How often did you weigh in to achieve success?

tesemarie
tesemarie Posts: 37 Member
edited November 18 in Success Stories
I am wondering, for those of you who have lost a lot of weight over a year or so.. How often did you get on the scale? I like seeing small losses as motivators, but small gains can be defeating... Who found a sweet spot with this??
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Replies

  • McCloud33
    McCloud33 Posts: 959 Member
    Personally I weighed every day and watch the trend. You're right that at times the small gains can be defeating, but not knowing where I am would drive me crazier than the ups and downs. The other thing I did was to keep a linear graph of my weight loss to show myself that i'm either over or under my trendline at any given time and to expect it to come down or go up accordingly. I treated that line as kind of my "true" weight, because with water retention, the scale always lies.
  • flumi_f
    flumi_f Posts: 1,888 Member
    Daily...always have always will. This along with the daily tracking of food / cals has taught me alot about how my body reacts to certain foods, hormonal cycle, exercise, etc. I track the weight and keep my eyes on the longer term trend.

    I'm a scientist and love my numbers... If the daily fluctuations demotivate you, find something that works for you. I also recommend to track measurements. I measured every week or two during my losing phase. This is an additional motivation, when the scale stalls for a while.
  • rdkstar
    rdkstar Posts: 260 Member
    Weigh daily - keeps my focus
    line graph weekly weight to visually see progress
    body measuremeets monthly - another source of progress for when I don't see it in the mirror
  • tesemarie
    tesemarie Posts: 37 Member
    I have been weighing daily and doing measurements once a month. That has been working pretty well for me, but I do feel pretty tied to my scale and I am trying to constantly remember that this is about more than the number on it! I'm happy to hear others have done daily too though and that has worked and not become detrimental. One thing I do run into is several days in which my weight will remain the same (even occasional small gains within a pound) and then suddenly it will drop a couple of pounds all at once or over 2 days. It didn't do that in my first 20 pounds of loss but now that I'm in the 26 lbs of loss it does it frequently.
  • sweetteadrinker2
    sweetteadrinker2 Posts: 1,026 Member
    Daily. If the small gains demotivate you, what are the potentially larger ones going to do? I'd rather see that I gained a few ounces overnight for a few days in a row than weigh in once a week and see a large jump.
  • flumi_f
    flumi_f Posts: 1,888 Member
    That's called the whoosh effect by some. As the body loses fat, it tends to fill those cells with water. When that water is released, you have a sudden larger weight loss...the whoosh ;-) I often had 1 week with a high loss followed by 1-2 very slow weeks. Totally normal.
  • pixiestick
    pixiestick Posts: 839 Member
    Daily. Been working well for me. Used to weigh in weekly/every other week, but I found myself obsessing about the weigh-ins, and then binging afterwards. People talk about how unhealthy weighing in every day is because you are chained to the scale, but for me, I was chained more by not knowing than just weighing, logging, and moving on.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    I weighed in 3-5 times per week with the knowledge and understanding that body weight isn't static and losses aren't linear and that I would have naturally fluctuating numbers. The trend is what is important and understanding that is going to be more valuable to you than weighing in how many ever times.

    In doing this I have discovered that usually Monday is my heaviest day and Thursday is my lightest day...Wednesday is usually somewhere inbetween and I usually will get a couple other readings during the week that are right around that number give or take a decimal. For this reason, Wednesday is my "official" weigh in. Beyond that, I just watch the overall trend.

    I lost 40 Lbs over 9 months and I've maintained for over two years now without logging a diary.
  • leggup
    leggup Posts: 2,942 Member
    Until the last 10 lbs, I weighed in 5-6 times per week but I only looked at the chart for 2-3 months at a time. Now I only log losses and weigh in 1-2 times per week.
  • tesemarie
    tesemarie Posts: 37 Member
    pixiestick wrote: »
    Daily. Been working well for me. Used to weigh in weekly/every other week, but I found myself obsessing about the weigh-ins, and then binging afterwards. People talk about how unhealthy weighing in every day is because you are chained to the scale, but for me, I was chained more by not knowing than just weighing, logging, and moving on.

