How often do you weigh yourself?

lcyfrnxo
lcyfrnxo Posts: 28 Member
edited November 9 in Health and Weight Loss
Anyone with the goal of losing weight: how often do you weigh yourself and why? I'm starting over and have a lot to lose (about 5 stone) and I'm wondering how often I should weigh myself. I don't want to get to obsessed but I also know that I'll want to see results. How often do you weigh yourself and how does it work for you? Thanks xx
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Replies

  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
    Daily, to watch what's going on with my body.
  • elephant_in_the_room
    elephant_in_the_room Posts: 145 Member
    When I started, every day.
    In fact, every day morning and night. morning after waking up and going to the toilet, evening just before going to bed.
    MFP doesn't even allow for 2 measurements per day. I kept my own graph.
    What happens is that you weigh 1-2 kg more in the evening than in the morning. most people don't know that, and it's good to know the range.
    Otherwise, you can get overexcited by an apparent 2kg loss or over-disappointed over an apparent 2kg gain when that's only normal variablility.
  • Mamaof2UK
    Mamaof2UK Posts: 28 Member
    I just added you, just need more people to progress with! I would weigh once per week. Any more than that and there will be fluctuation.

    Log everything you eat, weigh everything you eat too so it is accurate.

    I lost 12lbs fairly easily last year by doing that. It takes a lot of dedication. With 5 st to lose, I would add in a good bit of exercise if you don't already do it? You should see results fast within 6 weeks. Good luck :)
  • _runnerbean_
    _runnerbean_ Posts: 640 Member
    I weigh myself every day first thing in the morning. Be aware that your body weight will naturally fluctuate by a pound or two so don't be put off if you occasionally go up instead of down. Look at the overall trend and you will see results.
  • InnocentLunatic
    InnocentLunatic Posts: 35 Member
    edited January 2015
    I weigh myself daily after the morning bathroom break ;)

    But I only log it in mfp if I'm down 2lbs from the last time I logged my weight, which isn't necessarily the "better" way to do it, seeing all those little up and down spikes from daily weight fluctuation can clue you in to trends, especially when you're a woman, but it's how I like to do it XD I feel better about how my graph looks.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    I weigh myself every day. I log it in MFP once a week but am keeping a spreadsheet with the daily numbers.
  • ThunderMonkeyy
    ThunderMonkeyy Posts: 30
    my dad weighs me daily. i climb on his back and he squats and tells me if i feel to heavy or light. he's been lifting his whole life so i trust him
  • helenbenzie75
    helenbenzie75 Posts: 95 Member
    I weigh myself once a week
  • Jagerin
    Jagerin Posts: 68 Member
    I weigh myself daily. It's part of my morning ritual at this point. I do it because I like to know where I'm at everyday. Seeing a gain doesn't cause me any anxiety. I've heard that daily weigh-ins can cause that for some people. So I think it really depends on how you feel about seeing that number everyday and how well you think you can handle seeing those small fluctuations.
  • 47Jacqueline
    47Jacqueline Posts: 6,993 Member
    I weigh every other week. I don't like watching the scale go up and down all the time.
  • ReeseJimi
    ReeseJimi Posts: 8
    I weigh myself daily because I am obsessive.
  • lakhena
    lakhena Posts: 57 Member
    Every day, first thing in the morning to be consistent. I use a wifi scale that uploads my data to MFP. I'm not bothered by daily fluctuations as long as the monthly trend is downwards.
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,423 Member
    Once a week. I really can't weigh myself more often than that and keep a healthy mindset.
    I also take measurements once a month and a progress picture.
  • PeachyCarol
    PeachyCarol Posts: 8,029 Member
    I weigh myself every day. I stayed in denial by avoiding the scale for too long and plan to lose the weight and maintain a loss by becoming friends with the scale and learning to be okay with the normal fluctuations that happen.
  • bwogilvie
    bwogilvie Posts: 2,130 Member
    I weight daily and use TrendWeight.com to calculate an exponentially smoothed moving average. The method is explained in the chapter "Signal and Noise" in John Walker, The Hacker's Diet.
  • WithWhatsLeft
    WithWhatsLeft Posts: 196 Member
    Every day, first thing in the morning, then I plug it into my spreadsheet.

    If you do that, just don't freak out at the natural fluctuations that occur. If you are doing everything right, it slowly bounces down.
  • Phrick
    Phrick Posts: 2,765 Member
    I prefer to weigh daily to learn/understand/watch trends. However I have been out of town for nearly 3 weeks and have only weighed once in that time. It is driving me nuts honestly - not the "not weighing" part so much as the "no way to weigh at all" part - my mom refuses to keep a scale in her home so it's not even an option! I can't wait to get back to MY house and MY routine. Just a few more days...
  • williams969
    williams969 Posts: 2,528 Member
    I weigh daily and input into the Libra app on my phone (Android only, but there are similar things for Apple and desktops, too). Gives me a 7-day rolling average and pretty trend graph. I'm a mathematician, so I love data, obviously ;) But if I miss a day, or don't feel like weighing in (like period week usually), I don't sweat it, either.
  • ncfitbit
    ncfitbit Posts: 1,058 Member
    jemhh wrote: »
    I weigh myself every day. I log it in MFP once a week but am keeping a spreadsheet with the daily numbers.

