When do you "officially" record your weight loss?

Sreneesa
Sreneesa Posts: 1,170 Member
in Getting Started
Hi there,

Okay, so I weigh myself quite often and always have. I do it first thing in the am, naked and after relieving myself. I also weigh myself a few times a day. From past experience my scale is 4lbs off then when I have been weighed in the past at doctors. So for instance if my scale reads 175, I just automatically say I'm 180, 179.

Well, the last few days my scale says 172 in the am when I first weigh myself then a little later in the day it will say 175-176, which I understand after eating, drinking etc can fluctuate average 5lbs throughout day.

So other places I have read that morning weight is your official weight. However, I have a hard time believing that. I always wake up dehydrated so it makes me feel as though I'm just water depleted and that is why I always get lower weight in am.

My question is how many days of consistent weight loss do you finally feel as though that is your true weight now? Do you just go off am weigh- ins? I know.. I know... I should pick a day/time each week and officially weigh myself then but if that is the case then today in the am is my official weight loss and I lost 3 more lbs. I do not feel comfortable recording that due to dehydration in the am and Ill admit my eating habits haven't been the greatest this week and honestly I have been having a hard time meeting calorie requirements. At 5'10, you do not eat, you will lose the weight... Some think that is a blessing and friends have always envied that I lose it quickly, but it is also a curse when now I'm trying to do it in a healthy way and maintain it.

Any thoughts?
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Replies

  • badgerdh
    badgerdh Posts: 179 Member
    I weigh myself once a week every Friday morning at about the same time...week to week won't always give you a true representation of your exact weight, but if you do it at the same time each week, you will see a pattern. Sometimes I gained weight from the week before and sometimes I lose a ton of weight from the week before, but ultimately, the monthly bi-monthly patter should show an overall decrease. MFP keeps good data on that too.

    good luck!
  • Shuuma
    Shuuma Posts: 465 Member
    I weigh on Monday mornings and again on Friday. If my weight is the same, I log it. I figure four days the same is pretty solid. There are also a million different opinions on weighing too often.

    Consistency is the key. If you want to weigh daily, do it at the same time and in the same manner.
  • 3foldchord
    3foldchord Posts: 2,918 Member
    I only weigh myself about every 4-6 weeks. I was 134-135 for about 6 months. The last time I weighed myself I was 131.4. It was a loss but I wanted to make sure it was a real and consistent loss before I recorded it here. So I weighed myself about every 4 days, got 3 readings of between 131-132, so felt confident enough to old my new weight here, officially. (As 132).

    I don't think matters if you weight first thing in the morning or at 2PM or before bed as long as you are consistent.
  • W8G0
    W8G0 Posts: 30 Member
    Once a week, Sunday morning after I have breakfast, wearing a sweatshirt, t-shirt and boxers.

    Absolute weight matters less to me than relative weight (i.e., change in weight)

    I never know my exact weight, but I know that I've lost 1.2 lbs since last week, for example. That keeps me from getting caught up in the actual number.

    -K
  • c8linmarie
    c8linmarie Posts: 358 Member
    I take an official weight every Monday morning, regardless of gain or loss, hydrated or not. As long as the general trend is going in the right direction, that's all that matters to me.
  • sullus
    sullus Posts: 2,839 Member
    Weight fluctuations are a function of water more than anything. You move about 8 lbs of water weight through your body each day. The morning weight represents a point in time where this is most consistent. You've had +/-8 hours with no intake - first thing the morning is when you're approaching your most dehydrated state. Your kidneys did their job overnight and you get rid of that, you sweat out water overnight. You're at a pretty consistent point (in terms of your hydration status) at this time of the day.

    Weights at all other times of the day are mostly a function of how hydrated you are at that moment in time - and this ends up being fairly random.

