My case for weighing yourself every day.

_whatsherface · November 2012

I weigh every day or every other day. People think I am crazy but it's because I like to see how my body reacted to the meals and drinks/water I had the day before and see what works and what doesn't and mainly how my body responded to that combination of stuff. Seems to work for me.

californiagirl2012 · November 2012

I weighed every day. For me it was mostly consistent steady and down. I mostly cut out processed sugar for health reasons and noticed whenever I had a treat that was over budget it increased and it took me a week or two to get my ground back. So for me it was a good learning tool since I didn't freak out about it.

You just have to realized it is an inferior trend tool and not freak out. If you weigh every day and freak out all the time it does you no good (for your attitude).

Your body loses weight in chunks, not linear. I have found that you can do everything right and your weight loss seems to plateau but if you are patient and keep exercising and eating at a deficit (however slight) you will lose it, it will suddenly "whoosh". There are so many variables for the scale; water retention, digestion, hormones, allergies, sodium, carbs, water intake, DOMS, inflammation, the list goes on. People mistakenly think they lose or gain weight when they eat more or less because of these fluctuations.

Losing weight requires tremendous patience. You will not lose it when you want it or where you want it. The body does its thing. Some apparent plateaus can last a month or so. You cannot make it happen faster. You must focus on two things; calories and exercise. Nothing else matters. Scales and metrics don't matter. The day in and day out grind of exercise and calories are all that matters. It is not very exciting until things fall into place. You get your victories and you ride one victory to the next.

The scale is a trend tool. The scale is good but put it away and only check once a week and only use it as a trend tool. It will fluctuate, it does not matter. Take front side and back progress pictures at least once a month. You will see differences that the metrics won't tell you and it's that little bit of NSV that will keep you going until the next victory.

klacount77 · November 2012

I used to be a defender for weighing every day, saying "as long as you don't take the fluctuations personally, it's no big deal". I'd even weigh multiple times a day, just to "see the difference".

Then I realized that no matter how hard you try, that number may slightly tweak your mood and affect you for the rest of the day if that's how you start your day off. And that number is dependant on so many things that could be going on in your body, it's not fair to you to have that set the tone for your day.

I've "lost" 8lbs overnight from being dehydrated. I've "gained" 8lbs in a day because of ..... something. All of it is arbitrary when it comes to your actual health and body fat %, which is what you're aiming to reduce - not your body's actual weight, but the chubber.

So it's much more logical and kind to your psyche to just weigh once a week or even once a month on the same day, under the same conditions (in the morning, no clothes, after the potty) and watch the trend, rather than nitpick at the details.

Say you were actually logging this weight every day.... your graph would look like this: /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

I'd rather have a long linear downslope. It's much more encouraging, and it takes away a lot of the stress and perfectionistic thinking.

I've found it much easier on my psyche to weigh every day. When I used to do it less often, I'd be so discouraged if I didn't see a big loss. It made it feel like a test that I needed to pass and I felt hopeless if I didn't pass it. It never even occurred to me that my "failure" might have just been because I ate salty food the night before.

I don't log my weight every day on MFP. You're right that it would make the progress graph all over the place. But, I do log it every day in Excel and add a trendline. When I get discouraged, I look at the trendline (still steadily downward) or I look back at another day in which my weight was way up and remember that it's usually followed by a drop to a new low. I only record the new lows on MFP.

I think people should weigh as often as works for them, but I think a lot of people would benefit from daily weigh ins if they gave them a try.

I do this for the same reasons. I need that daily assurance that things are moving along normally. I need the data to add to my spreadsheet. I only log new low's on MFP so there are times where I dont have a new weight logged for several weeks, but it helps me know what foods trigger retention, what causes me to feel bloated vs actually gain weight and it helps to keep me calm when looking at my timeline goals. I dont feel like my weekly weigh in for challenges or goal markers is something I can pass or fail at ... it is more of a guideline of the current trend I am on.

I tihnk it is definitely a personal personality choice. I dont feel "bad" when my fluctuates up or "good" when it fluctuates down ... my emotions tend to be tied more to goals and trends than daily numbers.

IanBee93 · October 2013

I'm going to start doing this! I had a really good week and half, but the scale isn't showing that :grumble:

DavidHold · February 2014

Just read it's ok to weigh every day but chart it as an average weekly
Smtwtf/7 = recorded weight.

buchanan700 · February 2014

I weigh in every week or so, but that's me.
A. We don't have scales when I go back home from uni as mum used to suffer from an ED, so I use my friends.
B. when I did do so (here) I started to become obsessed, and would become extremely hard on myself.

It's individual really

x

kayveebee7 · February 2014

I weigh everyday and I think it helps. I haven't been more focused in my life. I don't sweat the small changes between days, but I weight every day and took this advice from a pal who lost 150lbs. I am not the type to be extremely hard on myself or to get depressed if I gain, so for me, it is psychologically safe.

I only log it weekly.

qtgonewild · February 2014

Weighing every day worked great for me for the first five months. As I always saw a decrease. The last 2 monhts however have been a different story. Stuck at the same weight for three weeks. Then stuck again at the new weight for three weeks. THAT IS FRUSTRATING. So as of monday morning i havent weighed myself and i plan to do it tomorrow morning since the 22nd will be my actual 7 month mark. Then I dont plan to weigh myself again until my birthday March 13th. I guess what Im saying is do whatever works for you.

marye2021 · February 2014

I weigh in every day and mark my weight on a calendar then divide by 7 to log my weight for the week! It's worked for me because it takes the pressure off of a one time weigh in, like I'm not bingeing the day after weigh in because I deprived myself just to make a one day weigh in.

