Weighing in 1 day a week vs every day

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michelle_816
michelle_816 Posts: 621 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
In all my attempts to lose weight, I have weighed in only one day a week. That day has changed, and I always liked weighing in mid-week so my body could rid itself of all the excess crap I consumed on the weekends (my hardest days).

I recently read that it is best to weigh in on Mondays. And so I tried that. And of course I saw a gain because I had a not-so-great weekend of eating. Saturday was my bad day (or bad meal/night out for a special occasion). Yesterday, I had my nephew's birthday party and tried to eat the lighter pizza option and load up on veggies/fruit instead. But I did have a cupcake and mint ice cream because I know I won't succeed if I limit myself. And I know I should have tried to exercise more this weekend, but I did do some type of a work out each day.

How many of you weigh in on Mondays?

How many of you weigh in every day?

How many of you have chucked the scale and are only judging by how you feel?
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Replies

  • elphie754
    elphie754 Posts: 7,574 Member
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    I weigh in everyday when I can to keep myself accountable for the day before.
  • Phrick
    Phrick Posts: 2,765 Member
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    I weigh in every day and record it in an app in my phone but I only "officially" record here at MFP once a week, usually Wednesdays. I picked it completely at random and what day I record has changed over time (when I started it was Fridays but there were times when I couldn't record or forgot on a Friday for whatever reason so whatever day I did remember, became my new recording day - till the next time I forgot!). I weigh daily so that I can see patterns and an overall trend, but I don't pay much attention to the fluctuations at all. So long as my weekly recording is a little less each week, I'm happy with that.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    I weigh on Mondays...

    I do that because I have weekends off from lifting so my body has time to get rid of the water/glycogen stores...

    I recently purchased a scale at home I usually weigh at my office gym scale...

    I don't care about weight it's just one of those things for my ticker really it's more about how I look, feel in my cloths the tape measurements and BF%.
  • michelle_816
    michelle_816 Posts: 621 Member
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    Thanks for your replies! I think I may do two weigh ins a week. One on Monday to start out the week and see what damage I may have caused on the weekend, and one towards the middle of the week (Wed or Thurs) to record my progress!
    Anyone else do this?
  • curiology
    curiology Posts: 15
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    I officially weigh in on Thursdays, but weigh every day morning and night so I can see the patterns in my weight fluctuations.
  • ewennmacher
    ewennmacher Posts: 46
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    I weigh in everyday when I can to keep myself accountable for the day before.

    i do the same i recently tried to refrain from weighing for 3 weeks and found i lost less weight in that time then when i weigh everyday. plus i have learned how different foods affect me, which is good to know! if it would drive you crazy to weigh every day then dont but if you realize weight fluctuates and just because the scale says you gained 3 pounds in a day, dosnt make that so, good luck!!
  • mschicagocubs
    mschicagocubs Posts: 774 Member
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    I try to only weigh every 2 weeks. Sometimes if I feel like I lost a lb or two I will weigh early.

    I just like the excitement of recording a few lbs at a time :)
  • oiseau17
    oiseau17 Posts: 142 Member
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    When I first started losing weight and had a lot to lose, I only weighed once a week on Friday, but I was pretty much guaranteed to have a loss each week back then. For a long time now I weigh every day and record it in a separate app on my phone (so I don't have my friends congratulating me for "losing" the same weight over and over again). I only record my actual losses on MFP. It has taught me a lot about my body's patterns and conditioned me in a way to not be so invested in what the scale says but be more concerned instead with the trend over time.
  • raishiwi
    raishiwi Posts: 56 Member
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    I weigh in every single day for the last 45 days. I made a month long weigh in sheet above my scale in my bathroom. It helps me to have a constant reminder of what im working on. Weight fluctuates soooo much, so its real good for me to see a pattern. For instance, I cheat every friday night with beer and saturday nights with food. Saturday morning is ALWAYS my lowest weight of the week, probably because of dehydration from drinking. Monday is ALWAYS my highest weight, left over from saturday's food consumtion. Seeing the top of the first sheet say 235 and my lowest saying 211 is nice. Also, my wife is losing with me, she doesnt write it down like it do, but she does see my sheet. It really gives me encouragement when she mentions "wow, you were way down this morning".
  • lsorci919
    lsorci919 Posts: 772 Member
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    I weigh every day but only record once a week, typically on friday.
  • LozPenguin
    LozPenguin Posts: 139 Member
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    I weigh in on mondays...though some weeks I consider switching it to friday when I feel my weekend wasn't as active as it could have been! But I think I'll stick to it, as I'm taking what the scale says with a grain of salt.