    I think people consider the morning weight the "official" for 2 reasons:

    1. It's the most "accurate?" not sure I want to use that word. Predictable? maybe. sure.
    2. It's the lowest weight of the day
  • tattedlady75
    tattedlady75 Posts: 185 Member
    I weigh myself every morning approx 530 am after going to bathroom. I also log it into an app on my phone called Libra. I used to go by my weight on Friday morning and log that into MFP, because that was usually my low day, but now I wait a day or two. If I get the same reading a couple days in a row then that is my new weight. I like being able to track my weight on a daily basis, I get to see the fluctuations that result from me changing my diet or exercise.
  • sydneyplainjane
    sydneyplainjane Posts: 140 Member
    I weigh myself about once a month, and it has to be a day when I "feel" lighter, if that makes sense. If I feel bloated, constipated, legs heavy after a hike or from a workout, I'm not gonna hop on the scale. And, whatever it is, I'll record it. As long as I show progress from one month to the next, that's really all I'm looking for!

    I've averaged about 4 pounds lost per month since August.
  • GiveMeCoffee
    GiveMeCoffee Posts: 3,556 Member
    I weigh daily because my nerdy OCD self likes to track it in Excel so I can see how my weight is impacted by my choices the previous day. I log it on here after I've seen the same weight for more then 3 days.

    It doesn't matter the time you weigh in, just be consistent with whatever time you do pick. I weigh first thing in the morning. Don't over think it, the scale is just one tool in tracking your progress.
  • sfbaumgarten
    sfbaumgarten Posts: 912 Member
    I officially weigh myself every Monday morning around the same time and in the same configuration.
  • sullus
    sullus Posts: 2,839 Member
    I weigh daily because my nerdy OCD self likes to track it in Excel so I can see how my weight is impacted by my choices the previous day. I log it on here after I've seen the same weight for more then 3 days.

    It doesn't matter the time you weigh in, just be consistent with whatever time you do pick. I weigh first thing in the morning. Don't over think it, the scale is just one tool in tracking your progress.

    Tracking in excel is nice - you can take a nice moving average, and have a trend line that represents your "real" weight, and smooths out the ups and downs. Soemthing like this:

    weight_chart.png
  • missomgitsica
    missomgitsica Posts: 496 Member
    I weigh in once a month, and the first thing in the morning naked weight is what I record.
  • Sreneesa
    Sreneesa Posts: 1,170 Member
    Yes, I just weighed myself again after drinking some luke-warm lemon water and back up to 175lbs. So for me, first thing in the morning weigh ins are an illusion! LOL

    Me being so eager to post that I haven't read everyone's replies! lol... I shall do that now. Thank you guys and gals.
  • _AlabamaSlamma_
    _AlabamaSlamma_ Posts: 216
    Mondays as soon as I wake up, use the bathroom, and get in the buff to jump in the shower, which gives me my starting weight for the week and damage from the weekend. Same thing on Fridays to see progress (if any).
  • Followingsea
    Followingsea Posts: 407 Member
    So, weight is a weird measurement. Literally, it's how fast your body is being pressed down on the scale. Your weight is changing all the time. You weigh more with food in your stomach than you do on an empty stomach. You weigh more with a full bladder than an empty bladder. You weigh more in an elevator going up. You weigh less in an elevator going down. It's not a static value. So the number you consider 'official' is entirely up to you.

    If you'd rather have the lowest 'official' weight possible, use the "nude after the bathroom before the shower when you first wake up" method. (This method is considered the best because aside from being the lowest, it has the fewest variables, e.g. stomach contents & weight of clothing, which will weigh less in summer than winter).

    If you'd rather have your weight match the doctor's office as closely as possible, use the "fully clothed with shoes after work before dinner" method.