AlysonG2 · February 2014

Love this. I weigh everyday too, but only record the weight if it's lower than the previously logged weight. It works very well for me too

Feervi · February 2014

I weigh daily, but only log weekly.

I do that as well. If I keep the same "low" for three consecutive days I log it. I am currently on a strict diet so I hardly ever go over my calorie goal so I don't feel discouraged when the scale tells me I'm a pound heavier. I'm sure I'm doing my best, buut that's me. If the fluctuations change your mood, just don't weight in every day...

concordancia · February 2014

Funnily enough, that is the same reasoning for why I am switching to once a month.

marko320 · February 2014

When I feel more skinny or more fit, that is a state of mind. It's not really a number.

The other day I weighed in and logged my lowest weight in 15 years. Then I always gain back a couple, don't log it, and feel like I have to chase the low number so I can log another new low.

I have a long term perspective on my weight loss anyway, so yesterday, today, and tomorrow are not that significant in the big picture.

justagirliusedtoknow · February 2014

I cant tell you how happy I was to see this topic. I weigh in everyday, EVERYDAY!!! Let me tell you I have been reprimanded for this in other topics!!!! Once I was gaining oz. so I decided to weigh myself at night to see what I weighed then again in the morning just too see the differences. I was a stradegy type reason and I was blasted! I felt so stupid by some ppl by the way they started their comment.........ummmmmm, your first mistake is weighing yourself everyday, your second is weighing every night......clearly they didn't read my whole post before they let there fingers do their talking

I would go crazy not weighing myself everyday! Like it was said what if you gained and it happened to be that day you weighed and you never got to see those numbers go down.

In the end it is whatever works for you!!! Thanks again for posting this, I have a new appreciation for this web site :O)

meganjcallaghan · February 2014

I never used to weigh at all. The only time I had it done was when I was at the doctor's office and they had to write down my new weight on a report to send to the hospital I'm trying to donate a kidney through. This meant I would go forever thinking I was X number of pounds only to find out I'd ''suddenly'' lost 30 pounds. I prefer to wait longer and see bigger numbers. I only started weighing weekly after being on here for a while. It's not terribly exciting to see a half pound loss when you're used to 15 - 20 in a month, but I figure I should probably keep better track now that I'm closer to being done with it. If I were to just go about my business and check in 2 months from now to find that I've lost another 30 pounds I'd have actually ended up underweight considering how much of me is just skin now and that wouldn't be good either.

GoreWhore72 · February 2014

I do weigh every day because I like to pattern the ways my body reacts to different work out regiments and different types of foods I'm eating. Some might say I'm obsessed, but I've lost around 145 lbs doing it this way thus far,

I agree with this. It's what I do too. I always gain 5-7 pounds before I menstruate. So, it's good for me to weigh every day just to see what workouts do, and bloating, and etc. I measure once a week to make sure I'm losing inches if not weight. Which is more important to me anyhow.

I log my weight when it goes down past the lowest weight.

Women tend to go up and down often from week to week. Now I know more or less with the feelings of my body as well.

labtechmike · February 2014

I used to be a defender for weighing every day, saying "as long as you don't take the fluctuations personally, it's no big deal". I'd even weigh multiple times a day, just to "see the difference".

Then I realized that no matter how hard you try, that number may slightly tweak your mood and affect you for the rest of the day if that's how you start your day off. And that number is dependant on so many things that could be going on in your body, it's not fair to you to have that set the tone for your day.

I've "lost" 8lbs overnight from being dehydrated. I've "gained" 8lbs in a day because of ..... something. All of it is arbitrary when it comes to your actual health and body fat %, which is what you're aiming to reduce - not your body's actual weight, but the chubber.

So it's much more logical and kind to your psyche to just weigh once a week or even once a month on the same day, under the same conditions (in the morning, no clothes, after the potty) and watch the trend, rather than nitpick at the details.

Say you were actually logging this weight every day.... your graph would look like this: /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

I'd rather have a long linear downslope. It's much more encouraging, and it takes away a lot of the stress and perfectionistic thinking.

I weigh myself everyday, but on the rare day that I am a little higher than the day before I just dont chart it. I am excited when I am down even if it is a couple of tenths of a pound and just get more motivated when I go up a little.

squiggysmama · February 2014

I weigh daily, but only log weekly.

I do about the same. I weigh first thing in the morning before I have even had a drink of water. Occasionally I weigh later in the day as well. I have found that your weight can vary by 3 or 4 pounds within any given day. So I count the first thing in the morning before I have eaten as the most accurate weight of the day.

I was only logging my weight once a week, but then I decided twice a week works better. Sort of a mid-week progress report. It helps keep me motivated.

watchmegoalltheway · February 2014

I simply weigh in once per two weeks.... that'll keep me from going gaga over my intake/output and will still show me a loss.

JulieGirl58 · February 2014

I weight every day because if I'm gaining I want to nip it in the bud immediately.

My case for weighing yourself every day.

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