    Yes! I think this would be me. I can take fluctuations in stride, but fear I would work too much about a weekly weigh in and drive myself crazy :). All of your comments have been so helpful! I'll have to look into charting. That's a new idea to me
  • CJisinShape
    CJisinShape Posts: 1,404 Member
    I found daily weigh-ins affecting me negatively. I'm attempting to stay off the scale, get my calories right and exercise. I feel like I can "just do" more easily if I'm not anticipating a movement on the scale from one day to the next. Still having a hard time not hauling the thing out.
  • erickavalos96
    erickavalos96 Posts: 47 Member
    Everyday in the morning right after the bathroom! Try to do it around the same time
  • CoconuttyMummy
    CoconuttyMummy Posts: 685 Member
    Another daily weigher here. Always 1st thing in the morning, naked, as soon as i get downstairs (before any drinks/food and after the bathroom!)
  • GrammyPeachy
    GrammyPeachy Posts: 1,723 Member
    Every day for me too.
  • KristenMarie1181
    KristenMarie1181 Posts: 216 Member
    edited May 2015
    :)
  • nikkerbob
    nikkerbob Posts: 78 Member
    Once a week.. Fridays are my weight in day =)
  • ddmusica
    ddmusica Posts: 50 Member
    Every day except Sunday :)
  • dalem48
    dalem48 Posts: 86 Member
    Daily. It keeps me motivated and holds me accountable.
  • rainbow198
    rainbow198 Posts: 2,245 Member
    At first once a week on Friday morning.

    Then I started lifting heavier weights and started focusing on fat loss and not the scale so I moved to measuring myself every other week. That turned out to be a better fit for my goals.
  • Jmgkamp
    Jmgkamp Posts: 278 Member
    Every day. I've come to accept swings, and I can predict the sodium increase and not freak out.
  • CJisinShape
    CJisinShape Posts: 1,404 Member
    This is why I don't want to weigh myself daily. Check this success story:

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10169847/i-cannot-believe-this#latest

    Would she have made it 40 days weighing herself daily or would she have thought her efforts were fruitless?
  • nathalier71
    nathalier71 Posts: 570 Member
    Once a week - Sunday morning, first thing when I get up. There is too much variance from day to day - even hour to hour - I find that discouraging. Once a weeks works great for me.
  • nathalier71
    nathalier71 Posts: 570 Member
    Once a week - Sunday morning, first thing when I get up. There is too much variance from day to day - even hour to hour - I find that discouraging. Once a weeks works great for me.
  • agreenid
    agreenid Posts: 218 Member
    Everyday in the morning right after I get up, brush my teeth, and pee. I really only log it on once I've gone down to a new number (even if it's from like 186.2 to 185.9) to keep myself motivated. The downward trend is really what is good to look for--week to week I've been down even if during the week it kicks back up for a day or two.
  • cmoll520
    cmoll520 Posts: 60 Member
    Daily. I've lost about 35lbs since jan 1. I love the data and it hold me accountable.
  • dutchandkiwi
    dutchandkiwi Posts: 1,389 Member
    Never. I don't like scales as I find whatever they say demoralising, depressing. It feels as if the whole of me is nothing but a number, so I stay off them completely.
    I use my old clothes as a target. It works so much better for me that way, As I sew most of my clothes I do measure myself now regularly as my old numbers do not work anymore.
  • brownieUK7
    brownieUK7 Posts: 2 Member
    Once a week. Daily I find can be de motivating. I look forward to the weigh in once a week and so far the numbers have always been going down.
  • erojoy
    erojoy Posts: 554 Member
    Everyday. Helps me know at the start of the day if I need to follow my meal plan perfectly or if I can grab an extra snack here and there.
  • wanttobefit300
    wanttobefit300 Posts: 157 Member
    Do whatever you are comfortable with. If the daily fluctuations bother you, wait longer. If they don't bother you, that daily monitoring can be very helpful. I weigh daily. If I go up, I look to see if I can find a specific reason. I have a Tanita scale so it also gives me fat % and water % to help in that.
  • agreenid
    agreenid Posts: 218 Member
    erojoy wrote: »
    Everyday. Helps me know at the start of the day if I need to follow my meal plan perfectly or if I can grab an extra snack here and there.

    Yes. This. Also helps me know that maybe what I did the previous day that I thought was OK really wasn't for me.
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