How often do you step on a scale?

hclay25 · December 2018

Just wondering how often do you weigh yourself? I think I weigh myself almost daily but some people say I should do it at the beginning & end of the month. What is your normal?

AJB1014 · December 2018

Daily for me! Do what works for you - everyone has an opinion, but doesn't mean they are right.

TavistockToad · December 2018

hclay25 wrote: »

Just wondering how often do you weigh yourself? I think I weigh myself almost daily but some people say I should do it at the beginning & end of the month. What is your normal?

2-3 x a week, with my official weigh day that I log on here on a Thursday

Eternally_Hers · December 2018

I weigh daily, at 9am without eating/drinking anything, after going to the washroom and without clothing on. It's very consistent that way.

swirlybee · December 2018

I weigh everyday. It works for me. I'm ok with the ups and downs. It has allowed me to see a pattern that when I eat out on the weekends, I retain more water weight due to the fact that restaurants tend to put more salt in their food compared to home cooking.

I would be frustrated if I only weighed in once a week. There have been a few weeks where my Monday morning weight has remained the same or gone up a little bit. If I didn't see a lower number a couple of days earlier or a couple of days later, I would go insane.

What works for one person might not work for you.

dulinh · December 2018

Every single Tuesday, plus either Friday or Saturday whichever day I think will be 'best.' That's enough scale anxiety for me...

dhiammarath · December 2018

I like data and knowledge is formed from data. I weigh myself daily -- in the morning, though recently in doing a work fitness challenge (we had to weigh in), I included weighing in at the end of the day. I found that my 'lowest' weight is at the end of the day (around ~5pm). So now, I weigh in the morning and sometimes, also in the evening. The most interesting part is that the morning weight can fluctuate wildly (daily), but the evening weight (pre-dinner) is generally steady and very rarely fluctuates day-to-day. I consider this weight more of a steady state / truer trend than my morning weight. Of course, the evening weight is more directly impacted by the day's activities, too, so if I've deviated from my normal behavior then I do not bother weighing.

All that being said -- you have to find what works for you and helps you keep on track. Weighing 2x/day is excessive for some, as is daily. I would not be able to sustain a bi-monthly weigh in -- there's not enough data there for me to understand what's going on. I like knowing. Knowledge is power.

Do what's right for YOU -- experiment! There's no wrong answer.

kimny72 · December 2018

I weighed myself every day while I was trying to lose, because I liked getting used to the random ups and downs and I'm a data geek

. Now that I'm in maintenance, I weigh randomly, usually two or three times a week to make sure I'm not "drifting" too much.

For other people, weighing every day, no matter how much they understand normal weight fluctuations, stresses them out. So they do better weighing less often.

You really have to figure out how your brain works and what will give you enough data to work with, without being too much pressure or attention for your psyche.

CindyJNC1963 · December 2018

I weight every day because I like creating the trend lines in excel. But, it's what works best for you.

cathipa · December 2018

Daily and I use a trend app (Libra). I only follow the trend and not the daily scale weight.

MikePTY · December 2018

I have one weekly "official weigh in" that is Tuesday morning. But I'll step on the scale several times a week for curiosity. My weight fluctuates 4-5 pounds within the day, and usually a few pounds day to day, so I don't really get worked up about it.

Even for my weekly weigh in, I understand that some weeks I will have big progress and others I will have no progress or even gain. It's all about long term trends for me.

BecomingMoreAwesome · December 2018

I weigh daily, right after waking up. I use Happy Scale to track the moving average. My weight always pops up a few pounds at ovulation and drops again right before I start my period.

Runaroundafieldx2 · December 2018

Daily but I only update endomondo and mfp every couple of weeks

cmriverside · December 2018

Daily. Spreadsheet and on here. I have been at my Maintenance weight/healthy BMI range for over a decade.

I log food and I weigh myself and I really need to do that for the routine, habit, accountability. It's easy and takes just a couple minutes. I do stay in a range, though. More than five pounds either way and I know it's time to do something different for a few days to get back in range.

