Should I Start Weighing Myself Regularly Again?

denitahawkins · June 2014

Hey MFP! Help a fellow fitness friend out: So, back in February/March, I realized I had been getting far too obsessive about the number on the scale and made the decision to not weigh myself during the Lenten season. I found it was incredibly therapeutic in that I had stopped treating every day like "weigh-in" day and I was able to relax a lot more. When I weighed myself daily, I would think about "that number" all day until the next number. Well, after the Lent ended, I realized I did not want to go back to weighing every day and I would try just weighing "when I felt like it" (aka when I felt like the number would be low), but I noticed that the weight wasn't coming off like it was before. As a result of the slowed weight loss and I could see that it was starting to affect my mood, I decided to just stop worrying about the scale and focus on fitness goals and how my clothes fit.

I have about 20 - 30 more lbs I want to lose and I'm at the point where I wanna see these pounds off daggone it! :sad: I also, however, realize this is a lifestyle change and I give myself credit that I've come as far as I have and that progress can be slow and sometimes stall. I know that weightloss is far more than that, but also a journey of self-love and acceptance REGARDLESS of size. :flowerforyou: I haven't weighed myself yet, but I know that, due to stress, my eating hasn't been as disciplined as usual and I really want to stop allowing stress to derail my goals. And don't get me wrong, this isn't one of those "I'm sitting around drowning in Cookies & Cream ice cream, haven't been to the gym in months, woe-is-me" kinda posts. :noway: I still go to the gym 4-5 times a week, for the most part avg 1600 cals a week, so I'm still in the game and I know I've at least maintained, but I just am ready to accomplish MORE.

I want to get back to the discipline level that I had before so I can take this to the next level. I've been going back and forth with if I should whip the scale back out to regain my accountability, but I don't know if weighing myself more often is the answer.

Should I keep the scale away or is time for a gut check?

Annesoucy1957 · June 2014

Hi first congratulation on your weight loss. If using the scale on a daily basis is negative for you dont use it. You might want to do it once a week to get an idea if you are on track. Much easier to adjust 1 or 2 pounds than 10. Taking your measurements or how your cloth fits is another way of seeing progress.

if your pants feels snug it is a cue to adjust or your calorie intake or increase physical activities. I am sure that after losing what you did you know a lot about what to do.

denitahawkins · June 2014

Thanks for the suggestion! Maybe weekly weigh-ins may be enough to still not get attached to the scale, but still maintain progress. Ahhhh....this journey is really a continuous process! Everything you think you've "got it", the process shows you something else!

vismal · June 2014

Here is my take on weighing. I weigh daily, BUT I pay absolutely zero attention to the day to day weights. They are virtually meaningless as so many things can affect them. What I do is take a week's worth of daily weights and average them. I then compare the weekly averages over the course of a month. Those numbers are much more telling of actual progress. The trend over the course of a month should be downward or something probably needs to be altered in your plan. This only works if you can mentally ignore the fluctuations of day to day changes. You just need to remind yourself that those can change based on water retention, how much food is in your stomach, how much sodium you ate the day before, how much water you drank the day before, when your last BM was. So many meaningless variables...

jtrack3d · June 2014

I tend to agree with Vismal. I weigh daily as well but just check weekly.

You can actually see interesting patterns emerge about how your body works.

For me, I will see a drop, then a rise but the BF will drop instead, then another drop. And it repeats this pattern pretty regularly with a little variation. But I DONT worry about the day to day numbers... I just observe.

MelodyandBarbells · June 2014

I too weigh as often as I like but tend to review the past one or two months as against just a couple days or even a week. My concern though is that you already had the opportunity to do this, so I wonder if daily weighing is for you. Were you just concerned about the day to day changes?

sheedy17 · June 2014

I weigh myself in the morning, usually after I work out, and then again before bed

I dont take the numbers seriously other then the morning number, I just like too what my workout does to my weight, and what my food intake did to me before bed. I dont get concerned with the number, sometimes it motivates me to not have that late time snack I am craving and sometimes it helps me determine a cookie wont hurt.

denitahawkins · June 2014

I too used to be a daily weigher and mentally it became taxing! Have you guys been daily weighers through out the duration of your long-term weight loss? I did find that when I weighed daily, I treated most days like "weigh-in" day, which resulted in me being more disciplined. I guess I wonder how you balance the long-term aspect of health & fitness with the short term goal of losing weight without being preoccupied with one more than the other? Your insight is incredibly helpful and informative!

denitahawkins · June 2014

I too weigh as often as I like but tend to review the past one or two months as against just a couple days or even a week. My concern though is that you already had the opportunity to do this, so I wonder if daily weighing is for you. Were you just concerned about the day to day changes?

