Wait to log your weight?

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Replies

  • icrushit
    icrushit Posts: 773 Member
    Weigh yourself first thing in the morning, naked, after you use the bathroom, and before you eat anything. That's the only way to get any sort of consistency in my opinion. I do this daily, and step on the scale 3/ 4 times just to make sure the reading is consistent, and I've never found any wild variations like some others report. I am using a mechanical scale, one with a dial, so there's no sort of digital funkiness from low batteries/ etc.

    Re: water weight, you shouldn't have any really, if you weigh yourself like above, but of course you might be retaining water due to certain things in your diet. I found I retained a little water when I ate wheat, and possibly when I ate a lot of dairy, so when I cut them out, I always found I dropped a few pounds which I attributed to water weight. Also I'm doing lower carb right now, and for the last three weeks or so, and found I lost about 3 pounds in the first week which I attribute to water weight, but then again some of that could be the wheat thing also, as I've not touched anything with wheat in it since I started eating this way.
  • ladybird89
    ladybird89 Posts: 28 Member
    First of all, if you're having a problem trusting the scale then you should find out if it's working properly. Leave the scale in the same spot and then step on it a few different times. Does the number keep changing? Then your scale is probably broken.

    I ONLY weigh myself in the morning before I have eaten anything. I always do it naked because even a bra and underwear can make a difference and I have a tendency to be a little OCD. If I lose weight, I hold off until that weight has stabilized (meaning I weigh myself on a consistent basis and get the same result) before logging it on MFP.
  • dolliesdaughter
    dolliesdaughter Posts: 544 Member
    I weight myself naked every Thursday morning around 6:15a. This is the weight that I log once a week. Other days I check for flucuations, but I don't get all up in arms.
  • striebir
    striebir Posts: 4 Member
    I weigh in once a week on Sunday, first thing in the morning. This is the only time I log it. I may weigh myself periodically through the week but I only count the Sunday morning weigh in.
  • ExpectantHope
    ExpectantHope Posts: 60 Member
    I only weigh myself once a week - first thing every Monday morning and I always log that weight.
  • LoupGarouTFTs
    LoupGarouTFTs Posts: 916 Member
    I weigh myself every day but only log the losses and only log those after I've been at (roughly) the same weight for two days in a row.
  • teemama2
    teemama2 Posts: 72 Member
    I weigh and log daily, and just watch the trend, although I use the 1 week setting on my iPhone app to guage. I read somewhere that weighing daily is a habit of those who have lost weight and kept it off (as is logging/journaling food, so go MFPers!). I don't ever want 5 - 10 lbs to sneak up on me again. :/

    Love this ^^^ :love: :love:
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    You can trust the scale...but you have to realize that you have natural fluctuations too. I weigh every day and log an average of my weigh ins for the week. You should be far more concerned with trend analysis here than the exact weigh in to weigh in numbers. Even in maintenance, it's all about trend analysis...it's not static...nobody weighs exactly XXX Lbs all of the time...it's a range and thus necessary to monitor the overall trend rather than getting all wrapped up in the minutia of weigh in to weigh in numbers
  • kherrons
    kherrons Posts: 99 Member
    I weigh in on Sunday mornings, before I eat or drink anything, but after the usual morning routine. Birthday suit. Same spot in the bathroom. I log that weight regardless then shove the scale off in the corner til the following Sunday.
  • asdowe13
    asdowe13 Posts: 1,951 Member
    I weigh myself once a month or so, log what it says, only down since Feb (when I started this time round)

    More importantly is what i see in the mirror, how clothes fit, and my measurements i take every Sunday morning.
  • RHachicho
    RHachicho Posts: 1,115 Member
    just stick to a set time period trying to allow for random fluctuations like water weight will absolutely drive you barmy.
  • uglycrying
    uglycrying Posts: 28 Member
    I weigh myself every morning. When I notice a new lower number, I will wait to see if it shows up again the following couple days and then log it if it does. I feel better doing it that way and like I can trust it's not just dehydration, an irregularity or my eyes deceiving me (hah).
  • mrbyte
    mrbyte Posts: 270 Member
    daily in the mornings after you've dropped payloads. Weight loss will always be in a trend. Every weigh won't be lower than the last.
  • paulawatkins1974
    paulawatkins1974 Posts: 720 Member
    I log when I see a new low weight on the scale. Inevitably I will see a slight increase the next several times I weighed myself, but I always go down again and then some more. I figure that rather than having numbers zigzagging up and down, I will only track the losses. And it's motivation to get back to that lower number! Hope this makes sense.
    I do this. I would hate to log if I'd gained! It's all a mind game and logging a gain would pee me off lol. I kind of regret it now though, it would have been neat to see a trend. Right now the graph just goes down.
  • kiknitwite
    kiknitwite Posts: 36 Member
    I weigh every day. I've heard so many different things, not daily, daily, weekly or what ever. I like to see the changes, but the overall trend is going down. For example I may weigh 260, then 258, then 258, then 257, then 255, then 258, then 255. But that high of 260 never comes back around. I like to keep control of what's going in and out of my body. Now as far as logging goes, as soon as I jump on the scale and the whole number (such as 255.8 vs 255.4 vs 254.8 - I only log the whole number drops) is lower than the last I logged, I just log it. Tomorrow it may be up, but so what? If it takes a week to see another lower number I just leave it. My thought process is: It's easier to get a wrong HEAVIER weight than as wrong LOWER weight. Chances are you really are the smaller number, and the larger number is reflecting water. That's just me!
  • kiknitwite
    kiknitwite Posts: 36 Member
    I log when I see a new low weight on the scale. Inevitably I will see a slight increase the next several times I weighed myself, but I always go down again and then some more. I figure that rather than having numbers zigzagging up and down, I will only track the losses. And it's motivation to get back to that lower number! Hope this makes sense.
    I do this. I would hate to log if I'd gained! It's all a mind game and logging a gain would pee me off lol. I kind of regret it now though, it would have been neat to see a trend. Right now the graph just goes down.