Don't listen to anyone else about any of this other than your own inner wisdom and do what works for YOU.

lcatalan93 · December 2018

I weight myself once a week on Sunday mornings. Any more often than that I would go crazy lol

Healthyfood456 · December 2018

I am waiting until the first of January. Then I am weighing in weekly.

kami3006 · December 2018

When I was losing I weighed and took measurements once a week. Once I started bulk/cut cycles, I began to weigh daily and use a trending app and still do that during maintenance.

J_NY_Z · December 2018

I weigh myself in the same location at the same time daily. I only report my weight every moth. I weigh daily for statistics only.

CentaurusSoter · December 2018

Eternally_Hers wrote: »

I weigh daily, at 9am without eating/drinking anything, after going to the washroom and without clothing on. It's very consistent that way.

I started that when I started tracking. It just worked out the best for me. Daily tracking, in the buff, post bathroom. I track no matter how I feel, and it's working for me. 70lbs+ down, 150+ days later. I could track once a week, but for me, I think I would just forget and quit doing it. I need the strict schedule to keep on top of things.

kimny72 wrote: »

I weighed myself every day while I was trying to lose, because I liked getting used to the random ups and downs and I'm a data geek . Now that I'm in maintenance, I weigh randomly, usually two or three times a week to make sure I'm not "drifting" too much.

For other people, weighing every day, no matter how much they understand normal weight fluctuations, stresses them out. So they do better weighing less often.

You really have to figure out how your brain works and what will give you enough data to work with, without being too much pressure or attention for your psyche.

Having the data from daily measuring really works for me. I know that it's for sure not for everyone, like you said. If someone saw a 1-2lb uptick, they might quit altogether. My goal has always been long term, and I use the daily datapoints to adjust and keep going. Plus, with enough daily entries, it makes a really nice graph to look at over time. A very nice graph, especially when it keeps on heading down over time. It also made figuring out plateaus easier.

cheryldumais · December 2018

I weigh in once per weekend first thing in the morning after using the washroom. I tend to pick the day I think I'll be the lightest, lol. Of course it catches up to me the next week if I've gained. I'm in maintenance now so I'm only trying to make sure I am staying within my range. When I was losing I had a specific day and didn't waver from that.

etherealanwar · December 2018

I weigh daily in the morning after using the restroom and then track in libra.

AnnPT77 · December 2018

Daily, first thing in AM after bathroom, before food/water, in nothing but my glasses & watch. Have done that for years (probably a decade or more now?), even when not trying to lose weight. Do you sense a data geek?

The scale weight per se has never been a stressful thing, for me: It's just data.

For a long time, I logged it on graph paper, until I got a trending app (Libra, because Android).

Everyone once in a while I weigh myself at another time, either out of general curiousity about something, or as a "before and after heavy summer exercise" thing to make sure I'm drinking enough water in the heat.

When I started using MFP, I already had a very good intuitive understanding about what factors caused water weight fluctuations for me, and how long they'd last. That was helpful.

cogirljb55 · December 2018

I weigh daily as well, feel like it keeps me from just completely falling off the wagon!!

caindove11 · December 2018

Daily, but just so I can input into trending app.

hesn92 · December 2018

daily, I like data.

urloved33 · December 2018

am and pm. first thing and last thing

garystrickland357 · December 2018

I weigh daily. I get up, use the restroom, weigh and log using Happy Scale. I'll weigh sometimes before and after exercise just for the sake of curiosity. In the summer I'll weigh after long bike rides as a measure of how well I'm hydrating.

CarvedTones · December 2018

Usually every couple of days. 2 days ago I was 3 pounds heavier than today, naked first thing in the morning after going to the bathroom both times. That's why I would not like weekly weigh ins. My recent trend actually says I weigh a pound more than today's weight. If I were weighing weekly on Tuesdays, I would probably be stressing about a weight gain that didn't really happen, if I were weighing weekly on Thursday I might be celebrating a bigger drop than actually happened. I am in maintenance but trying to drift lower in my range right now to leave a buffer for Christmas. I am slowly trending down.