    If you'd rather have your official weight be the highest point of the day, for motivation purposes, choose the "fully clothed with shoes following your largest meal of the day".
  • mamma_nee
    mamma_nee Posts: 809 Member
    Anytime I see my new low :)
  • perfect_storm
    perfect_storm Posts: 326 Member
    I weigh myself every 2 weeks officially, but I do check how I am doing everyday but do not log it.
  • whitebalance
    whitebalance Posts: 1,654 Member
    I weigh in daily, and it gets logged to MFP and Trendweight. I consider the Trendweight value to be my "official" weight, but usually state my weight as within a range. Aside, I've found that the first morning weigh-in isn't really my lowest weight of the day. It's interesting to see how it fluctuates. Perversely, weighing in more frequently has made me a lot less concerned over the number on the scale.
  • Saramelie
    Saramelie Posts: 308 Member
    I weight myself every morning and as soon as I see a lower number, I log it in. If the number was going up, I would still keep the ``old`` number logged in. And then when the weight drops again, I would log the new lowest number. I find this really encouraging because I just see the number going down instead of yo-yo-ing. That said, as of december 1st my weight just keeps getting lower.
  • ponycyndi
    ponycyndi Posts: 858 Member
    I don't weigh myself daily anymore, for the same reason. I don't like to see the fluctuations because they discourage me. So I'll weigh myself when I'm feeling in a good place (once or twice a week when I'm trying to lose) and only record the weight if it's down. That way, my chart only shows a steady downward pace, which is more encouraging to me.
  • alisonlynn1976
    alisonlynn1976 Posts: 929 Member
    I weigh myself first thing every morning and record it every time I hit a new low. Yes, it fluctuates and often goes back up after I've recorded the new weight, but I just keep at it and wait until it goes down again.
  • overcominglazy
    overcominglazy Posts: 19 Member
    I really recommend not weighing yourself more than once a day, even for curiosity's sake. There's no point to it and all it will make you do is fixate on a number that doesn't matter.

    Yes, you will be more dehydrated in the morning than during the day, but the point of weighing in the morning is to reduce variables that could change your weight such as food. Technically, you could decide to weigh yourself every day after breakfast (if what you ate for breakfast was pretty consistent) and you would have the same resulting downward trend. It's up to you but obviously, keeping your breakfast the same is more difficult than just weighing on an empty stomach.
  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
    As long as the general trend is going in the right direction, that's all that matters to me.

    QFT.
  • sjohnny
    sjohnny Posts: 56,142 Member
    You're over thinking it. Just pick a time of day and weigh yourself. Use that same time of day from then on. You're "official" weight is largely meaningless if you're weighing yourself multiple times each day. Like someone said, it's the trend more than the number itself.
  • FindingAmy77
    FindingAmy77 Posts: 1,268 Member
    I record in the morning every wednesday
  • aarar
    aarar Posts: 684 Member
    I weigh and record it every single morning whether I'm up or down. I don't do this in an obsessive way, literally once a day and don't get back on later to see if it went lower. It works for me because it's taught me to stop being afraid of the scale and to realize just how normal (and often) weight fluctuations happen; they're numbers that is all. I can see the overall trend and not panic if I've 'gained'.
  • psychdlc
    psychdlc Posts: 27 Member
    I step on the scale at LEAST once a day, first thing in the morning, naked. I only log it when it goes down.
  • fishermanmatt
    fishermanmatt Posts: 308 Member
    Naked, first thing on Monday mornings after waking up and using the restroom. I've also been recording the 5's "Fisher_Man_Matt has logged on xxx days in a row". Gains, losses, it doesn't matter. Just keep an eye on the trends. I also record my results in an Excel spreadsheet. It's a good visual reminder of my progress (in blue) verses my goal (in red). The graph below is a bit dated.

    536172115c64c4d9afaeed3188dd7b22_zps1a30a1ec.jpg
  • 257_Lag
    257_Lag Posts: 1,249 Member
    I weigh daily (first thing, naked) and log it every day on Libra to make the cool charts. I only record new lows on MFP.

    libra4.jpg
  • itisgoodtobetheking
    itisgoodtobetheking Posts: 5
    I weigh myself every morning first thing, after I've been to the toilet.

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