Why you should weigh yourself daily

I know not everyone will agree with this, but I had to post it, because it totally reinforces my daily weighing habits! and shows why it's not a bad thing.. I def don't obsess if it shows a gain of a few pounds, because one of the benefits of daily weighing is knowing your body. I know that my weight fluctuates through the day, week, month, etc. It's just normal! especially for women. So, hope this info helps. :-) Here's the link, but I'll copy and paste it as well.

http://www.prevention.com/scale/index.shtml

Here’s how to use the scale with your self esteem intact

For years, many experts recommended tossing your scale. Good advice when you consider the emotional whiplash that weighing yourself can cause. As the number goes down, your confidence goes up, but a gain of even a pound can easily ruin your day. It’s time to end the love-hate relationship with your scale. A review of a dozen studies tracking over 16,000 dieters provides indisputable evidence that the bathroom scale is one of the most effective tools for losing weight and preventing pounds from creeping on.

A whopping 75% of members of the National Weight Control Registry— men and women who have lost at least 30 pounds and kept it off—weigh themselves at least once a week.

Here are five surprising facts that will help you make peace with your scale—and use it to your weight loss advantage.

1. Weigh yourself often (really!)

Out of sight, out of mind simply doesn’t work. In one study, daily weighers dropped twice as many pounds as weekly weighers—12 pounds versus 6, possibly because it was a regular reminder to stay on track. Meanwhile, dieters who avoided the scale altogether gained 4 pounds. And despite the common belief that focusing on weight makes women feel bad about themselves, scientists have found that tracking your weight can actually improve your mood by giving you a sense of control.

Tip: Weigh yourself daily


2. A cheaper model is better

You can spend hundreds on a high-tech scale that also estimates your body fat percentage and more through a series of mathematical algorithms, but you’re just getting another number to worry about that’s possibly less accurate than your weight. “I avoid scales that measure body fat because there are so many inaccuracies based on fluctuations in how much water you drink,” says exercise physiologist Kara Mohr, PhD, who’s done extensive scientific research on weight loss.

Tip: Buy a basic digital scale that displays weight to the nearest 0.5 or 0.20 pound to minimize fluctuations.

3. Don’t sweat fluctuations

The biggest culprit is water (and water in the food you eat). The calories in a liter of soda would add about 0.10 pound if you didn’t burn them off, but step on the scale immediately after drinking it and you’ll be up over 2 pounds; go to the bathroom and you’ll likely drop 1 to 1.5 pounds. You even lose water weight—about 2 pounds a day—just by breathing and sweating. Day-to-day fluctuations can be the result of eating a high-sodium meal or your level of hydration, while your menstrual cycle can cause changes all month long.

“It’s important to keep the bigger picture in mind,” says Mohr. No one meal or single splurge will move the scale’s needle in a lasting way unless it becomes a habit. However, a difference of 100 calories at every meal could add up to more than 30 pounds in a year—in either direction.

Tip: Weigh yourself once, first thing in the morning after going to the bathroom and getting undressed to avoid confounding factors like water weight and clothing. Track your results, and focus on the pattern over time. The number may go up and down from one day to the next, but the overall direction month to month should be down if you’re trying to lose weight. If you see an upward trend, it’s time to take action

4. Muscle gains indicate progress

In a recent study from the University of California at Berkeley, women in their mid-50s followed a 12-week cycling routine while eating a diet designed to maintain their weight.

The result: One 56-year-old dropped two sizes with only a 1-pound loss, thanks to a 7% drop in body fat. She replaced about 4 pounds of fat with 4 pounds of muscle—pound for pound, muscle is firmer and denser, and it takes up about one-third the space of fat. But don’t blame muscle for a stuck scale. It actually takes about a month of strength-training to add a single pound of muscle, on average, according to Wayne Westcott, PhD, author of Get Stronger, Feel Younger.

Tip: Track other markers like the size of your waist and thighs with a tape measure, how your clothes fit, or how much energy you have—and celebrate those successes

5. Where you put your scale matters

In most cases, your bathroom floor will work just fine, but if the floor is textured or the grout creates an uneven surface, the readout might be off. Bath mats or carpet of any thickness can absorb some of your weight, throwing off the scale’s sensors and decreasing your weight by 20 pounds or more, explains Keith Erickson, company spokesperson for Tanita scales. Some higher-end scales come with carpet feet to accommodate the inconsistencies, but our tester still found a several-pound discrepancy.

Tip: Weigh yourself in the same spot every day. Even if it’s off by a few pounds, you’ll still be able to see changes over time. For the most accurate reading, place your scale on a bare floor that’s hard, flat, and level. You can test the scale’s accuracy by weighing an object that you know the weight of—like a dumbbell.

6. One woman’s scale diary
Don’t let the number determine your self-worth! One 40-something Prevention reader shared how her weight fluctuated in 1 day.

7:15 AM: 133.8 lb, Right before hopping in the shower

8:30 AM: 137.5 lb, Wow, my clothes weigh 3.7 lb!

9:15 AM: 138.7 lb, Gained 1.2 lb from breakfast

10:30 AM: 137.9 lb, Bathroom break, -0.8 lb

1 PM: 135.8 lb, Lost 2.1 lb, thanks to a sweaty cardio workout

1:30 PM: 137.4 lb, Up 1.6 lb from lunch

4 PM: 138.6 lb, Gained 1.2 lb, probably from all the water I was drinking

5:30 PM: 137.5 lb, Bathroom break, -1.1 lb

11 PM: 140.8 lb, Yikes! Gained 3.3 lb—probably the pasta I ate and the wine!

11:30 PM: 137.1 lb, Undressed—huh, gained 3.3 lb since this morning

7:15 AM: 135.4 lb, Lost 1.7 lb while sleeping