Is daily weighing obsessive?

goaskdad · April 2011

Mind you, I'm probably not going to change my behavior here, because I'm FINALLY seeing results for the first time in years!

But I am a little curious what others think. My wife thinks I'm obsessing a little by weighing every morning before my shower. But for me, at least, it's been a great motivator.

By weighing daily, I think I'm learning more about how my body responds to what I eat, how exercise really does make such a huge difference, and how sometimes my body seems to do whacky things that I'm not expecting and can't explain

. I find it all fascinating and whether I gain a little, stay the same or lose a little, I still end up feeling motivated to keep doing my best. But the biggest motivator is when I've had a bad day and I see immediately (usually the next morning) how my bad decisions have real consequences and it really encourages me to get back on task and not let my guard down too much.

Like I said, I'm not likely to change my behavior at all, since I've only started losing weight once I joined MFP and started weighing every day - but what do you think? Does it just depend on the person, maybe, or is daily-weighing truly obsessive? Do some folks get discouraged if they weigh every day while others (like me) find it to be a great motivator?

longtallted · April 2011

I have weighed daily (sometimes twice daily) in previous get fit phases of my life and it caused more distraction than anything else, personally. It's amazing how much it can fluctuate. I weigh weekly now, first thing Saturday morning, before breakfast.

xraychick77 · April 2011

yes. but i do it too

leslturn8 · April 2011

Hi, i weigh every day too!
I do it out of habit and out of interest. I have recorded my weight since august last year and every month when i start a new paragraph it shows me a loss every month, thats motivating also.
Because my weight fluctuates, i only record my monday morning weigh-ins on my loss chart, i have a chart on my fridge which gets written in my measurements book.
Keep up the good work!

gailygail99 · April 2011

i weigh myself everyday, but i only record it in MFP once a week! i know that it fluctuates from day to day so i try not to worry about it, but i do write it down.

ineednapkin · April 2011

The reason that I would say not to is because your body can fluctuate in weight by a couple pounds between days, just from water weight and whatnot. When you are on a plateau and you see that fluctuation, it could lead to frustration. You can keep doing it, but take it with a grain of salt. I haven't been on this site very long, but my plan is to weigh myself every few days, then hopefully I will see a bigger change and that will motivate me to work even harder for my next weigh in, and essentially compete with myself to see how much I can lose (in a healthy way, of course!!!)

Hope this helps.

JunkFoodJane · April 2011

If you're not doing it with the goal and expectation of losing five pounds a day (or even one), then if you can handle it I think it's great. I would recommend recording your weight less frequently or averaging. With the MFP app though you can just log it daily and see the graph and that's pretty rockin'.

Because of how much my weight can fluctuate in a single day I've found it better to weigh myself more often than not. Some people say shame on me, but if I already know my weight can swing up 6 pounds day-to-day and I weigh once a week lets say I would have averaged a -2 for the week but instead I see a +4 on my 'weigh in' day? I wouldn't like that. I do better to weigh in regularly.

jennywrens · April 2011

I weigh daily, but I only log it weekly! I think as long as you're aware of the potential to fluctuate and it doesn't discourage you there's no harm in it!!

If I'm honest I sometimes weigh before bed AND as soon as I get up! It's amazing the difference overnight!! haha

MegJo · April 2011

I use to weigh in every morning - then after breakfast - before lunch - after going to the bathroom.... you get the idea.

I agree that it was a big motivator and I did start to understand my body better... however, -20lbs down I got stuck in a plateau and by stuck I mean swallowed. This is when the scale turned into my greatest battle. I got into that feeling of, "well it doesn't matter because I'm working my *kitten* off and the numbers arn't changing, so I might as wel eat that _________".

This is when I realized the scale and I needed some time apart. The rest is in my signature!

I'll go back to it - but I don't think I will weigh in with the same intensity. My time away has allowed to relax! When I'm having one of those, "damn I look good days", I no longer need that to be vaildated by the number on the scale... I can walk out of of the house just FEELING that way.

giggles007 · April 2011

Like yourself I weigh myself every day: in the morning before breakfast and then again at night before bed. My husband thinks the same abot being obsessed: but I agree its a motivator for me, because soon as i see a possible gain coming I will start thinking about how to retrieve myself via workout sessions and what i should eat the following day. So im in there with you about it being a motivator! I've been doing it sine Jan 2011 and its working for me cos like yourself the pounds are dropping (slowly but gradually).

If your not getting bogged down by the 'obsessive weigh-in' then carry on, I totally i agree that it really does help to understand how the body puts on weight. If i didnt do it then for sure i will lose track: perhaps eventually once i have hit half mark on target i might not weigh as much but for now it'l have to do.....keep up with the progress

Seesaa · April 2011

Yes

I can't weigh in every day...i can only weigh in at the doctors once a week and even if i get to a weight that i can buy a home scale i won't for this very reason...you gotta focus on more then the number or you'll just get stuck on that and not the changes your body is actually going through. Be it inches or purely getting healthier...the numbers on the scale can't be your only validation and this is coming from a 400+ chick so yeah LOL

chrisallcock · April 2011

im always telling ppl not to daily weigh as your weight yo yos through the week yet i do it myself

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dr1981 · April 2011

Yes. And it is pointless.