    I do the same, although I just enter the daily weigh-ins on a tracker app on my phone. I like weighing in daily because I don't mind the fluctuations and I don't want a big surprise on my official weigh-in day. I joined a challenge group before Christmas and the weekly weigh-ins were very motivating. I lost just under 1 stone (12 lbs) doing this in 12 weeks.
  • CarrieCans
    CarrieCans Posts: 381 Member
    I weigh daily because i like to see what makes it fluctuate. I noticed i don't panic as much now when i see it go up because i expect to go back down at least a little and every time it does.
  • lcyfrnxo
    lcyfrnxo Posts: 28 Member
    Noticing there are a lot of daily weighers, which I'm quite surprised at! Do you find weighing daily helps to keep you motivated? As I'm worried the fluctuation would drive me mental! Xx
  • PeachyCarol
    PeachyCarol Posts: 8,029 Member
    It's good motivation, but it's also good prep for maintenance for me. I do strength training, and it's good to make friends with the muscle repair water weight gain that happens from it. Down the road, once I've lost all my weight, I want to keep my eye on the scale to make sure I'm staying on track. Knowing the normal pattern that my workouts will cause will be a big help to achieving that goal.
  • cheeftaylor
    cheeftaylor Posts: 25 Member
    Yeah I weigh every day too. It means that I have to be good everyday otherwise I will be upset the following morning. Also, you can lie to yourself in this game, whereas if you are weighing every day you can keep a good check on what you are doing.
  • CarrieCans
    CarrieCans Posts: 381 Member
    lcyfrnxo wrote: »
    Noticing there are a lot of daily weighers, which I'm quite surprised at! Do you find weighing daily helps to keep you motivated? As I'm worried the fluctuation would drive me mental! Xx

    At first i went into a serious panic thinking i need to restrict more. After a couple weeks i noticed that it goes up and down A LOT !!! but overall it keeps going down.
    If i was to weigh once a week and have it be on one of those freaky up days, i would go absolutely insane. For me, that would be really bad because even though i know better i would lower my calories.
    Now when it goes up a bit i just say "eh, up again" and then it goes back down.
  • ana3067
    ana3067 Posts: 5,623 Member
    a few times a month or less now. Because I'm extremely lazy and weighing myself daily, or even just weekly, requires doing it before I eat breakfast. I'd rather eat.
  • MlleKelly
    MlleKelly Posts: 356 Member
    Generally I weight myself everyday out of habit, but that started getting depressing. When I'm actively trying to lose weight, I will weigh-in on Monday morning then again on Thursday or Friday morning to see how I've done during the week. The Monday morning weigh-in is to see how I've done during the week-end...knowing that I have a weigh-in first thing on Monday helps me reach for one less drink, order one less appetizer, etc.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    lcyfrnxo wrote: »
    Noticing there are a lot of daily weighers, which I'm quite surprised at! Do you find weighing daily helps to keep you motivated? As I'm worried the fluctuation would drive me mental! Xx

    I think it's a really good way to learn to accept normal daily fluctuations and connect the dots between behaviors (eating a high sodium meal, not exercising for several days, etc.) and total weight. I know that if I eat a certain amount of high sodium foods today I'll see it on the scale tomorrow and it'll be gone two days from now. If I don't exercise, my weight will decrease a bit, etc.

  • mymodernbabylon
    mymodernbabylon Posts: 1,038 Member
    I like seeing trends so I weight almost daily (I don't stress if I miss a day or two). It does allow one to see how various foods, drinks, exercise and other things effect your weight. It also helps me not freak out about one gain or get over-joyed by one loss...I just enjoy seeing a downward trend when it happens.
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,603 Member
    lcyfrnxo wrote: »
    Noticing there are a lot of daily weighers, which I'm quite surprised at! Do you find weighing daily helps to keep you motivated? As I'm worried the fluctuation would drive me mental! Xx
    The entire weighing thing drives me mental. Before I weighed, I would notice my clothes getting bigger and then realize I'd dropped a size and be happy about it. It was all NSVs back then...and it was great.

    Then I got the scale and I was on and off that thing all the time, noting differences and fluctuations. I like it. I'm hooked now. I'm on that damn thing every day.

    I know there are fluctuations, so if I only weighed one day a week, I'd wonder if that day happened to be a high day or low day. I have to get on it every day so that I can have a good idea where I stand. If I didn't do it daily, I'd have to go monthly, so I'd be sure to see numbers that had gone down.

    I wish I'd never bought the thing and that's the truth, but now I have to get on it every morning.
  • Jagerin
    Jagerin Posts: 68 Member
    lcyfrnxo wrote: »
    Noticing there are a lot of daily weighers, which I'm quite surprised at! Do you find weighing daily helps to keep you motivated? As I'm worried the fluctuation would drive me mental! Xx

    I like seeing the fluctuations because it helps keep me on track. If I notice more than a few days on the upside of a fluctuation, I can figure out with my offline food diary and exercise diary where the discrepancy might be and fix it before that up fluctuation becomes something I have to deal with (like a full pound gain) and work back off.

    But if it's something that you know will cause you anxiety, then don't do it. Worrying about those small ups can cause you to wonder if it's even worth it and possibly quit.
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