The Scale: Every Day or Once a Week?

Weekly is best - it's easy to put too much pressure on yourself if you measure everyday and don't see a difference. No need to get obsessed.

If you think you can stick to it, I'd recommend once a week. At first, I'd weigh myself daily and I'd get all freaked out every time the reading moved up. The body's weight fluctuates a lot, so it isn't helpful to weigh yourself that frequently. Unless, of course, you can look at the number and still go on your merry way. That's what I've been doing, because I've been too curious to wait the entire week. Now that I've observed the weight fluctuation, I'm thinking of going with the once a week approach starting Monday.

I weigh in every day as per my nutritionists orders. But if I gain its no big deal to me, stuff happens. Right now I am up 5 lbs because I cannot go to the bathroom. No big deal, in time this to shall pass. I hope!
Do what ever you want because it sounds like you want weekly anyway. But for me daily is no biggy.

I weigh myself daily. But if you choose to go that route, you have to understand that your weight fluctuates daily based on different things. I'm just a curious person, though.

If you're finding yourself becoming obsessive or discouraged with weighing daily, I'd definitely suggest going with once a week.

I only weighed once a month while I was losing. In maintenance, I do every 4-6 weeks. I think daily is too often. You can't see the real trends with regular fluctuation clouding things. :-)

I weigh myself daily. But if you choose to go that route, you have to understand that your weight fluctuates daily based on different things. I'm just a curious person, though.

If you're finding yourself becoming obsessive or discouraged with weighing daily, I'd definitely suggest going with once a week.

^^ this

I weigh everyday......but I understand weight fluctuates and that does not bother me. It would be harder for me to wait 7 days between weigh in. Everyone is different and you need to do what works best for you.

I weigh every week or two weeks because I get frustrated at the fluctuation not realizing that factors such as water weight, muscle mass, food ect. plays a role. Also I pay attention to the way my clothing fits whether the scales reads pound off your clothes always tell the true nature of what is transpiring with your body.

If you can emotionally detach from the scale then daily. However if you obsess and then punish yourself due to the number then less frequently is probably better for you in the long run.
For me, I love to see the effects on my body of too much sodium, DOMS, the flu etc - they all have an impact on your weight - but I'm completely detached from the actual number itself.

I've weighed myself everyday since I've joined MFP, 480 days and counting. I have no attachment to the number on the scale, emotional or otherwise. It has simply become part of my daily routine,...hit the scale, record it, forget about it, stick with my plans and my goals.

I believe the daily weigh-ins is best for me, since I love having more data than less. I use the daily numbers to monitor the trend over the long term. Personally, I look at progress month by month, since in my opinion, daily and/or weekly data can be misleading at best, or completely inaccurate at worse. Although I log daily on MFP, I use my own spreadsheet to monitor the big picture. The main way I track my own weight loss or gain is by calculating my average daily weight over a given time period, again, usually 30 days or a month. Simply,...if February's daily average is less than that for January, then I know I am going in the right direction. The subtle, and sometimes not so subtle daily changes get washed out in the end. I also use the mirror, a measuring tape and check on how clothes are fitting to get the complete picture.

Having said all that, I know that some people have an unhealthy relationship with the scale, which is why many people suggest only weighing once per week. But to me, I believe that this may lead to even more problems for *some* people who already have issues with the scale. I have seen posts here and on other websites,where *some* people who prefer weekly weigh-ins go a bit crazy when their weekly weigh-in day comes around,...from getting super stressed and/or eating or drinking a lot less the night or two before just to get a better scale number. Obviously, this is not healthy on so many levels, but I think it happens because for *some* people, the weekly weigh-in becomes an all-too-important event, much more important than it should be. Again, for *some*, I could only imagine that the pressure would be much greater on a weekly weigh-in than if done daily. With a weekly,...there's always the chance of THAT day being the day when you "gained" 2 pounds of water weight. If done daily, I believe it would be much easier to ignore that temporary "gain",...to accept it's only a minor blip and move on. Of course, there are a great number of successful people who don't have this issue with weekly weigh-ins, so of course, this doesn't apply to them.

Daily weigh-ins have shown me that my weight, just like everyone's, fluctuates daily. Hopefully, it will always be 2 steps forward, 1 step back. Assuming someone is logging accurately, and staying within their goals, most people will experience the same thing over the long term. The day to day means nothing.

Although it may be difficult for *many* people at first,...I believe they should try to take back the power which they have given to the scale. In my opinion, daily weigh-ins and accepting the results for what they are, is the best way to achieve that.

I do it daily, I find it keeps me far more accountable. Trying to do measurements once a week though, I'm really lax with those.

I weigh myself daily, write it down in one of those cheep monthly calendars and see how I progress through the week, month, year. I can also see what X amount of sodium, excess calories etc does to my body.

I take my measurements weekly. I measure neck, chest, waist, hips, thigh, bicep, calf.

I weigh every day because it keeps me focused for the day ahead. However, I can completely relate to the let down when the scale goes up and the neurosis that follows. I have started a new approach, exercise. If my scale is a little higher, I drink more water and add more minutes to my cardiovascular. Say 5 minutes extra for each pound, 1) it makes me feel in control and that I have power over this 2) it can't hurt 3) by the end of the workout I'm too tired to care LOL!! and you get extra calories to eat:)). Exercise can make you retain some fluid, so can your sodium intake so don't be too surprised if your scale goes up after a strenuous workout, it will adjust. Don't starve yourself , just add more fiber on your heavy day, no carbs, veggies(greens)...I find the fit active vanilla shakes are great!!! Hang in there!!: also, you can weigh every 2 days if that gives your mind a rest!! smile:

I weigh myself daily. But if you choose to go that route, you have to understand that your weight fluctuates daily based on different things. I'm just a curious person, though.

If you're finding yourself becoming obsessive or discouraged with weighing daily, I'd definitely suggest going with once a week.

This.

And to answer the question, I generally weigh in every other day--sometimes more (every morning--I do not weigh in multiple times per day, that would be disastrous), sometimes less. If it's the day before my weigh-in and I know I went off my typical menu and may be retaining water, I hold off for another day because I can get a little discouraged seeing the number go up even a little (even knowing about the fluctuations, even realizing it's not "fat" gain) sometimes.

I recommend daily weigh-ins, with a huge caveat: you need to do some math to find the difference between your actual weight loss and the daily fluctuations, which are much larger.

Your weight fluctuates depending on water, salt, and fiber intake, and other factors having nothing to do with calories. Using an exponentially weighted average can help you filter out the noise and focus on the trend, as John Walker explains in "The Hacker's Diet" (http://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/e4/). The chapter on "The Rubber Bag" explains, briefly, the source of these fluctuations. The chapter on "Signal and Noise" explains how some simple math can filter them out. Walker explains how to do the math, but you can also set up a free account on his server to do it for you, or use a service like Beeminder or TrendWeight.com.

If you're going to be all "OMG! I'm bloated!" if you see the number go up by 2 lbs. from one day to the next, then daily weigh-ins aren't for you. Personally, I'm not bothered, because it's the trend that matters. My daily weight has gone up every day for the past 4 days, even though I've been eating at a decent deficit every day. But because I've been doing this for over a year, I know that it's because I have been eating more restaurant food (with lots of sodium) and doing some unaccustomed exercise (cross-country skiing -- finally enough snow!) that's related to fluid retention. I expect the number on the scale to be lower tomorrow. But if not, I won't beat myself up.