    Once, on a previous (and very successful; despite several years later gaining a bunch of weight back) diet I did weigh myself every day. It was before mfp, I logged all my food with pen and paper and wrote down my weight each morning-I have to say, its kinda worth it just to see the fluctuations. Down up down same same down down up same down down down down same up down...lol, but I'd only recommend doing it if you don't dread the scale or find yourself getting disappointed whenever you see a gain. It will crush your confidence or make you feel you're doing something wrong, even if you're not. I did it knowing full well how much weight could fluctuate day to day, and not deviating from my plans/cutting back food every time I had a little weight spike. I went from 95kg down to 67kg, so weigh ins every day certainly won't damage your weight loss goals-as long as you can keep things in perspective!
  • krennie8
    krennie8 Posts: 301 Member
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    i've always used weighing everyday to help me control my weight. I can honestly say I think I would have been well over my 172 I started here if I hadn't cut back every now and again b/c of jumps upward.

    So, now that I am eating less, I continue to weigh in everyday partly because it's motivational, and partly because I think it's the only way to get a truly accurate view of how my weight loss is progressing. Some days it's up, some down, but what I focus on is the trend and the weekly average.

    For example, I've had weeks where if I had weighed in every Saturday, I'd have thought I'd stayed the same or even gained weight over a two week period. However, taking the daily weight fluctuations into consideration the truth was I was at my lowest by over a pound at the beginning of the two weeks, about average in the middle, and at my highest in the final week. In truth I had lost 3 lbs in two weeks. By weighing in daily I could discern this fact but weekly weigh-ins would have obstructed my view of this.

    Also, as an aside, I generally have dips on Mondays, so it's usually lower than the previous 3 days, and equal/lower than the following 3 days :) Not sure why, except I suppose I tend to cook more on the weekends while I buy about half the time for lunch during the week.
  • Littlestandrews
    Littlestandrews Posts: 96 Member
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    I weigh once a month so I have a guaranteed loss and I don't have to worry about weighing in on a certain predetermined day every week. I try to avoid sodium and carbonated beverages starting 2 days before I hop on the scale, that way i have an accurate reading and I always lose at least 4lbs.
  • lthames0810
    lthames0810 Posts: 722 Member
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    I started out weighing every day, but the up and down results drove me nuts. No matter whether the number was up or down, I could use it to justify a donut from the breakroom. "I'm not losing weight anyway, so I may as well eat that donut." or "I'm doing so well that I've already lost my two pounds for the week so I can have that donut."

    I switched to weighing once a week on Friday mornings, usually my lowest weight of the week. It still drove me nuts. I was real good about avoiding sweets during the week because I didn't want to spoil my weigh in. When I saw a loss I was thrilled, but sometimes despite doing everything right I would see no loss or even a gain simply because on that one day I was retaining fluid for any number of reasons. That would make me angry.

    These days I'm back to everyday, but now I also put the number in an Excel chart. As long as that trend line is still heading downward, I'm satisfied.
  • k8mcminn
    k8mcminn Posts: 49 Member
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    I weigh and record my weight every morning. It keeps me honest.
  • cg57076
    cg57076 Posts: 16 Member
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    I weigh in everyday when I can to keep myself accountable for the day before.

    Ditto to this. The weekends are rough sometimes but it motivates me for the upcoming week.
  • Happymelz
    Happymelz Posts: 536 Member
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    I weigh just about every day to keep me accountable but I know that some people can't handle weighing every day because of the stress of fluctuation that some people can't seem to wrap their head around.

    When I weighed once a week I would sometimes get discouraged because maybe I had a bigger meal or salty foods the night before a weigh in and then my loss wouldn't show. I now weigh every day so I can see if there is a trend during the week and usually count my weight on Thursday or Saturday because it tends to be lower on those days.
  • BusyRaeNOTBusty
    BusyRaeNOTBusty Posts: 7,166 Member
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    I weigh in every day and plot it in excel and then plot a trendline. This trendline is what I pay attention to. The daily variations don't bother me.
  • kpchefai
    kpchefai Posts: 54 Member
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    I weigh myself like 3-4 times a day haha. Not obsessive about it more just curious about daily fluctuations. I know its not a measure of fat loss but just normal daily changes. Like everyone else I retain water when I eat a lot of sodium dense foods and also when i drink alcohol. Last night we went to a mexican restaurant and I was curious what the tortilla chips, rice and beans and margarita would do to me so I weighed before we left. And I weighed 182. I weighed later that night and was 186! This morning back down to 181.6. Its so fascinating to me and help me learn what foods to avoid. I just keep my eye on the general trend rather than day to day changes!
  • beachylove
    beachylove Posts: 137 Member
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    I weigh in Saturday mornings....my husband and I picked that day as it was easiest for us both to weigh in together.

    Personally I cant do the everyday thing, I panic when I see my weight go up or not move so daily messes with my head too much for me to find it to be useful. I know it works for so many people but with my past issues I try to keep myself to the once a week weigh in.

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