The Ups and Downs of Daily Weight Checks

janams81
janams81 Posts: 1 Member
in Getting Started
Dear scale-obsessed control freaks (like me),

Here is a chart of my success from my first (almost) month of using MFP. I weighed myself every day. The blue line is my weight, while the red line is a best fit calculation. I’m glad I stuck with it even when the numbers went up!

ibk2PcU.jpg
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Replies

  • Calfuray
    Calfuray Posts: 32 Member
    Dear scale-obsessed control freaks (like me),

    Here is a chart of my success from my first (almost) month of using MFP. I weighed myself every day. The blue line is my weight, while the red line is a best fit calculation. I’m glad I stuck with it even when the numbers went up!


    ibk2PcU.jpg

    :flowerforyou:
  • 4aces61
    4aces61 Posts: 292 Member
    Why do you weigh everyday?
  • LessisBestforMe
    LessisBestforMe Posts: 7 Member
    I need to learn to stay off the scale daily...I seem to be obsessed and to see the up and down daily makes me crazy!
  • SpecialSundae
    SpecialSundae Posts: 795 Member
    Why do you weigh everyday?

    You actually get better at dealing with ups and downs when you can see that it happens all the time.
  • michable
    michable Posts: 312 Member
    Why do you weigh everyday?

    OP did refer to herself as "a scale-obsessed control freak". I weigh every day, too.
  • MyStarr7
    MyStarr7 Posts: 9 Member
    I think is good to weigh everyday. I do it for control, to have an idea of how the food I ate the day before affected my weight and what changes I need to make in order to not gain.
  • 4aces61
    4aces61 Posts: 292 Member
    I weigh once a week or every 2 weeks. My weight can/has fluctuate up to 6lbs from one day to the next. Since I know this, no need in making myself crazy.
  • 4aces61
    4aces61 Posts: 292 Member
    I think is good to weigh everyday. I do it for control, to have an idea of how the food I ate the day before affected my weight and what changes I need to make in order to not gain.
    I don't have that issue, I guess that's why it's not a problem for me. My diet is pretty disciplined, plus there's always a sizable deficit at the end of the day.
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
    I weigh once a week or every 2 weeks. My weight can/has fluctuate up to 6lbs from one day to the next. Since I know this, no need in making myself crazy.

    I weigh every day. It doesn't make me crazy. If anything, the opposite. I've been doing it for 18 months, so by now I know how much fluctuation I can expect from things like drinking alcohol, increasing carbs, or increasing my weights.

    I think if it's going to make a person freak out then yeah, they should do it less often. But that's not everyone.
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
    I think is good to weigh everyday. I do it for control, to have an idea of how the food I ate the day before affected my weight and what changes I need to make in order to not gain.

    Just as long as you realize that there are a lot more variables than food. Time of month, exercise, salt, and dehydration can all make a difference.
  • jenilla1
    jenilla1 Posts: 11,118 Member
    You can't deny the data! :drinker:
  • AHASRADA
    AHASRADA Posts: 88 Member
    I weigh every day. I like getting to know my body, which activities and foods can cause the ups and downs, etc. I actually tried weighing weekly, but it didn't keep me accountable enough. I could "cheat" and think, that's OK, I've got another 5 days until weigh-in day, I can make up for it by then, etc.

    I started using the app "Happy Scale", which works best with daily weigh ins. It uses your daily data to estimate your actual weight, so you can see trends over time and not get hung up on the daily ups and downs. Works for me :)
  • psych101
    psych101 Posts: 1,842 Member
    I weigh everyday. I find it interesting to see how sodium, lifting, hormones etc impact on my weight!

    But great graph OP!
  • lollipoprincess
    lollipoprincess Posts: 117 Member
    I weigh every time I go in the bathroom lol, only add it to MFP on Wednesdays though.
  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 18,250 Member
    I weigh every day, it doesn't make me obsessy, I think it would actually be weirder to ignore the scale that's sitting in the bathroom! You definitely see the ups and downs, but for a good laugh, you should read this thread :)

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1275029-weighing-daily-secrets-i-ve-discovered
  • Nedra19455
    Nedra19455 Posts: 241 Member
    I weigh every day. I like getting to know my body, which activities and foods can cause the ups and downs, etc. I actually tried weighing weekly, but it didn't keep me accountable enough. I could "cheat" and think, that's OK, I've got another 5 days until weigh-in day, I can make up for it by then, etc.

    I started using the app "Happy Scale", which works best with daily weigh ins. It uses your daily data to estimate your actual weight, so you can see trends over time and not get hung up on the daily ups and downs. Works for me :)

    I use WeightTrend -- it does the same thing. It's nice to see that my trend weight is always going down (since starting MFP) even though my daily weight fluctuates.

