How often do you weigh in when starting out?

mjc8080
mjc8080 Posts: 30 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I've been about 9 days into counting on MFP, feel great, and definitely see my stomach has gone down and my clothes fit a little better. With that being said, I have an idea of what I weight, but don't want to weigh myself just yet. Reason is I don't want to eat something salty the night before, swell up with fluid and have a bad weigh in the next morning only to discourage me. I'd rather go on it several weeks and then weigh in, maybe once a month. Not sure why anybody would weight themselves so frequently, since we fluctuate so much each day and hour. Any thoughts? Thanks.

Replies

  • livingleanlivingclean
    livingleanlivingclean Posts: 11,751 Member
    I weigh every day in as similar circumstances as possible (after waking, going to the bathroom, weighing in little to nothing)

    I find it beneficial as I can track my weight trend in an app - it evens out the daily fluctuations, just showing the general trend. I'd rather know if my weight was heading in the right direction with greater accuracy than a once a month weigh in.

    If you weigh once a month, how do you not know that month one weight was a low day, and month two weigh in was a high day?
  • shaf238
    shaf238 Posts: 4,021 Member
    I do it weekly on Sunday evenings.
  • alatham7891
    alatham7891 Posts: 18 Member
    I weigh every morning after i do my number 1 and 2 hehe
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    Every Wednesday for the first three months. Then on a Monday I randomly got on the scale and started weighing daily.
  • Deviette
    Deviette Posts: 978 Member
    I used to prefer to weigh weekly so to avoid seeing those fluctuations, but honestly, I've found that weighing myself daily has helped me mentally deal with the fluctuations more. I don't worry about sudden spikes because I assume it's a fluctuation. In the same way I don't celebrate a massive drop because I also assume it's a fluctuation.

    I find that it helps me detach my "feelings" from the number on the scale. My week to week averages are a lot more important to me than my daily number.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,392 Member
    When I am (was) losing, I weighed daily. It kept me focused.

    Now (in Maintenance) I weigh weekly on Mondays. If I am at the high end of my five pound range, I'll weigh daily for a while.
  • fitoverfortymom
    fitoverfortymom Posts: 3,452 Member
    In my very active weight loss early on, I weighed once a week and ONLY once a week. Once I inched closer to maintenance and was looser with my diet, I began weighing daily to help be mindful of daily fluctuations.
  • prettyshambolic
    prettyshambolic Posts: 33 Member
    I weigh every morning after going to the bathroom.
  • Panini911
    Panini911 Posts: 2,325 Member
    I am enjoying tracking. so honestly, i weight myself like 2x a day (at specific times). I know to many this causes issues but I haven't freaked out over the numbers yet (even though it is NOT a straight line down! the fluctuations can be fascinating).
  • Mrsbell8well
    Mrsbell8well Posts: 1,652 Member
    I am dealing with this myself. I formally weigh on Wednesday mornings and notate that number in MFP. I am on day 23 of my program and religious about weighing food and measuring. The scale is currently going down. I admit to doing sneak peaks out of fear that "it is not really working". I feel like the more confident I am in the program I can rely on actions and behaviors and less on scale numbers. I know at the end of the month it will give me a good reading of what has transpired. Hoping to stop the sneak peaks soon just so I don't focus on the scale numbers.
  • WholeFoods4Lyfe
    WholeFoods4Lyfe Posts: 1,518 Member
    I weigh myself every day with the understanding that weight fluctuates every day depending on many factors. I like to track to see the overall trend.

    I also take a lot of progress pictures which are just as motivating, if not more, than the scale moving down.
  • ejg1010
    ejg1010 Posts: 48 Member
    When I first started out I weighed myself once a week, on a Friday morning. I found it useful and encouraging to see a loss each week and I don't think I knew enough about daily fluctuations to trust the process so early on.

