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If your weight fluctuates heavily - how often do you weigh yourself?

nicola8989
nicola8989 Posts: 381 Member
edited November 2024 in Motivation and Support
My weight fluctuates a lot - I can gain 4lb in 24 hours - according to the scales I have gained 8lb in 2 weeks, taking me back to my start weight. I've had a virus for the past month so I haven't been able to exercise but I have tracked religiously and eaten at maintenance or lower. And my measurements (waist etc) have stayed the same.

I don't know what to do - I really want to just ditch the scales for a month I'm frightened if I don't weigh myself I'll either gain, or I'll weigh myself on a day when I have a high fluctuation and think that's my weight.

It really really brings me down to see these fluctuations and I don't know what to do for the best :( I have been weighing and tracking my weight every day on Happy Scale but it's just not helpful.

I don't want to be in denial about it and I worry that if I ditch the scale I am just being in denial about my weight. I know I haven't gained that much but I don't want to give myself a free pass and say "oh it's just water weight". As you can see it just messes with my head!!

Replies

  • madhatter2013
    madhatter2013 Posts: 1,547 Member
    I weigh myself every morning. This lets me know what I ate, or didn't eat, the day before that may have caused the fluctuation. If I eat too much sodium and/or not enough water, I expect my weight to go up the next day. Same for the mornings after my workouts. Although, my weight has been exactly the same number for the last 3 days, which is odd for me.
  • ManiacalLaugh
    ManiacalLaugh Posts: 1,048 Member
    I weigh myself constantly, but I've learned how to identify water weight and I take what I see with a grain of salt and account for averages and trends instead of the number I see *right now*. I'm a bit obsessive though, I'll admit.

    I think you should probably decrease your weigh-ins to once a week. Keep the weigh-ins to a day where you can be sure the circumstances are almost exactly the same every time. For instance: The morning after a rest day, when you wake up, before food or drink, but after your first toilet. Stark naked.

    For me, my ideal day would be a Saturday because I can be sure I've pee'd out water retention from working at a desk all week. Plus, Friday is a rest day for me, so water retention from exercise isn't an issue. And - I sleep in, so it's been longer since my last meal than the mornings when I wake up early. It's always when I get my best reading.
  • 1stday13
    1stday13 Posts: 433 Member
    Once a month. The Fluctuations bother me too much.
  • nicola8989
    nicola8989 Posts: 381 Member
    Saturday is normally my best day as I'm sometimes a little bit bloated first thing, if I can wait a bit longer and weigh myself about 10am it's best. I want to do once a month but what if I hit a day when I am at a high fluctuation?
  • hoyalawya2003
    hoyalawya2003 Posts: 631 Member
    nicola8989 wrote: »
    I want to do once a month but what if I hit a day when I am at a high fluctuation?

    This is my concern, too. I weigh (mostly) daily. I too usually know if I am bloated due to the way my rings fit and if I ate high sodium or drank alcohol the day before. There are apps that you can enter daily weigh in info and get a graph, if you are as obsessive/dorky as I am.
  • dfranch
    dfranch Posts: 207 Member
    I weigh daily. when I was in weight loss mode, I logged daily as well. there are ups and downs, but as long as the trend is downward, I'm happy. There's no such thing as too much data.
  • paris458
    paris458 Posts: 229 Member
    every time I am in the bathroom lol but I only count the ones each morning.
  • DeeDeeS13
    DeeDeeS13 Posts: 28 Member
    I weigh daily, first thing in the morning. If I'm up, it encourages me to do better, if I'm down in weight that encourages me too. I know that I'll be up if I've consumed a lot of salt the day before, or other things like that, so I expect it. Weekly is probably a better way to go, but I like weighing daily. I do expect fluctuations weighing daily, but I try to look at my food in the last few days to teach me things about how my eating really affects my weight. (I fluctuate by about 2 - 3 lbs normally, and I've been maintaining my weight loss for about 2 years.)
  • vinerie
    vinerie Posts: 234 Member
    I fluctuate a lot, too. If I go one day without drinking a couple glasses of water between meals, my body will then hold on to the water I did drink and BAM, scale is up 3-4 pounds. I drink a lot the next day and I will literally drop those pounds,

    Ipnow that I know that, I actually find it comforting. I know that when the scale goes up overnight, I can make it go down the next day or two. So I aweigh every day. My weight chart is all spiky. I basically go up and down every day, but I notice over time the peaks reach smaller numbers.
This discussion has been closed.

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