    I also just heard that something like 80% of people who have lost 100 lbs or more and kept it off weigh everyday. Apparently it's a good habit to be in for maintaining a healthy weight. I have to say, when using an app that calculates a moving average, it makes a ton of sense. If my daily weight goes up, I can chalk it up to fluctuations. But if my trend weight goes up, I know that there's something wrong.
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  • Tanya949
    Tanya949 Posts: 604 Member
    I weigh every day too. I've learned my body fluctuation trends and can usually estimate when the ups and downs will occur. I know how my body responds after a strenuous workout, or when I eat too much sodium, or when I eat at maintenance for a week. Since I have learned this, I know it's pointless to freak out. I use a daily tracker that shows me the downward trend over time, much like the OP's chart.
  • joan23_us
    joan23_us Posts: 263 Member
    Why do you weigh everyday?

    For people who wants to know more about their body and how different foods sources affects their weight in a day - to - day basis weighing is the way to go, for some it'll be daunting at times, with me I find that weighing everyday in a specific time ( upon waking & toilet) makes for an accurate assesment. You still have to average say the 7 days weight to see the average fatloss/musclegain. After 4 months of doing it, I now have a basis on how much a number of calorie intake affects my weight, so for example if i did an epic cheatday i know my weight will go up from 2-5 lbs. so there is no need to panic, for people who doesnt know, 5 lbs of weight gain can discouraged them and even question their resolve " why am I not losing weight, my only at 1200 calories" . So the question is, is it necessary to weigh everyday.... NO.... can you go on about just weighing once a week, once a month... YES..... now im back to weekly weigh ins for convenience purposes.
  • kaz321123
    kaz321123 Posts: 24 Member
    I agree..with myself...sometimes.
  • MelsAuntie
    MelsAuntie Posts: 2,833 Member
    When I was losing weight, I would weigh myself once a week. Now in maintenance, I last weighed myself sometime last fall. Doing it every day just takes too much time.
  • countscalories
    countscalories Posts: 418 Member
    When I was losing weight, I would weigh myself once a week. Now in maintenance, I last weighed myself sometime last fall. Doing it every day just takes too much time.
  • countscalories
    countscalories Posts: 418 Member
    Gee, you must be really busy! Just kidding. Congrats that you're in maintenance. That's a great thing you've accomplished! Good luck to you, and I hope to join you there one of these days...


    HEY, FELLOW MFP MEMBERS: Please, someone (anyone)-- how do you post a comment to someone's quote without posting twice like I just did? I can calculate grams to ounces in four different languages, but this I can't figure out.
  • tequila09
    tequila09 Posts: 764 Member
    That is awesome to see! Good for your for sticking to it. I love weighing daily or almost daily. It helps keep me on track!
  • Yagisama
    Yagisama Posts: 595 Member
    I'm with you OP! Here's my chart from the last 2.5 months! :laugh:

    eA0mmMo.png

    fiOGtVA.png
  • smantha32
    smantha32 Posts: 6,990 Member
    Gee, you must be really busy! Just kidding. Congrats that you're in maintenance. That's a great thing you've accomplished! Good luck to you, and I hope to join you there one of these days...


    HEY, FELLOW MFP MEMBERS: Please, someone (anyone)-- how do you post a comment to someone's quote without posting twice like I just did? I can calculate grams to ounces in four different languages, but this I can't figure out.

    Hit the "quote" button. Then put your response outside the quotes.
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,285 Member
    I weigh weekly (my scales aren't in my bathroom btw) - but regardless of weekly or daily weighing, your graph illustrates a good point OP - weight loss is not exact or linear - as long as the line is overall going downwards then you are doing it right.
  • Katherine1687
    Katherine1687 Posts: 106 Member
    I weigh myself everyday and don't worry about the ups. I just check back a week and as long as I weigh less than I did on the same day the week before I know I am going in the right direction.

    My graph looks very wiggly but shows a strong downward trend.
  • adorable_aly
    adorable_aly Posts: 398 Member
    I've started weighing every day too, I find that when I was weighing less often there was a lot of pressure on that particular weigh-in and I always saw a gain or loss as a 'true' figure. After weighing daily I realise I vary within 5lbs of my lightest recorded weight. All I think when I see a larger number is 'oh that's interesting'. I'm collating the data for a month to see if I'm maintaining or losing.
  • CharlieJuliette
    CharlieJuliette Posts: 459 Member
    I weigh every day. I like getting to know my body, which activities and foods can cause the ups and downs, etc. I actually tried weighing weekly, but it didn't keep me accountable enough. I could "cheat" and think, that's OK, I've got another 5 days until weigh-in day, I can make up for it by then, etc.

    I started using the app "Happy Scale", which works best with daily weigh ins. It uses your daily data to estimate your actual weight, so you can see trends over time and not get hung up on the daily ups and downs. Works for me :)

    I've started using Happy Scale too. So now instead of fighting the urge to weigh everyday I've embraced it! My weight went up by 2 pounds this morning but the trend line it still on track, so no worries :-) The more data the better as far as I'm concerned!

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