How often to weigh?

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2

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  • 86muffintop
    86muffintop Posts: 69 Member
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    Every morning. Mainly because I don't trust myself and I think it keeps my eating in check. There is an app called Libra that I put my weight into every morning (just started 2 weeks ago) and it provides a graph of my progress. I think it has really helped me! I've been on MFP since the beginning of this year and I am barely losing now because I am facing my weight daily and I know that I can't afford to eat like I used to. When I get to my goal- or closer to it, I want to weigh in weekly and then maybe monthly after that. I have gained 50 pounds within the last 5 years (20 in the last year) and I think a big contributor to that was never weighing myself. But that's just me.
  • dshalbert
    dshalbert Posts: 677 Member
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    Once a week on Fridays, in the morning before I step in the shower. I pick that day because Monday morning weight-ins have too much weekend weirdness (My excersize and food in-take is all over the place on the weekends). I'm more consisitent during the week. I pick first thing in the morning becasue we tend to be slightly dehydrated when we wake up and water weight is not that much of a factor.
  • DanaNichelle
    DanaNichelle Posts: 3 Member
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    I weigh & take my measurements once a week on Sunday morning.
  • mwal74
    mwal74 Posts: 112 Member
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    I do a morning weigh-in right after I get up every morning. My husband says its obsessive & should do it at most once a week. But I like to see some progress whether it's up or down. And it makes me more determined.

    Ditto! :smile:
  • shawnakrebs
    shawnakrebs Posts: 50 Member
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    You should only weigh yourself once a week since there can be a lot of factors to mess up daily weights, like salt and water intake. If you eat a salty dinner, then you can weigh more the next day. Usually you want to weigh first thing in the morning. I wait till after my morning exercise on Monday mornings.
  • sbrownallison
    sbrownallison Posts: 314 Member
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    I've heard that if you're trying to lose weight, you should weigh every week (same day, same time of day). This gives you seven days to accumulate some appreciable weight loss, rather than obsessing (being discouraged) with daily scale visits. But once you reach maintenance, you should weigh every day, as it establishes a good daily habit and keeps you apprised right away of the need to put the brakes on if you begin to see gains. This makes sense to me....
  • BarbieAS
    BarbieAS Posts: 1,414 Member
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    I've always weighed every day. Sometimes twice a day. Sometimes even more than that. I'd tell myself, "I'm a smart girl. I understand nutrition and water retention and even glycogen stores and stuff like that. I can handle day-to-day fluctuations." But, then, even though I logically know that I did not eat 1450 calories yesterday and still gained 0.8lbs of fat, I found myself still getting really discouraged. Like, I'd even get frustrated about the NON-fat gains, like "I drank a TON of water yesterday, was under 100 carbs, didn't lift, had black coffee for breakfast and asparagus for dinner and didn't eat very much salt, I had a good poop, how did I STILL gain weight yesterday????" The more I educated myself about the whys of daily scale fluctuations, the more frustrated I got, not less.

    So, this is brand new (like, as of Tuesday), but I'm hiding my scale for the next two weeks, and I'm hoping to move to a two week pattern. I do slightly fear that if I gained over this first 2 week span that I'll go totally and completely off the rails, but hopefully that won't be the case. We'll see if that improves my mental health any...I think once I make it through the first two week period it will be easier after that, even if I do eventually see a gain at some point.
  • KANGOOJUMPS
    KANGOOJUMPS Posts: 6,472 Member
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    never
  • toholio
    toholio Posts: 46 Member
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    Weigh as often as you like so long as you don't drive yourself nuts.

    Ignore short term fluctuations regardless of whether you weigh daily, weekly, or something else.
  • toholio
    toholio Posts: 46 Member
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    never

    Since this is MFP I'm going to suggest the complete opposite and say you should get special shoes with scales built in and never stop weighing yourself.
  • shapefitter
    shapefitter Posts: 900 Member
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    I only own a set of kitchen scales.
  • aklove907
    aklove907 Posts: 118 Member
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    I like to weigh once a week on Saturday morning before I eat breakfast. I like seeing more of a change! Good luck in your loss!
  • Naomi0504
    Naomi0504 Posts: 964 Member
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    Every single day, it's a habit :smile:
  • mollyb1018
    mollyb1018 Posts: 17
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    Once a week for me! Saturday mornings. :o) I can fluctuate between 3-5 lbs. per day. It's nuts! So, I like to weigh once a week under the same set of circumstances to get an accurate idea of how I'm doing. I used to be obsessive about it, NOT GOOD! Drove me nuts.
  • NyssaDuck
    NyssaDuck Posts: 50
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    I weigh every single day after I've woken up (I can't say morning, sometimes I don't wake up in the am) and have been to the bathroom. Always naked, on the same tile and all. It doesn't bother me seeing fluctuations though I don't see many of them. I've started only officially recording once a month however (on the 29th, along with measurements).
  • qtgonewild
    qtgonewild Posts: 1,930 Member
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    when i first wake up and again before bed. weigh in here every monday.
  • achaye
    achaye Posts: 3
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    once a week. Every Saturday morning after the gym and after using the washroom and before breakfast
  • Deborah100660
    Deborah100660 Posts: 45 Member
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    You should weigh yourself no more than weekly. Daily weight can fluctuate with fluid weight. Weekly is more accurate. Pick a day, weight yourself first thing in the morning, wearing the same thing (underwear etc). Monitor the changes in your body and not the number on the scale. Measure and record your body measurements. Do this monthly to see changes. You can also get an inexpensive pair of body fat calipers to monitor the changes in your body fat. I am 5'5" and at my most fit was a size 4, but I weighed 150 pounds. My body fat was 16% which is low. At the time, I was body building. 22% body fat is a healthy body fat for most females. I weigh 153 now and am a size 8, my body fat is 20%. You can see by the changes in my weight and body fat that I gained inches when I stopped working out regularly. What you really want to lose is body fat and to gain muscle. Muscle burns more calories. The number on the scale doesn't mean a whole lot. You can add me as a friend if you wish.

    Deborah Berger
  • SilverclawMoonmist
    SilverclawMoonmist Posts: 5 Member
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    My advice to you would be once a week, after using the bathroom and before you've eaten anything. Personally I weigh in every Saturday, that way I can kind of gauge how I've done overall for that week. Weighing yourself every day may cause unnecessary anxiety or depression because your weight can fluctuate between 2 and 3 pounds a day. As far as appearance, it is also helpful to pay attention to waistline and other measurements, such as around the thighs, hips, and butt. This way you are not going solely by the numbers on the scale (because, I'm sure you know already, muscle weighs more than fat), and mistakenly thinking that you have gained fat, when in reality you have traded in that fat for muscle. I wish you luck on your weight-loss journey, and no matter what the scale says, be confident. It really does help with weight-loss believe it or not :)
  • ihammen
    ihammen Posts: 55 Member
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    every time I'm in the vicinity of the scale, haha. I only count the first one in the morning though.
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