Water weigh/weight gain/how often do you weigh yourself?

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sugarpeas
sugarpeas Posts: 56 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm sure most of us have done this... eat good, lose weight, then have something higher sodium and the weight goes up. While I expect this the water retention seems to linger for a while, even up to a week but then will finally drop, this isn't so great for my weigh in days.

How can I get water retention to go down quicker if possible?
I drink water and try my best to not eat higher sodium through out the rest of the week.

and how often does everyone weigh themselves?
For me it's every Tuesday in the morning. Keeps me on track but considering doing weigh ins monthly instead. I also do measure myself.

Replies

  • IsaackGMOON
    IsaackGMOON Posts: 3,358 Member
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    Every week on a monday.
  • ruggedshutter
    ruggedshutter Posts: 389 Member
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    Daily, first thing in the morning.
  • sugarpeas
    sugarpeas Posts: 56 Member
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    I used to do every day to every other day but my weight fluctuates far too much.
  • Emily3907
    Emily3907 Posts: 1,461 Member
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    I weigh in every Friday morning......and sometimes in between. I also have a problem with water weight and fluctuations. I am probably going to get some crap for this, but if I notice my rings are extra super tight (my gauge for water weight) I take two Diurex and make sure I up my water by at least 4-6 glasses over my usual 10-12.

    I have also found that unsweetened iced tea and coffee help me drop the extra water retention pretty quickly. That is what I use for my typical ups and downs. I only reach for the Diurex if it is REALLY bad.
  • kmcc144
    kmcc144 Posts: 84 Member
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    I weigh once a week also. I choose the day of the week that I am able to get the most rest, which for me is Friday or Saturday depending on the week. I just stopped breastfeeding so am just getting back into the swing of hormone fluctuations. I've noticed that there is really just once a month when my weight goes down significantly, otherwise it is the constant up/down. So I am considering just weighing myself once a month, however I find that weighing once a week keeps me more on track. Also, I only track when my weight goes down- I don't tend to add my weight to mfp when it fluctuates up a little.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
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    sugarpeas wrote: »
    I used to do every day to every other day but my weight fluctuates far too much.

    I do it daily because it fluctuates so much. I like to see how different foods and activities affect my weight and I just like having all of the data.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,868 Member
    edited May 2015
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    I weigh in every day. You are always going to have natural fluctuations, regardless of sodium or whatever...you are always cycling between water retention and release...and you're always going to have variable amounts of waste in your system, etc.

    This why watching the trend is more important than watching the actual number...and if you can't wrap your head around this, God help you in maintenance because you're going to go bat *kitten* crazy.

    I weigh in daily or at least 3-5 days per week, but my official weigh in is on Wednesday. As a general trend, I'm lightest on Thursday and Sundays tend to be my heavy days. Usually Wednesday is somewhere in the middle and I also usually get my Wednesday reading at least one other time during the week but usually twice or more...so that is the day I do my official weigh in.

    But again, it's all about the trend, not the number.
  • BlueSkyShoal
    BlueSkyShoal Posts: 325 Member
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    I weigh myself every day. I know weight fluctuates naturally, but I'd be so discouraged if I did a weekly weigh-in and it happened to fall on a "gain two pounds for no reason" day.

    When I lose a few ounces I'm encouraged and don't want to jeopardize my progress. When I gain weight, it motivates me to examine what I ate (although sometimes it's just water weight) and exercise more to get rid of it. So for me it's a win-win. :)
  • avskk
    avskk Posts: 1,789 Member
    edited May 2015
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    I weigh every morning, but I only record my weight on Sundays (loosely -- it may be a Saturday or Monday every now and then), and then only if I've lost more than half a pound. (I don't record gains unless they stay on the scale longer than three days and are more than a pound.)
  • Lourdesong
    Lourdesong Posts: 1,492 Member
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    Weight fluctuates, and I've been at this almost a year now and there's not a lot of rhyme or reason to when the weight will drop and by how much at any moment in time in my experience, and I think I do all that a person reasonably can do to be consistent and precise in my intake, logging, and activity.

    Weighing once a month or once a week wouldn't work for me. My weight stays exactly the same and/or bounces around up 5 lbs for a week or two before it suddenly drops to new all time lows, and the drop can be anywhere from 1lb up to 5lbs.

    If I didn't weigh in every day, I might weigh in right before a big drop and get discouraged by how much time has passed with seemingly little progress in the right the direction (and feel down by how much more time will have to pass before next weigh-in, carrying a discouraged storm cloud over my head for much longer than need be).

    As well, some weeks or months might appear more successful than others and I might make silly inferences to why that was the case (e.g. the only thing I did different was I ate pork instead of chicken this week, therefore pork is better than chicken for weightloss!)

    I think what bothers me most about waiting a week or a month to weigh in is the drama around it. Like on the Biggest Loser, hitting those big numbers is so much drama, so much emotion, such huge highs and elation. But not hitting them is also a lot of drama, and so much emotion, major lows and depression. Weighing in daily just takes all the needless drama and emotion out of it, for me.


    If you feel bloated, water and some potassium rich foods like bananas and avocados, can help over several days.



  • futuremanda
    futuremanda Posts: 816 Member
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    You can weigh every day and only bother to record lower numbers. Like if your weight range, with fluctuations, is 150-153, then you record 150. Over the next week or so, you see: 150, 152, 152, 153, 151, 150, 151, 149, 150, 149. So now you change your weight to 149. Then you see: 149, 150, 151, 150, 149, 148, 149, 148. You record 148. Your new weight range is 148-151, your weight is 148.

    You don't have to input the fluctuations into MFP if you don't want to (I don't). But it can be helpful to understand what's normal for you in terms of fluctuations.
  • jazzine1
    jazzine1 Posts: 280 Member
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    When I started the number on the scale would determine how my day went. Since then I have learned and accepted the fluctuations and it doesn't affect me any more. Now I weigh every morning and and log it in my phone app which displays my trend. I also rely on my weekly average instead of the day to day number.
  • manders_b
    manders_b Posts: 44 Member
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    As with most things, the best medicine for water weight is to avoid the foods that make you retain more water. Keep in mind it's not just sodium - other things like alcohol can play into it. As far as getting rid of it, anything with caffeine (coffee, tea) is a natural diuretic, or there are over the counter tablets as well. Personally, I have found that drinking tons of water daily is the best way to regulate it.

    I weigh daily but I'm okay with seeing the water weight flux. IMO it's just something you have to learn to work around if you plan on weighing daily, and part of that is putting that +/- 2 lbs into perspective vs. your goal weight. If it really bothers you, weigh in weekly or bi-weekly, but consider that even after you reach your goal, you're going to hover around it - you won't magically weigh exactly X lbs every single morning, or even every week.
  • avskk
    avskk Posts: 1,789 Member
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    futuremanda wrote: »
    You can weigh every day and only bother to record lower numbers. Like if your weight range, with fluctuations, is 150-153, then you record 150. Over the next week or so, you see: 150, 152, 152, 153, 151, 150, 151, 149, 150, 149. So now you change your weight to 149. Then you see: 149, 150, 151, 150, 149, 148, 149, 148. You record 148. Your new weight range is 148-151, your weight is 148.

    You don't have to input the fluctuations into MFP if you don't want to (I don't). But it can be helpful to understand what's normal for you in terms of fluctuations.

    This. This is what I do, only you explained it much better and with more precision than I did up there. Thanks.

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