    Me too!
  • 4daluvof_candice
    4daluvof_candice Posts: 483 Member
    I think it depends on the individual. Personally, I weigh each week but log twice a month (due to female anatomy, uh "issues") :blushing:
  • I weigh all the time, but log it only once per week, on Fridays.
  • PennyJB63
    PennyJB63 Posts: 21 Member
    I weigh everyday, scale in the same spot, after the bathroom before I eat or drink anything. I log only when the new low or high has stuck around for a few days. It helps me focus on what good or bad choices impacted me since for me they happen right away. I can work late and have a long commute. If I chose to still eat dinner it will go up. If I chose to be hungry that night it will go down but the following day it will level back off as long as I didn't really over indulge. I do admit to visiting the scale at random times and it is an addiction I am trying to curb.
  • sculli123
    sculli123 Posts: 1,221 Member
    Lot of people like to weigh in daily and then calculate the average for the week and go by that. I just weigh daily and basically see the trend without actually putting it on spreadsheet like the really anal people do.

    When I was really trying to lose weight I'd only "count" my Sunday morning weigh in but more recently I just do it daily but casually. I'm not anal about it at all now, mainly just the mirror counts at this point. The only time I was super anal about it was the last week before the competition because I had to make sure I was going to make weight by the time the official weigh in happened.

    Keeping in mind the only real reason I lost weight in the first place was to make weight for a competition that had weight classes involved. The comp is already over and I'm reverse dieting now but still losing a little weight in the meantime.
  • squishycatmew
    squishycatmew Posts: 151 Member
    Official weigh-in day is Tuesday - I get up, use the bathroom, strip, and weigh. Sometimes I do a few weighs to make sure I didn't step wrong and skew the scale, but the Tuesday morning number gets logged. I might weigh myself on other days, but I don't log it unless for some reason I didn't on Tuesday. I've only once weighed in heavier than the week before, and that was probably a combination of water weight from traveling, and using a different scale while traveling. When I see an unusually large drop, it's generally preceded or followed by a week or two of very small losses.
  • MysteriousMerlin
    MysteriousMerlin Posts: 2,270 Member
    I log my weight using the doc's scales (every 3 months), but I weigh myself inbetween just to keep an eye on it.
  • hawaiiandream
    hawaiiandream Posts: 43 Member
    I weigh every day same time, naked but only log a loss. If I gain, I don't want a bunch of cudo's for weight loss that I already lost, so I make sure I stay the same until I lose again.
  • _L_A_
    _L_A_ Posts: 170 Member
    I weigh every morning before breakfast, after going to the loo and naked. I used to only log on Monday's and log whatever the weight. I now log new lows when I've had it 2 days in a row, or 3 days out of a few. I'll log a consistent gain if I know the reason is too much food or too little exercise, I don't fluctuate much though, I'm fairly consistent every day so I don't often get gains that I don't log as a real gain.

    It might seem like a weird way to people, but it's how I do it, it works for me and even though I weigh every day I don't stress about the numbers and don't care if there is a gain, if it is there and there's no reason it's only temporary so I don't think anything of it, if there's a reason then I made those choices for that weekend/week so what else would I expect! I can always get back on track before it turns into multiple gains so it just provides me a bit of motivation to re-focus if I need it.
  • MrsMizart
    MrsMizart Posts: 1,275 Member
    I weigh and record (log) daily.

    It goes up and down so much that if I only did at weekends I could well get discouraged. Once I get the lowest weight I count that as what I am, with the couple of pounds or so additions as normal fluctuation, unless it goes on for more than a few days at a steady higher figures.

    No science to it whatsoever, but it works for me :smile:
  • vismundcygnus27
    vismundcygnus27 Posts: 98 Member
    Yeah, I log myself every morning in light pajamas - after I head to the bathroom, before I eat breakfast. I haven't been on MFP long, but logging every day has actually helped me stop obsessing over the day-to-day fluctuations and focus on the overall trend. Even if my weight goes up a bit, I log it anyway and don't let it bother me, because I know it'll swing back down in the next day or two.
  • chasingdreams18
    chasingdreams18 Posts: 110 Member
    ^^^THIS VERY WELL SAID
  • numinousnymph
    numinousnymph Posts: 249 Member
    i weigh every morning after i use the bathroom, before i eat anything, in just my underwear. i know very well the random fluctuations that happen, but because they are so random for me (one day i can be 2 lbs heavier than the day before, and then the next day 1 lb lighter, then so on and so forth), i like to weigh every day to catch the days that actually show the lowest weight. but i don't log daily -- i only log when the scale shows a lower number than the last lowest number i had. does that make sense?