day.. so if i eat ice cream or go out for a big meal, i just fall off the radar.. sometimes i have a bad week, once a bad month.. but i always come back, ready to erase my mistakes! and yes.. i log my painful gains! :happy:
  • ereck44
    ereck44 Posts: 1,170 Member
    I weigh-in once a week, on Saturday mornings. No matter what the scale says, I log it. Gain or loss, doesn't matter. It helps me to see how what I did during the week affected me and gives me a good graph to look back on and see the peaks and valleys. It sucks to log a gain, but if you don't then you are essentially lying to yourself, pretending it didn't happen. That is what I do. If the scale makes you depressed, then maybe that is not for you, but I like to know where I stand every week so I can either keep it up or do better.

    Good idea! For a long time I only logged losses. 3 weeks ago, I broke my great toe, and no longer could exercise, and started gaining. I decided at that point to log both weight loss and gain. You are right, it is important to know where one stands.
  • ChangingAmanda
    ChangingAmanda Posts: 486 Member
    I weigh Saturday morning first thing after waking up, using the toilet, and stripping down. I log the weight regardless of what the scale says.
  • TiffanyW1014
    TiffanyW1014 Posts: 599 Member
    I'm pathetic lol I weigh everyday and I log everyday no matter what it says. I'm addicted to the scale and I know I have a problem lol!!
  • juliamcmullen92
    juliamcmullen92 Posts: 28 Member
    Thanks for the input guys! So far I have only been logging losses, but that was getting frustrating when I was at a plateau and had nothing to log, so I think I'm gonna started doing it once or twice weekly whether it goes up or down. It might also help to be able to look back and the pattern lol
  • Koldnomore
    Koldnomore Posts: 1,613 Member
    I only logged losses for most of my 60+ lbs. It's been only recently that I have started taking my weekly average in order to account for the fluctuations (I go up and down close to 4 lbs sometimes) This way I can see the trend a little more clearly and it also takes less time to notice if I get stuck. I have logged a gain only once and that was after a 3 week vacation where I had deliberately planned to gain weight to reset my metabolism and attempt to bust a 2 month plateau.

    If you are the type to freak out if you gain a pound 'overnight' then Id suggest weighing only weekly or less and recording whatever you get. I am not bothered by my normal fluctuations thus I weigh every morning after my shower and record the weekly average on Tuesdays as this is when I started my most recent iteration of calorie changes.
  • bizco
    bizco Posts: 1,949 Member
    Log both gains and losses.
  • bwogilvie
    bwogilvie Posts: 2,130 Member
    On MFP, I log Monday mornings, regardless of whether I'm up or down.

    But I weigh myself daily and calculate an exponentially smoothed weighted average. As long as most of my actual weigh-ins are below the average, I know that I'm losing weight. I'll continue to do that after I reach maintenance; if the average gets more than 2-3 lbs. over my ideal weight, I can cut back a little on calories until I'm back at goal.

    The method and its rationale are explained by John Walker in _The Hacker's Diet_, his free online book: http://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/e4/ (chapters on "Signal and Noise" and "Perfect Weight Forever").
  • Stage14
    Stage14 Posts: 1,046 Member
    I don't weigh myself super regularly, once a week at most and sometimes I go two weeks or more between weigh ins. But when I do a serious weigh in (in the AM, before breakfast, naked), I log it whether it is a gain or a loss.
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,487 Member
    I log every Friday - no matter what the scale says. I weigh pretty much daily but only log Fridays - unless I'm on vacation or something without a scale, then I'll either skip the week or log the next morning that I have a scale available.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,267 Member
    I don't weight myself often but I don't record my gains. For example

    On Sept 9th I lost .25lbs then on the 16th gain 2.5lbs. I knew that wasn't a true gain as I had just started a new exercise routine (weights) and expected some water retention and there it was... now that being said it's all gone now and am back down to 169.5 but I am not logging that "Loss" either.

    But then again weight is not the end all to me I prefer to measure for inches lost.
  • Guinivere
    Guinivere Posts: 357 Member
    I weigh myself every morning at the same time but only record losses. I would be demoralised to log gains and so just leave it few days of knuckling down so I can log a loss again. But weighing every day means I'll never get obese again. Cos I can "fix" small gains quickly.
  • steveocy1
    steveocy1 Posts: 19 Member
    I log the lowest for the day whether it was up or down. It is the only way to see short and long term patterns so you can adjust.

    Monday through Friday I weigh myself 3-4 times a day, record them all and keep the lowest one as the official weight for the day. The weekends I am usually on the go and sometimes don't get a chance to step on the scale at all. During the week I don't eat until after my workout on my lunch break so my lowest is usually then. On the weekends I eat when my daughter eats (no way I am making her cinnamon banana french toast and not eating it!) and my wakeup weigh-in is usually the lowest.

    Yesterday through my lunch workout today (from my FitBit Aria scale):

    5:05 AM on wakeup 162.9
    11:16 AM pre-workout 161.7
    12:27 PM post-workout 161.4
    8:34 PM pre-bed 163.9
    5:07 AM on wakeup 162.2
    11:23 AM pre-workout 162.6
    12:33 PM post-workout 160.9
  • phyl303
    phyl303 Posts: 74 Member
    I used to log once a week but for the last few weeks, I log every morning that I am home, whether it's a gain or a loss. (I travel about 10 days a month.) I wanted to have a record of the fluctuations. I try not to obsess, but I do. I'm going to go back to once a week once I see a few months of zig zags.

    I've hit a plateau and I'm having trouble getting motivated to exercise more. It's so much easier to log when things are going the direction you want!

    As far as cluttering up my friends' newfeed, I changed my settings so my weight logs don't send out messages.
  • slim4health56
    slim4health56 Posts: 439 Member
    Against a good deal of advice from others who insist that one should only weigh in once a week, I weigh every morning when I get up and I log my weight every day. My weight from one day to the next can vary by 1.5 lbs, but within each week I see the loss. I use cm measurements, mood, energy levels, et cetera as cues also, so it's very gratifying to feel my energy increase and the weight loss continue each week. However, I also know that some folks describe their frustration when they see the lbs go up when they are working hard to reduce. If it bothers you to see this, just don't weigh every day.
  • justformel
    justformel Posts: 193 Member
    By logging every morning, up or down, it helps me understand more in depth the foods I eat and the timing of them, as to how my body reacts. This way I have learned what items make me retain more water, bloated feelings, etc, then I can work on those to either eat less, or find an alternative that my body doesn't react as badly to. As long as I see the trend keep going down, I'm good.
  • bkyoun
    bkyoun Posts: 371 Member
    I weigh myself every day in the morning. I expect the fluctuations and they don't bother me. I just look for the long term downward trend. I only log my losses because I don't care to see every fluctuation and water weight adjustment on the graph.

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