I used to weigh in daily until I realized how dumb it is to do that. There is NOTHING to gain from it.

cheerio!

MrsMuffinRun · April 2011

I do it first thing too. But I know it can fluctuate. It does motivate you though. If you aren't losing it makes you determined to try a bit harder and if you are it motivates you to keep going. I try and do it before my kids are awake though, I don't want them to see mummy weighing herself every day. They are boys so it's not quite such a worry, but the oldest is likely to blab out loud how much I weigh in shop queues etc lol, he's pretty much told the world that mummy is 40 now.

lotty1987 · April 2011

I weigh every morning it kind of reminds me why i need to diet - i dont expect a loss but if i do i record it and that keeps me motivated ! Im not stupid i know i should only record every week but the graph shows me how much i lose every month and im happy with that and if it helps me - and im still losing - bring it on ! x

CommittohealthCHANGED · April 2011

Yes it is obsessive, but I too weigh myself every day sometime twice.a day. It can get frustated when the scale stop moving, because of muscle gain. I bought a scale that also tell me my fast loss, muscle gain and water in my body. Now I don't get piss at the scale because it shows fat loss and muscle gain

precious71701 · April 2011

I weigh in on most day because of curosity. I keep saying that soon I am going to once a week. I just really have to see if it working. Yes the weight fluctuates up 2 or three numbers for me but it fluctuates down as well and everyday I look for that new low number...I also tried weighing before exercising and after to see the results...Usually the weigh number goes down...That was exciting to me...

SandyLee1961 · April 2011

I personally, like you, weigh every day. A friend on FB stated she thought that was obsessive. Well, it may be to her, but for me, it's a motivator. I am quite aware that my weight very well may change day to day (heck, hour to hour) - I'm not weighing myself every day expecting a weight loss (or gain). I weigh myself every morning because it's now part of my routine. If I don't weigh myself I feel as if my exercise routine is missing something. So - my opinion (for what it's worth) - if you feel good about it, and know that you aren't going to lose every single day - then what's wrong with it? When I hit a plateau (which I KNOW I will) - then I may scale back to once a week. But right now, it makes me feel good and I am having fun for once exercising! So, more power to you!

PoleBoy · April 2011

If you way yourself once a week, and you have a heavy day, it makes you think you've blown your week. (especially when the previous weeks weigh in was on a light day)

If you weigh yourself every day you know you weight can fluctuate by a couple of pounds so don't care what the actual daily reading is - so long as you can look at the last few days and work our roughly where you really are. If you can't do that "trend spotting" then you should weigh weekly, if you can daily is fine - better.

vjles · April 2011

I have weighed myself virtually every day for 20 years since I started running. I'm well aware that my weight continually fluctuates from day to day, so, don't worry about it. For the purposes of MFP I only record my weight once a week on the same day regardless if I was lighter or not the day before.

Most amazing fluctuation was last Thursday. First thing in the morning I was 14st 0lbs, I went with some friends to Taybarns for lunch (fixed price & all you can eat). On return, out of curiosity, I weighed myself only to find I was now 14st 4lbs. Later in the afternoon I went off and did a very tough cross country run in the woods for 14 miles. There were no flat bits it was all uphill or downhill for 2 1/2 hours. On return I weighed myself again and I was amazingly 13st 12lbs!!! That was a loss of 6lbs from the run, obviously eating and drinking would put the weight back up.

I can see from day to day the average of my weight coming down slowly, so, don't worry about my weekly weigh-in.

goaskdad · April 2011

Maybe I should have mentioned, that I've tried weighing myself once per week and even once per two weeks in the past, but in between weigh-ins I think it was just too easy to 'sneak in' bad food or (lack of) exercise decisions - thinking I had xx days before my next weigh-in and I could just 'make it up' somehow. I don't know if that's 'really' what I was thinking at the time or not, but I wonder if it was.

I like what some have said - that they do it now because it's just part of their routine. If nothing else, maybe it just reminds me each morning to be 'intentional' about the decisions I make - whether it's to remember to eat well or to get off the couch and go exercise. Either way, at least for me, I just haven't had results in the past when i weighed only once per week, but since I've been weighing each morning, that's finally changed.

I do totally realize that my weight fluctuates regardless of how i behave/misbehave, with water weight changes, and with who knows what other factors there might be. I can't explain why, but it really hasn't discouraged me when that happens. At least so far, it hasn't. Maybe that makes me a bit of an odd apple (but I don't mind as long as I keep getting healthier!)

Is daily weighing obsessive?

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