I wasn't really "concerned" with the day-to-day changes, I was OK with the fluctuations. To be honest, I am not sure why I'm afraid to start weighing again. I feel like if I don't see the scale going down like it was when I was heavier, and I don't see "progress" I may start to beat myself up and start to get obsessed with the number and getting to [insert weight here]. But at the same time, when I did weigh myself, I was also focused on nutrition and became aware of how certain foods affected my body. So I'm not sure if the pros (accountability, discipline) outweigh the cons (focusing on the # and not overall fitness, other NSVs, letting a number/fluctuation affect mood).

DrJenO · June 2014

Here is my take on weighing. I weigh daily, BUT I pay absolutely zero attention to the day to day weights. They are virtually meaningless as so many things can affect them. What I do is take a week's worth of daily weights and average them. I then compare the weekly averages over the course of a month.

I do something very similar. This guy - http://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/ - has an online tool where you can enter your daily weights, and it gives you a moving average to tell you what your "true" weight is. I find it very helpful to keep me from stressing over a few pounds upwards here or there (especially during my TOM). I went back and entered ALL my weights from Oct 2013 onwards, and the consistently downward pointing red line was very encouraging - despite the daily and even weekly upwards fluctuations.

ruthejp13 · June 2014

I too used to be a daily weigher and mentally it became taxing! Have you guys been daily weighers through out the duration of your long-term weight loss? I did find that when I weighed daily, I treated most days like "weigh-in" day, which resulted in me being more disciplined. I guess I wonder how you balance the long-term aspect of health & fitness with the short term goal of losing weight without being preoccupied with one more than the other? Your insight is incredibly helpful and informative!

I believe the only time I haven't weighed myself daily for over 10 years was when I knew I was gaining weight and didn't care. Like many have said, you can't think about the day to day, you want to look at the trend. I just spent 6 months in a diet study where I reported my weight daily. What was interesting was losing a pound or two a week for several months, then the scale not budging by even a tenth of a pound. Regardless of whether I ate 800 calories or 1800 calories, every day for 6 weeks the scale said exactly the same every morning. Now it is bouncing up to 7 pounds difference but slowly trending down.

"According to National Weight Control Registry, the vast majority of people (percentages shown) who keep substantial weight off (average 66 pounds) over the long term (longer than a year) do the following:

Exercise 90%
Eat a healthy breakfast 78%
Step on the scale at least weekly 75%"

Whenever I stopped doing these since losing 54 pounds is when I started gaining.

sheedy17 · June 2014

I too used to be a daily weigher and mentally it became taxing! Have you guys been daily weighers through out the duration of your long-term weight loss? I did find that when I weighed daily, I treated most days like "weigh-in" day, which resulted in me being more disciplined. I guess I wonder how you balance the long-term aspect of health & fitness with the short term goal of losing weight without being preoccupied with one more than the other? Your insight is incredibly helpful and informative!

I have always weighed myself after the gym, i dont even know why I do it because i know its going to be 2-3 pounds lighter because of water weight, but i guess its just habit, I personally JUST started weighing myself at night time, I find it interesting to get updates through the night, I dont know if im obsessed OR if it is just informative, I like to go with informative, but some may say its a problem! I dont take the numbers seriously, but it interests me after some foods how I gain and how after a massive workout and a good day of eating I hit my morning weight at 10 pm before going to bed, and I know im gonna have fantastic results in the morning,.

MelodyandBarbells · June 2014

I too weigh as often as I like but tend to review the past one or two months as against just a couple days or even a week. My concern though is that you already had the opportunity to do this, so I wonder if daily weighing is for you. Were you just concerned about the day to day changes?

I wasn't really "concerned" with the day-to-day changes, I was OK with the fluctuations. To be honest, I am not sure why I'm afraid to start weighing again. I feel like if I don't see the scale going down like it was when I was heavier, and I don't see "progress" I may start to beat myself up and start to get obsessed with the number and getting to [insert weight here]. But at the same time, when I did weigh myself, I was also focused on nutrition and became aware of how certain foods affected my body. So I'm not sure if the pros (accountability, discipline) outweigh the cons (focusing on the # and not overall fitness, other NSVs, letting a number/fluctuation affect mood).