    I'm mostly maintaining now (loosely trying to lose a few vanity pounds), still tracking on MFP for now, and am confident enough to weigh myself every day, just to track my daily ups and downs and learn how my body is reacting to a heavy weekend, salty foods, heavier workouts etc.
    I really do think it's a personal preference and as long as it suits you and you're seeing results, then that is the best for you!
    Good luck :smile:
  • kettiecat
    kettiecat Posts: 159 Member
    Every time I’m in the bathroom.
  • jillstreett
    jillstreett Posts: 69 Member
    I was weighing everyday to start, but only logging MWF. I don't know why, just less note taking I guess..but then I started to like to look at the daily trends. Like you said, if I ate salty on Tuesday night and Wednesday's weigh in was crappy, but then Thursday was good, I felt cheated, like darn I'm not tracking Thursdays and that was a good number! It holds me accountable, shows trends over time and makes looking at the whole picture easier. Prime example is the past month I haven't really been able to get out of the 152-156 range. But when I looked at my trend over time, I was right on track to meeting a goal (tomorrow) that I set two months ago for 10 pounds down from June 1 to Aug 1. I personally enjoy looking at those numbers to recap on how I'm doing.

    Consistency is key.
  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,966 Member
    I think it's just personal preference. When I was losing weight, I just weighed once a week. But now we have these trending apps so I don't see an issue with weighing every day. in fact I think it makes the daily fluctuations less of a shock.
  • Maxematics
    Maxematics Posts: 2,287 Member
    Definitely every day for me. I have crazy fluctuations sometimes and if I didn't know to expect them by now, I could accidentally choose my weigh-in day on a high weight day and it would lead me to cut calories that I didn't need to. Here's an example of one of those crazy fluctuation periods:

    4w.png
  • mholl15
    mholl15 Posts: 139 Member
    I would say weigh yourself after every poop to get an idea on how you weight fluctuates. if you're concerned with being disappointed, then weigh yourself once a week.
  • HoneyBadger302
    HoneyBadger302 Posts: 2,064 Member
    I weigh daily with a weight trending app (Libra in my case) which gives a much better overall view than random weigh ins do IMO.
  • bikecheryl
    bikecheryl Posts: 1,432 Member
    Do what works for you.... :)
  • cjrmack2014
    cjrmack2014 Posts: 10 Member
    Once a week on Wednesday morning.
  • Dani9585
    Dani9585 Posts: 215 Member
    Every day weigh ins here
  • motivatedmartha
    motivatedmartha Posts: 1,108 Member
    I weigh most mornings but I only claim a 'loss' if I have observed it for 3 days. I used to just check in once a week but I get too excited to see another pound gone to wait a whole week ;)
  • Debgreasby2018
    Debgreasby2018 Posts: 30 Member
    I have an official weigh at Boots on a Monday after the gym because that’s when I did my first weight check.
    I also weigh daily at home in the mornings and log on happy scale coz I am a bit of a data freak!
  • Frappleberry
    Frappleberry Posts: 251 Member
    I’m weighing daily first thing in the morning!
  • spiriteagle99
    spiriteagle99 Posts: 3,738 Member
    When I"m trying to lose weight, I only weigh myself every week or two. I tend to get affected too badly by the results. I either eat more because, "This isn't working, so screw it." Or I'll eat more because "I've lost some. I want to celebrate." I don't do that as much if I weigh myself less often.

    When I'm maintaining (most of the time) I'll weigh myself once a week so I can see if I'm over my 5 pound limit. I only do it after days I don't exercise hard or eat out so it isn't affected by unusual water retention. Since i have a window, rather than a set number, I don't get stressed if it changes as long as it isn't more than 5 pounds.
  • mmcafoos
    mmcafoos Posts: 4 Member
    edited August 2018
    I weigh in weekly, every Thursday in the AM. I've heard that the best time to weigh yourself is in the morning before you eat. :smile:
  • elsie6hickman
    elsie6hickman Posts: 3,864 Member
    Right now, while I am trying to lose, I weigh myself every day or so. After I get to the weight I want to get to, I'll probably weigh once a week. I try to weigh myself at the same time every day, because my weight can vary 2-3 times a day, and when it is up a pound, I get depressed.

Categories