I actually focused on fitness mostly for years before worrying too much about the scale. In my mind, they're not even in the same category. To be fit, I exercised. To lose weight, I needed to be in a caloric deficit. If weight loss is your goal I think the feedback from the scale is necessary. It just helps to understand that the reasons why the number may be going up and down over the short term even though you are doing everything correctly. But if the scale hasn't lowered in eight weeks, that's not bad to know either. It's feedback that says hey, I'm most likely not in a caloric deficit and need to do something

denitahawkins · June 2014

I too weigh as often as I like but tend to review the past one or two months as against just a couple days or even a week. My concern though is that you already had the opportunity to do this, so I wonder if daily weighing is for you. Were you just concerned about the day to day changes?

I wasn't really "concerned" with the day-to-day changes, I was OK with the fluctuations. To be honest, I am not sure why I'm afraid to start weighing again. I feel like if I don't see the scale going down like it was when I was heavier, and I don't see "progress" I may start to beat myself up and start to get obsessed with the number and getting to [insert weight here]. But at the same time, when I did weigh myself, I was also focused on nutrition and became aware of how certain foods affected my body. So I'm not sure if the pros (accountability, discipline) outweigh the cons (focusing on the # and not overall fitness, other NSVs, letting a number/fluctuation affect mood).

I actually focused on fitness mostly for years before worrying too much about the scale. In my mind, they're not even in the same category. To be fit, I exercised. To lose weight, I needed to be in a caloric deficit. If weight loss is your goal I think the feedback from the scale is necessary. It just helps to understand that the reasons why the number may be going up and down over the short term even though you are doing everything correctly. But if the scale hasn't lowered in eight weeks, that's not bad to know either. It's feedback that says hey, I'm most likely not in a caloric deficit and need to do something

I guess I never thought about them as related, but ultimately mutually exclusive. Makes sense.

denitahawkins · June 2014

I too used to be a daily weigher and mentally it became taxing! Have you guys been daily weighers through out the duration of your long-term weight loss? I did find that when I weighed daily, I treated most days like "weigh-in" day, which resulted in me being more disciplined. I guess I wonder how you balance the long-term aspect of health & fitness with the short term goal of losing weight without being preoccupied with one more than the other? Your insight is incredibly helpful and informative!

I believe the only time I haven't weighed myself daily for over 10 years was when I knew I was gaining weight and didn't care. Like many have said, you can't think about the day to day, you want to look at the trend. I just spent 6 months in a diet study where I reported my weight daily. What was interesting was losing a pound or two a week for several months, then the scale not budging by even a tenth of a pound. Regardless of whether I ate 800 calories or 1800 calories, every day for 6 weeks the scale said exactly the same every morning. Now it is bouncing up to 7 pounds difference but slowly trending down.

"According to National Weight Control Registry, the vast majority of people (percentages shown) who keep substantial weight off (average 66 pounds) over the long term (longer than a year) do the following:

Exercise 90%
Eat a healthy breakfast 78%
Step on the scale at least weekly 75%"

Whenever I stopped doing these since losing 54 pounds is when I started gaining.

Very interesting study! I'm sure you learned a lot being a part of that! There is definitely a correlation between measurements of accountability and long-term success. Maybe somewhere, subconciously, because I was smaller than I had ever been, I felt that I didn't "need" to be "as" accountable because I was comfortable. Are there any links or websites associated with this study?

Naamah · June 2014

I've been weighing myself daily and putting the info into an app called Libra, which charts the data points and smooths out the noise. I don't look at the dots, just the trend line. It's helped me, YMMV

Good luck!

cwolfman13 · June 2014

I guess this really depends on whether or not you can use the scale for what it is...a very limited tool and very limited measure of success.

I weigh in routinely in order to keep an eye on things...I've been pretty much maintaining my weight for a year now and really just focusing on my fitness and my nutrition (I have independent goals for each) and haven't been logging or anything...just really focusing on living a healthful life. I've averaged about 182 Lbs for the last 12 months or so...but I've dropped about 3% BF from 21% to 18% and it continues to go down. To boot, my fitness is at a level that I haven't attained since my early 20s...I recently completed a 1/2 century ride and was no worse for the wear as I pretty routinely ride 80+ miles per week. Don't even get me started on the gains I've had in the weight room.

If the scale was my sole measure of success, I might deem myself a failure at this point...but I've accomplished so much more than the scale indicates. I'm leaner and more fit than I've been in years despite the number on the scale not really moving.

denitahawkins · June 2014

I guess this really depends on whether or not you can use the scale for what it is...a very limited tool and very limited measure of success.

I weigh in routinely in order to keep an eye on things...I've been pretty much maintaining my weight for a year now and really just focusing on my fitness and my nutrition (I have independent goals for each) and haven't been logging or anything...just really focusing on living a healthful life. I've averaged about 182 Lbs for the last 12 months or so...but I've dropped about 3% BF from 21% to 18% and it continues to go down. To boot, my fitness is at a level that I haven't attained since my early 20s...I recently completed a 1/2 century ride and was no worse for the wear as I pretty routinely ride 80+ miles per week. Don't even get me started on the gains I've had in the weight room.

If the scale was my sole measure of success, I might deem myself a failure at this point...but I've accomplished so much more than the scale indicates. I'm leaner and more fit than I've been in years despite the number on the scale not really moving.

WoW! Hats off to you! I love how your focus is living a healthful life. And in the midst of that life, hitting several AMAZING milestones and accomplishments along the way! You're right, the scale is just one measure of success in this journey of a lifetime. It's truly about finding the right balance within all measurements - scale and NSVs.

kirili3 · June 2014

You don't need the scale. Hit your calorie goals, do your exercise, and the weight will come off. You don't need to play mindgames involving the scale every day, especially when it just affects your whole day.

meltedsno · June 2014

I started this journey on July 1, 2013... weighed in on that day and then only once since (pre op physical for broken wrist back in November -- chose not to look at the scale at the doctor's office, but curiousity got the best of me when I was in recovery and did ask what my pre op weight was -- imagine my surprise when I realized I had dropped 52 pounds!).

I have not stepped on the scale since November and not sure I want to, I truly believe that in all the years I tried to lose weight and was unsuccessful -- it was was the scale that was my culprit, not lack of will power. I obsessed about the number on the scale every morning. That number predicted how my day was going to go.,,It was like the scale was controlling me.

i may weigh in on July first of this year and see what my progress is., but then again, the fact that I once wore a size 26-28 and am now wearing a size 4 pants and xsm or sm tops speaks more volume than a scale ever could..

For me, I just don't want to get hung up by the numbers anymore and I could see myself falling back into that trap.

ruthejp13 · June 2014

I too used to be a daily weigher and mentally it became taxing! Have you guys been daily weighers through out the duration of your long-term weight loss? I did find that when I weighed daily, I treated most days like "weigh-in" day, which resulted in me being more disciplined. I guess I wonder how you balance the long-term aspect of health & fitness with the short term goal of losing weight without being preoccupied with one more than the other? Your insight is incredibly helpful and informative!

I believe the only time I haven't weighed myself daily for over 10 years was when I knew I was gaining weight and didn't care. Like many have said, you can't think about the day to day, you want to look at the trend. I just spent 6 months in a diet study where I reported my weight daily. What was interesting was losing a pound or two a week for several months, then the scale not budging by even a tenth of a pound. Regardless of whether I ate 800 calories or 1800 calories, every day for 6 weeks the scale said exactly the same every morning. Now it is bouncing up to 7 pounds difference but slowly trending down.

"According to National Weight Control Registry, the vast majority of people (percentages shown) who keep substantial weight off (average 66 pounds) over the long term (longer than a year) do the following:

Exercise 90%
Eat a healthy breakfast 78%
Step on the scale at least weekly 75%"

Whenever I stopped doing these since losing 54 pounds is when I started gaining.

Very interesting study! I'm sure you learned a lot being a part of that! There is definitely a correlation between measurements of accountability and long-term success. Maybe somewhere, subconciously, because I was smaller than I had ever been, I felt that I didn't "need" to be "as" accountable because I was comfortable. Are there any links or websites associated with this study?

I was the first one to finish the study. It won't be published for another couple of years. The recruiting website is: https://optin.northwestern.edu/

What was submitted for clinical trials is: http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01814072?term=weight&recr=Recruiting&spons=northwestern&state1=NA:US:IL&locn=chicago&age=1&rank=2

I would highly recommend looking in your area for clinical trials. I don't do any drug ones but the behavioral are great.

cicibeanz · June 2014

I weigh myself once a week, on a Wednesday morning so I don't get disheartened by any slight weekend slacking, and log my weight here every other week. I find this works for me because I am never too far away from checking on on my progress, but I have ample room to adjust to fluctuations without feeling derailed.

Should I Start Weighing Myself Regularly Again?

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